1 . Earthquake survivors trapped in rubble could one day be saved by an unlikely rescuer: a robotic caterpillar that digs its way through debris. Just a few centimeters wide, the robot relies on magnetic fields to propel it through the kind of tiny cracks that would defeat the wheeled or tracked search robots currently used to locate people trapped in collapsed buildings.
The caterpillar's inventor, Norihiko Saga of Akita Prefectural University in Japan, will demonstrate his new method of motion at a conference on magnetic materials in Seattle. In addition to lights and cameras, a search caterpillar could be equipped with an array of sensors to measure other factors --such as radioactivity or oxygen levels --that could tell human rescuers if an area is safe to enter.
The magnetic caterpillar is amazingly simple. It moves by a process similar to peristalsis(蠕动), the rhythmic contraction that moves food down your intestine. Saga made the caterpillar from a series of rubber capsules filled with a magnetic fluid consisting of iron particles, water, and a detergent-like surfactant, which reduces the surface tension of the fluid. Each capsule is linked to the next by a pair of rubber rods. The caterpillar's guts are wrapped in a clear, flexible polymer tube that protects it from the environment.
To make the caterpillar move forwards, Saga moves a magnetic field backwards along the caterpillar. Inside the caterpillar's “head” capsule, magnetic fluid surges towards the attractive magnetic field, causing the capsule to bulge out(鼓起) to the sides and draw its front and rear portions up. As the magnetic field passes to the next capsule, the first breaks free and springs forward and the next capsule bunches up(聚成一团). In this way, the caterpillar can reach speeds of 4 centimeters per second as it crawls along.
Moving the magnetic field faster can make it traverse(穿过) the caterpillar before all the capsules have sprung back to their original shapes. The segments then all spring back, almost but not quite simultaneously.
Saga plans to automate the movement of the caterpillar by placing electromagnets at regular intervals along the inside of its polymer tube. By adjusting the current flow to the electromagnets, he'll be able to control it wirelessly via remote control. He also needs to find a new type of rubber for the magnetic capsules, because the one he's using at the minute eventually begins to leak.
But crawling is not the most efficient form of motion for robots, says Robert Full of the University of California at Berkeley, an expert in animal motion who occasionally advises robotics designers. "If you look at the energetic cost of crawling, compared to walking, swimming or flying, crawling is very expensive,” he says. In walking, energy is conserved in the foot and then released to help the foot spring up.
Saga acknowledges this inefficiency but says his caterpillar is far more stable than one that walks, rolls on wheels or flies. It has no moving parts save for a few fluid-filled rubber capsules. Biped robots and wheeled robots require a smooth surface and are difficult to miniaturize, and flying robots have too many moving parts. “My peristaltic crawling robot is simple--and it works,” he says.
1. From this passage, we can learn that ________.| A．a robotic caterpillar can crawl by a pair of rubber rods |
| B．when a caterpillar moves, the magnetic field moves backwards along it |
| C．the environment couldn't influence a robotic caterpillar's guts, which are wrapped in a capsule |
| D．crawling is very stable and efficient, and when it moves, only a few elements are needed |
| A．A robotic caterpillar is made from a series of rubber capsules filled with a magnetic fluid. |
| B．Iron particles, water, and a detergent-like surfactant form a magnetic fluid. |
| C．Each capsule filled with a magnetic fluid is linked to a pair of rubber rods. |
| D．In order to keep stable condition, the caterpillar's guts are wrapped in a clear, flexible polymer tube. |
| A．A smooth surface is indispensable to biped robots and wheeled robots. |
| B．Flying robots are very inconvenient when moving, because they have too many moving parts. |
| C．The robotic caterpillar only has rubber capsules filled with a magnetic fluid. |
| D．Wheeled robots are unable to locate trapped people because they cannot miniaturize. |
2 . Abraham Lincoln turns 200 this year, and he’s beginning to show his age. When his birthday arrives, on February 12, Congress will hold a special joint session in the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall, a wreath (花环) will be laid at the great memorial in Washington, and a webcast will link school classrooms for a "teach-in" honoring his memory.
