1 . It’s common knowledge that the woman in Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous painting seems to look back at viewers, following them with her eyes no matter where they are in the room. But this common knowledge turns out wrong.
A new study finds that the woman in the painting is actually looking out at an angle of 15.4° off to the viewer’s right — well outside the range that people normally believe when they think someone is looking right at them. In other words, said the study author, Horstmann, “She’s not looking at you.”
This is ironic (讽刺), because the entire phenomenon of a person’s gaze (凝视) in a photograph or painting seeming to follow the viewer is called the “Mona Lisa effect”, which is absolutely real. If a person is illustrated or photographed looking straight ahead, even people viewing the portrait from an angle will feel they are being looked at. As long as the angle of the person’s gaze is no more than about 5 degrees off to either side, the Mona Lisa effect occurs.
Horstmann and his co-author were studying this effect for its application in the creation of artificial-intelligence avatars (虚拟头像) when Horstmann took a long look at the “Mona Lisa” and realized she wasn’t looking at him.
To make sure it wasn’t just him, the researchers gathered 24 people to view images of the “Mona Lisa” on a computer screen. They set a ruler between the viewer and the screen and asked the participants to note which number on the ruler intersected (相交) Mona Lisa’s gaze. To calculate the angle of Mona Lisa’s gaze as she looked at the viewer, they moved the ruler farther from or closer to the screen during the study. Consistently, the researchers found, participants judged that the woman in the “Mona Lisa” portrait was not looking straight at them, but slightly off to their right.
So why do people repeat the belief that her eyes seem to follow the viewer? Horstmann isn’t sure. It’s possible, he said, that people have the desire to be looked at, so they think the woman is looking straight at them. Or maybe the people who first coined the term “Mona Lisa effect” just thought it was a cool name.
1. It is generally believed that the woman in the painting “Mona Lisa” ________.| A．attracts the viewers to look back |
| B．seems mysterious because of her eyes |
| C．fixes her eyes on the back of the viewers |
| D．looks at observers wherever they stand |
| A．The Mona Lisa effect does not really exist. |
| B．The mystery of the woman’s smile in the painting. |
| C．The angle of the gaze in Mona Lisa effect. |
| D．Mona Lisa effect does not occur with Mona Lisa. |
| A．confirm Horstmann’s belief |
| B．create artificial-intelligence avatars |
| C．calculate the angle of Mona Lisa’s gaze |
| D．show how the Mona Lisa effect can be applied |
| A．Horstmann thinks it cool to coin the term “Mona Lisa effect”. |
| B．The Mona Lisa effect contributes to the creation of artificial intelligence. |
| C．Feeling being gazed at by Mona Lisa may be caused by the desire for attention. |
| D．The position of the ruler in the experiment will influence the viewers’ judgement. |
2 . A robot with a sense of touch may one day feel “pain”, both its own physical pain and sympathy for the pain of its human companions. Such touchy-feely robots are still far off, but advances in robotic touch-sensing are bringing that possibility closer to reality.
Sensors set in soft, artificial skin that can detect both a gentle touch and a painful strike have been hooked up to a robot that can then signal emotions, Asada reported February 15 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This artificial “pain nervous system,” as Asada calls it, may be a small building block for a machine that could ultimately experience pain. Such a feeling might also allow a robot to “sympathize” with a human companion’s suffering.
Asada, an engineer at Osaka University, and his colleagues have designed touch sensors that reliably pick up a range of touches. In a robot system named Affetto, a realistic looking child’s head, these touch and pain signals can be converted to emotional facial expressions.
A touch-sensitive, soft material, as opposed to a rigid metal surface, allows richer interactions between a machine and the world, says neuroscientist Kingson Man of the University of Southern California. Artificial skin “allows the possibility of engagement in truly intelligent ways”.
Such a system, Asada says, might ultimately lead to robots that can recognize the pain of others, a valuable skill for robots designed to help care for people in need, the elderly, for instance.
But there is an important distinction between a robot that responds in a predictable way to a painful strike and a robot that’s able to compute an internal feeling accurately, says Damasio, a neuroscientist also at the University of Southern California. A robot with sensors that can detect touch and pain is “along the lines of having a robot, for example, that smiles when you talk to it,” Damasio says. ‘It’s a device for communication of the machine to a human.” While that’s an interesting development, “it’s not the same thing” as a robot designed to compute some sort of internal experience, he says.
1. What do we know about the “pain nervous system”?| A．It is named Affetto by scientists. | B．It is a set of complicated sensors. |
| C．It is able to signal different emotions. | D．It combines sensors and artificial skin. |
| A．Delivered. | B．Translated. | C．Attached. | D．Adapted. |
| A．Robots can smile when talked to. |
| B．Robots can talk to human beings. |
| C．Robots can compute internal feelings |
| D．Robots can detect pains and respond accordingly. |
| A．Machines Become Emotional | B．Robots Inch to Feeling Pain |
| C．Human Feelings Can Be Felt | D．New Devices Touch Your Heart |
3 . Chinese scientists applied a specially developed new technology to laser-ranging (激光测距) telescopes, which enabled them to identify space waste more effectively than previous techniques, according to a study published in the Journal of Laser Applications. “After improving the pointing accuracy of the telescope through a neural (神经的) network , space debris (碎片) with a cross sectional area of one square meter ( 10 square feet) and a distance of 1 ,500 kilometers (932 miles ) can be identified," Tianming Ma, an author of the study from the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, Beijing and Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin, said in a statement.
Debris can include non-functional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, and other mission-related space waste. It is very dangerous for astronauts and spacecraft in orbit above the Earth as they travel very fast — up to 18,000 miles per hour. Worryingly, there are probably many millions of tiny debris pieces in low-Earth orbit, and tens of thousands larger than a softball, NASA said. Fortunately, there have been surprisingly few collisions.
Laser-ranging technology has previously been used to find space waste. However, these systems have their limitations when it comes to accurately identifying small, fast-moving pieces. In fact, previous laser-ranging methods have only been accurate to within about 0. 6miles.
In