Admirable as they are, though, the events will strike many of us Lincoln fans as inadequate, even halfhearted — and another sign that our appreciation for the 16th president and his towering achievements is slipping away. And you don’t have to be a Lincoln enthusiast to believe that this is something we can’t afford to lose.
Compare this year’s celebration with the Lincoln centennial, in 1909. That year, Lincoln’s likeness made its debut on the penny, thanks to approval from the U. S. Secretary of the Treasury. Communities. and civic associations in every comer of the country erupted in parades, concerts, balls, lectures, and military displays. We still feel the effects today: The momentum unloosed in 1909 led to the Lincoln Memorial, opened in 1922, and the Lincoln Highway, the first paved transcontinental thoroughfare (大道) .
The celebrants in 1909 had a few inspirations we lack today. Lincoln’s presidency was still a living memory for countless Americans. In 2009 we are farther in time from the end of the Second World War than they were from the Civil War; families still felt the loss of loved ones from that awful national trauma (创伤) .
But Americans in 1909 had something more: an unembarrassed appreciation for heroes and an acute sense of the way that even long-dead historical figures press in on the present and make us who we are.
One story will illustrate what I’m talking about.
In 2003 a group of local citizens arranged to place a statue of Lincoln in Richmond, Virginia, former capital of the Confederacy (南方联邦). The idea touched off a firestorm of controversy. The Sons of Confederate Veterans held a public conference of carefully selected scholars to “reassess” the legacy of Lincoln. The verdict — no surprise — was negative: Lincoln was labeled everything from a racist totalitarian to a teller of dirty jokes.
I covered the conference as a reporter, but what really unnerved me was a counter-conference of scholars to refute the earlier one. These scholars drew a picture of Lincoln that only our touchy-feely age could recall. The man who oversaw the most savage war in our history was described — by his admirers, remember — as “nonjudgmental,” “unmoralistic,” “comfortable with ambiguity (模棱两可) .”
I felt the way a friend of mine felt as we later watched the unveiling of the Richmond statue in a subdued (征服) ceremony: “But he’s so small!”
The statue in Richmond was indeed small; like nearly every Lincoln statue put up in the past half century, it was life-size and was placed at ground level, a conscious rejection of the heroic — approachable and human, yes, but not something to look up to.
The Richmond episode taught me that Americans have lost the language to explain Lincoln’s greatness even to ourselves. Earlier generations said they wanted their children to be like Lincoln: principled, kind, compassionate, resolute. Today we want Lincoln to be like us.
“This helps to explain the long string of recent books in which writers have presented a Lincoln made after their own image. We’ve had Lincoln as humorist and Lincoln as manic-depressive, Lincoln the business sage, the conservative Lincoln and the liberal Lincoln, the emancipator and the racist, the stoic philosopher, the Christian, the atheist (无神论者) — Lincoln over easy (两面煎的) and Lincoln scrambled (把…搅乱) .
What’s often missing, though, is the timeless Lincoln, the Lincoln whom all generations, our own no less than that of 1909, can lay claim to. Lucky for us, those memorializers from a century ago — and, through them, Lincoln himself — have left us a hint of where to find him. The Lincoln Memorial is the most visited of our presidential monuments. Here is where we find the Lincoln who endures: in the words he left us, defining the country we’ve inherited. Here is the Lincoln who can be endlessly renewed and who, 200 years after his birth, retains the power to renew us.
1. The author thinks that this year’s celebration inadequate and even halfhearted because ________.| A．no Lincoln statue will be unveiled. |
| B．no memorial coins will be issued. |
| C．no similar appreciation of Lincoln will be seen. |
| D．no activities can be compared to those in 1909. |
| A．approved of the judgment by those carefully selected scholars. |
| B．offered a brand new reassessment perspective. |
| C．came up with somewhat favourable conclusions. |
| D．resulted in similar critical remarks on Lincoln. |
| A．conforms to traditional images. |
| B．reflects the present-day tendency of worship. |
| C．shows the present-day desire to match Lincoln. |
| D．reveals the variety of current opinions on heroes. |
| A．Lincoln’s greatness remains despite the passage of time. |
| B．The memorial is symbolic of the great man’s achievements. |
| C．Each generation has its own interpretation of Lincoln. |
| D．People get to know Lincoln through memorializers. |
3 . Professor Stephen Hawking recently came out with a serious warning for people. While at the Starmus Festival, a festival in Trondheim, Norway, celebrating science and the arts, Hawking warned people that the human race is in serious danger.
Hawking criticized President Donald Trump for denying climate change. Then the physicist warned the audience, “I am not denying the importance of fighting climate change and global warming, unlike Donald Trump, who may just have taken the most serious, and wrong, decision on climate change this world has seen.”
Hawking proposed that the leading countries should send astronauts to the Moon before 2020 to restart a movement of more exploration in space. BBC reported that Hawking suggested that we “build a lunar base in 30 years’ time and send people to Mars by 2025.”
According to BBC, Professor Hawking said, “Spreading out into space will completely change the future of humanity.” He continued, “I hope it would unite competitive nations in a single goal, to face the common challenge for us all.” The physicist shared more ideas to motivate the younger generation to continue exploring space. Hawking stated, “a new and ambitious space program would excite (young people), and stimulate interest in other areas, such as astrophysics and cosmology.”
Hawking also revealed his vision for other forms of energy that could move us to a new planet. He warned the audience, “The Earth is under threat from so many areas that it is difficult for me to be positive.” He continued, “Our natural resources are being drained, at an alarming rate. We have given our planet the disastrous gifts of climate change, rising temperatures, reduction of the polar ice caps, deforestation, and decimation (大量毁灭) of animal species. We can be ignorant, unthinking lot (人).”
The professor warned the audience that doing nothing would lead nowhere. He said, “If we succeed, we will send a probe (航天探测器) to Alpha Centauri within the lifetime of some of you alive today. It is clear we are entering a new space age. We are standing at the threshold (起点) of a new era. Human colonization and moving to other planets is no longer science fiction, and it can be science fact.” Hawking advised the audience to move to other worlds because we are running out of space.
1. According to Hawking, what is the first step for humans to spread out into space?| A．To build a lunar base. |
| B．To send people to Mars. |
| C．To send astronauts to the Moon. |
| D．To change the future of humanity. |
| A．Spreading out into space. |
| B．Facing the common challenge of humans. |
| C．Stimulating young people’s interest in other areas. |
| D．Motivating the younger generation to explore space. |
| A．speeded up | B．stored |
| C．used up | D．explored |
| A．Worried. | B．Confused. |
| C．Positive. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．To warn the audience that humans are in danger. |
| B．To predict what will happen to the earth in future. |
| C．To stress that humans are entering a new space age. |
| D．To encourage the audience to move to other planets. |
| A．the Earth is under threat and the human race is in serious danger |
| B．a new and ambitious space program would excite young people |
| C．astronauts have found a better world in the space than the Earth |
| D．humans have found other forms of energy to move to a new planet |
4 . Babies made from three people approved in UK
Babies made from two women and one man have been approved by the UK’s fertility regulator. The historic and controversial move is to prevent children from being born with deadly genetic diseases.
Doctors in Newcastle — who developed the advanced form of In Vitro Fertilization or IVF (人工授精) — are expected to be the first to offer the procedure and have already appealed for donor eggs. The first such child could be born, at the earliest, by the end of 2017.
Some families have lost multiple children to incurable mitochondrial (线粒体的) diseases, which can leave people with insufficient energy to keep their heart beating.
The diseases are passed down from only the mother, so a technique using a donor egg as well as the mother’s egg and father’s sperm has been developed.
The resulting child has a tiny amount of their DNA from the donor, but the procedure is legal and reviews say it is ethical (伦理的) and scientifically ready.
“It is a decision of historic importance,” said Sally Cheshire, chairwoman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). “I’m sure patients will be really pleased by what we’ve decided today.”
But some scientists have questioned the ethics of the technique, saying it could open the door to genetically-modified(转基因) ‘designer’ babies.
The HFEA must approve every clinic and every patient before the procedure can take place. Three-person babies have been allowed only in cases where the risk of a child developing mitochondrial disease is very high.
Prof Mary Herbert, from the Newcastle Fertility Centre, said, “It is enormously pleasing that our many years of research in this area can finally be applied to help families affected by these devastating diseases”.
“Now that we are moving forward towards clinical treatments, we will also need donors to donate eggs for use in treatment to prevent affected women transmitting disease to their children.”
Prof Sir Doug Turnbull, the director of the Welcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University, said, “We are delighted by today’s decision. We will also provide long-term follow up of any children born.”
NHS England has agreed to fund the treatment costs of the first trial of three-person IVF for those women who meet the HFEA criteria, as long as they agree to long-term follow up of their children after they are born.
1. Why is it historically important to approve babies made from three people?| A．It helps couples who lose the ability to give birth to a baby. |
| B．It marks a foundation stone to change babies’ appearances before birth. |
| C．It stops deadly genetic diseases passing down to newly-born babies. |
| D．It turns out to be an advanced form of In Vitro Fertilization. |
| A．They pass down on to babies from their parents. |
| B．They prevent people’s heart from functioning normally. |
| C．Some children infected can be cured with proper treatment. |
| D．Babies can be infected with them through a donor’s egg. |
| A．Only when the baby to be born needs it to survive. |
| B．Only when the patient gets financially prepared. |
| C．Only when the clinic gets scientifically ready. |
| D．Only when the technique is ethnically accepted. |
| A．Supportive | B．Indifferent | C．Worried | D．Objective |
5 . Communication technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth. The first study to compare honesty across a range of communication media has found that people are twice as likely to tell lies in phone conversations as they are in emails. The fact that emails are automatically recorded — and can come back to haunt (困扰) you — appears to be the key to the finding.
Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, asked 80 students to keep a communication diary for a week. In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told. Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium. He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 per cent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 per cent: of phone calls.
His results to be presented at the conference on human-computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists. Some expected emailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the detachment (非直接接触) of emailing would make it easier to lie. Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication.
But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time. People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communication could later be used to hold them to account, he says. This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone.
People are also more likely to lie in real time—in an instant message or phone call, say— than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock. He found many lies are spontaneous (脱口而出的) responses to an unexpected demand, such as: “Do you like my dress?”
Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate. For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth. But, given his result, work assessment where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email.
1. What does the phrase “to stretch the truth” in the last paragraph mean?| A．to tell the truth | B．to understate something |
| C．to overestimate something | D．to deceive people |
| A．Because it takes more time to think than to speak. |
| B．Because lies in emails may do harm to their credit. |
| C．Because of the detachment of emailing. |
| D．Because they are practiced to be more honest in emailing. |
| A．Emails contain more lies than other communication media. |
| B．Face-to-face communication contains more lies. |
| C．Face-to-face communication contains more lies because it is not recorded. |
| D．Deception makes people uncomfortable, which reduces mistakes in phone calls. |
| A．Honesty is always the best policy. |
| B．Employees should choose suitable media for different communication purposes. |
| C．If honesty is important, employees should choose face-to-face talk. |
| D．Employees should be honest with their clients, their bosses and their rivals. |
6 . Deo had grown up barefoot in Burundi, but for a peasant boy he had done well. He was twenty-four. Until recently he had been a medical student, for three years at or near the top of his class. But he had spent the past six months on the run.
He had one friend who had seen more of the world than East Central Africa, a fellow medical student named Jean. And it was Jean who had decided that New York was where he should go. Deo was traveling on a commercial visa. Jean’s French father had written a letter identifying Deo as an employee on a mission to America. He was supposed to be going to New York to sell coffee. Deo had read up on coffee beans in case he was questioned. Jean’s father had also paid for the plane tickets. A fat book let of tickets.
He had heard of French soldiers behaving badly in Rwanda, and had even caught glimpses of them training militiamen(民兵) in the camps, but waking up and seeing a white person in the next seat wasn’t alarming. No one called him a cockroach (蟑螂). No one held a machete (大砍刀).
A voice was speaking to him. He turned and saw a policeman who seemed friendly. Deo spoke to him in French, but the man shook his head and smiled. He asked a question in what Deo guessed was English. Then a woman who had been sitting nearby got up and walked over French, at long last French, coming out of her mouth. Perhaps she could help, the woman said in French. Deo thought: “God. I’m still in your hands.” She arranged to sit next to him on the flight to New York and asked him lots of questions. Deo wanted to pay her back for helping him. So he tried to answer her questions. They talked most of the way to New York. After such long solitude (独处), it felt wonderful to talk.
When he reached Immigration the agent stared at Deo’s documents, then started asking questions in what had to be English. There was nothing to do except smile. The agent went off and came back with another man. He introduced himself to Deo in French. His name was Muhammad. He said he came from Senegal. Muhammad asked Deo the agents’ questions and also some questions of his own. For the agents, he asked Deo, “Where are you coming from?” When Deo said he had come from Burundi, Muhammad made a pained face and said to him in French, “How did you get out?”
There was no time even to attempt an answer. The agents were asking another question: Deo’s visa said he was here on business. What business?
Selling coffee beans, Deo told them through Muhammad. Just keep smiling, Deo told himself.
How much money did he have?
Two hundred dollars, Deo said with pride. The cash had been a gift from Jean. Exchanged for Burundian francs, it could have bought a lot of cows. But neither Muhammad nor the agents looked impressed.
Where was he staying?
Jean had told him he’d be asked this. A hotel, he said.
The agents laughed. A week in a hotel on two hundred dollars?
In 1994, airport security wasn’t what it soon would be. Muhammad said something in English to the agents. His words must have been the right ones, because after a few more questions, the agents shrugged at each other and let him through, into America.
He had no idea what he’d do next. After six months on the run, he was in the habit of not looking ahead. And what was there to fear? What could the man in the booth up ahead do to him? Whatever it might be, he’d already seen worse. God had taken care of him so far. And still was taking care of him, it seemed. As this serious-looking stranger, Muhammad, walked him out of Customs, he said that Deo could stay with him in New York City. But Deo would have to wait here for three hours. Muhammad worked at the airport as a baggage handler. He had to finish his shift. Could Deo wait three hours?
Only three hours? said Deo. Of course!
1. Which of the following is the reason why Deo left his hometown?| A．Jean persuaded him to go to New York. |
| B．Jean's father paid for the plane tickets for him. |
| C．He was an employee on a business mission to America. |
| D．He wanted to flee his home town to seek shelter in New York. |
| A．She arranged a seat for him. |
| B．She did the interpreting for him. |
| C．She asked the policeman to show mercy to him. |
| D．She talked with him which made him feel less lonely. |
| A．God is toying with him. | B．God is taking him under his wing. |
| C．He is at the mercy of God. | D．He can’t break away from God. |
| A．happy | B．sympathetic |
| C．terrified | D．relieved |
| A．he was a white person |
| B．he was brave and optimistic |
| C．he had a good academic performance |
| D．he was grateful to those who had helped him |
| A．Selling coffee beans in NewYork. |
| B．Turning to Jean’s father for help. |
| C．Being reduced to a beggar in the street. |
| D．Making a living in New York with Muhammad’s help. |
7 . The Occupy Wall Street protest movement has raised serious questions about the role of capitalist institutions, particularly corporations in American society. Well before the first protester set foot in Zucotti Park, a heckler(扰乱分子) urged Mitt Romney to tax corporations rather than people. Romney’s response-- “Corporations are people” stirred a brief but intense controversy. Now thousands of demonstrators have in effect joined the heckler, denouncing(抨击) corporations as “enemies of the people.”
Far more important than questions about what corporations are is the question of what attitude we should have toward them. Should we, as corporate public relations statements often suggest, think of them as friends (if we buy and are satisfied with their products) or as family (if we work for them)? Does it make sense to be loyal to a corporation as either a customer or as an employee？More generally, even granted that corporations are not fully persons in the way that individuals are, do they have some important moral standing in our society？
My answer to all these questions is no, because corporations have no core dedication to fundamental human values. Such corporations exist as instruments of profit for their shareholders. In fact, left to themselves, they can be serious threats to human values that conflict with the goal of corporate profit. Corporations are a particular threat to truth, a value essential in a democracy, which places a premium on the informed decisions of individual citizens. The corporate threat is most apparent in advertising, which explicitly aims at convincing us to prefer a product regardless of its actual merit. Their defining goal is to generate profit. There are cases when telling the truth is the best means to advance corporate profits. In 1982, when seven people in Chicago died from poisoned Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson appealed to its credo, which makes concern for its customers primary corporate goal，and told the entire truth about what had happened. This honesty turned a potential public-relations disaster into a triumph. But Johnson & Johnson’s impressive corporate credo ends by saying, “Our final responsibility is to our stockholders and must make solid profit. The credo is unclear about what happens when there is a conflict between responsible action and long-term profit.
None of this means that corporations are evil or that socialism should replace the free-enterprise system. As Michel Foucault said of all power structures, it’s not that corporations are bad but that they are dangerous. The self-serving corporate speech that fills our media and halls of government is particularly dangerous for our democracy. At least for this reason, the Occupy Wall Street protesters are right to distrust corporations.
1. Mitt Romney most probably believes that ___________.| A．individuals should pay more taxes than corporations |
| B．corporations should not be forced to pay more taxes |
| C．people should care more about corporations’ development |
| D．corporations should enjoy all the legal rights as people do |
| A．should be set as moral examples of the society |
| B．take employees’ faithfulness as part of their goals |
| C．contribute little to the most essential human values |
| D．are actually means by which people share profits |
| A．corporations always make profits at the expense of people’s health |
| B．customers should always keep an eye on the quality of any product |
| C．corporations take economic profit as their priority essentially |
| D．corporation profit is always in contradiction with customer interests |
| A．Corporations, People and Truth |
| B．Corporations Are Different from People |
| C．Corporations Are Untrustworthy |
| D．The Occupy Wall Street Protest |
8 . We all do it. We put off that dreaded task for five more minutes, then for thirty minutes, then for another hour, until it doesn’t get done at all. And the worst part is we still weren’t able to enjoy our day. We spend so much time stressing over that looming task that it deprives us from actually being able to focus on other tasks.
Why do we do it? We know it never ends well. The problem is that the cycle can feel nearly impossible to break. We get so caught up in the cycle of procrastination that we almost forget how to effectively tackle hard tasks.
Here are five tips for nipping procrastination in the bud and taking back control over your daily life.
Tackle the most difficult task first.
You’re probably thinking “Duh, I already knew that.” But you may not have realized that there’s scientific backing for this suggestion. We only have a limited supply of willpower. Once it’s been used up for the day, chances of us tackling hard tasks are pretty slim. Dive into your hardest task when your energy level is at its highest. This will ensure the best results.
When we push the hard tasks to the end of the day, it takes a toll on our energy all day long. In the end, stressing for hours over the task we’re procrastinating negatively affects all the other tasks on our list.
So next time you’re scheduling the items on your list, make sure to start out with worst one. It may not necessarily be the largest, but it should be the one you’re dreading the most. By accomplishing it so early in the day, you will feel energized and productive. You’ll know the rest of the day is all downhill and cruise through the list with remarkable speed.
Divide the task into smaller tasks.
We tend to get overwhelmed when a giant project looms ahead of us. We don’t know where to start or what to do first. Keep in mind that forests are made up of individual trees. Though you may not be able to take down a whole forest at once, you could certainly start with one tree (or even a branch).
If you need to organize your entire kitchen, start by working on just one cupboard. Organizing one cupboard is much more feasible than trying to get everything done in one swoop. Make a commitment to complete a small step each day, and you’ll find the task becoming less and less daunting with each new task that you accomplish.
Set a mid-day alarm.
There’s nothing more guilt-inducing than ending a day and realizing you haven’t accomplished a single task. We can avoid this rut by setting an alarm on our phone to ring every day around 1 p.m. When the ringer goes off, assess how many things on your list have been attended to.
Re-plan your schedule for the remainder of the afternoon and shift it around to take care of the most important item first. If necessary, you can indulge in a second cup of coffee to jumpstart your “second morning.” By doing this, you will avoid going to bed at night mulling over all the things you didn’t get done.
Dedicate yourself for a small period of time.
To stimulate productivity, there’s an old trick of setting a timer for ten minutes. By frantically racing the clock for that short period, you’ll likely find you become engrossed in your tasks and continue working.
The feeling of dread that has been on your mind will quickly be replaced with a sense of pride and satisfaction. Seeing what you can accomplish in ten minutes when you put your mind to it is quite motivating.
Schedule your tasks on the calendar.
Creating a game plan will help you move past the initial paralysis you feel. Instead of just writing the tasks down in a to-do list, take it a step further and identify when and how you’ll accomplish it.
For example, plan to go to the grocery store at 4:00 p.m. and start cooking dinner promptly at 4:30. By clearing up the anticipatory stress, you’ll avoid a large part of the dread that holds you back. Creating the plan is half the battle!
Though it feels impossible, you have it in you to accomplish everything that you need to every single day. With a fresh perspective, a little prodding (敦促), and a detailed plan, you’ll be well on your way to ending the procrastination cycle once and for all.
1. The word “procrastination” most likely means _______.| A．hesitation | B．delay | C．distinction | D．diminution |
| A．fully realize the importance and severity of the problem of procrastination |
| B．make an effort to keep the problem of procrastination well under control |
| C．take our time to identify the root problem of the habit of procrastination |
| D．prevent and cope with the issue of procrastination in the early stage |
| A．If we put off the hardest task to the end of the day, we can be more energetic. |
| B．It is of greater importance for us to see the “forest” than attend to the “tree”. |
| C．A small and steady step on the daily basis will make the task less overwhelming. |
| D．Having a second cup of coffee will help you compete morning commitment better. |
| A．trick you into being more anxious and desperate |
| B．keep you more concentrated and productive |
| C．help you move past the initial paralysis you feel |
| D．prevent you from feeling guilty when going to bed at night |
| A．Many people have slim hope to completely get rid of procrastination circle |
| B．creating a good plan can help you win the battle against procrastination |
| C．everybody may tend to procrastinate and there is little need for guilt |
| D．it is more than hopeful to conquer procrastination with the listed requirements |
9 . Like most robots, social robots use artificial intelligence to decide how to act on information received through cameras and other sensors. The ability to respond in ways that seem lifelike has been informed by research into such issues as how perceptions (知觉) form, what constitutes social and emotional intelligence, and how people can infer others’ thoughts and feelings. Advances in Al have enabled designers to translate such psychological and neuroscientific insights into algorithms that allow robots to recognize voices, feces and emotions; interpret speech and gestures; respond appropriately to complex verbal and nonverbal cues; make eye contact; speak conversationally; and adapt to people’s needs by learning from feedback, rewards and criticisms.
A 47-inch humanoid (类人物) called Pepper (from SoftBank Robotics) recognizes faces and basic human emotions and engages in conversations via a touch screen in its “chest,” About 15,000 Peppers worldwide perform such services as hotel check-ins, airport customer service, shopping assistance and fast-food checkout. Temi (from Temi USA) and Loomo (Segway Robotics) are the next generation of personal assistants—like Amazon Echo and Google Home but mobile, providing a new level of functionality. Loomo, for instance, is not only a companion but can also transform on command into a scooter (小型摩托车) for transport.
Social robots have particular appeal for assisting the world’s growing elderly population. The PARO Therapeutic Robot (developed by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), which looks like a seal, soft and cute, is meant to stimulate and reduce stress for those with Alzheimer’s disease and other patients in care facilities: it responds to its name by moving its head, and it cries for petting. Mabu (Catalia Health) engages patients, particularly the elderly, as a wellness aide, reminding them to take walks and medication and to call family members. Social robots are also gaining popularity with consumers as toys. Early attempts to include social behavior in toys, such as Hasbro’s Baby Alive and Sony’s AIBO robotic dog, had limited success. But both are resurging (复活), and the most recent version of AIBO has advanced voice and gesture recognition, can be taught tricks and develops new behaviors based on previous interactions.
Worldwide sales of consumer robots reached an estimated $5.6 billion in 2018, and the market is expected to grow to $19 billion by the end of 2025, with more than 65 million robots sold a year. This trend may seem surprising given that multiple well-funded consumer robot companies, such as Jibo and Anki, have failed. But a wave of robots is lining up to take the place of old robots, including BUDDY (Blue Frog Robotics), a big-eyed mobile device that plays games in addition to acting as a personal assistant and providing home automation and security.
1. What does the first paragraph mainly talk about?| A．How social robots receive information. |
| B．What research has been conducted about social robots. |
| C．Why social robots can respond in lifelike ways. |
| D．How designers translate insights into social robots. |
| A．filling an expanding variety of roles | B．getting higher intelligence |
| C．interacting with people | D．learning to respond in lifelike ways |
| A．social robots can have various forms and appearances |
| B．PARO can interact with people by moving its head like a dog |
| C．the most recent version of AIBO has achieved as great success as before |
| D．the sales of consumer robots have been increasing as ever expected |
| A．More companies will invest on social robots. |
| B．Social robots play nicely with human beings. |
| C．Social robots have great effects on elder people’s life. |
| D．Artificial intelligence enables social robots to make decisions. |
10 . A block chain is a data structure that stores time-ordered data in an ever-growing list, like an accounting ledger (分类账簿). The block chain data structure is maintained using a distributed, peer-to-peer network of computers with no central “master”. As with many new concepts, block chain technology generates much optimism and also a huge amount of interest and excitement. Just what is it good for?
In short, block chains may improve any process where people need to access, confirm, send or store information securely. This information could be a person’s identity, a product’s shipment history or digital property like money.
Typical databases, spreadsheets (电子数据表), and ledgers store information about objects, people, and the interactions between them. Much of the world’s information, from credit card transactions to medical and financial records, is stored in these types of systems.
These types of systems have considerable, well-documented weaknesses that arise from their being centralized. A centralized record is hard to understand and is exposed to unauthorized access or distribution. It is also, because it is a ‘master’ copy, exposed to permanent changing or deletion.
Block chains are also used to store information. Crucially, however, they differ in two ways.
First, information is parceled up into blocks and sealed. Bitcoin, for example, which is the most famous practical example of a production block chain, stores all transactions across the network every ten minutes or so in a single, newly formed block. Each block is then added to the previous one to form a chain.
Second, this “chain of blocks” is not stored centrally. Instead, each block is copied and distributed around an entire network of peers - be they individuals, public institutions, or businesses - using distributed ledger technology. (The terms “block chain” and “distributed ledger” are often used interchangeably; for the sake of clarity, block chain technologies tend to employ distributed ledger technology.)
Each time someone adds a new block to the chain, meanwhile it is added to everyone’s copy.
1. What is the biggest strength of a block chain?| A．It promotes people’s enthusiasm about new technology. |
| B．It strengthens the security of processing information. |
| C．It enables people to store more data in time order. |
| D．It stores a large part of world’s information. |
| A．they are difficult to operate | B．they can be accessed easily |
| C．they have a central “master” | D．they store considerable documents |
| A．making comparisons | B．giving examples |
| C．making a list | D．showing the effect and causes |
| A．To analyze the weaknesses of typical systems. |
| B．To encourage the popularity of the block chain. |
| C．To introduce the new concept of the block chain. |
| D．To compare the two different data structures. |
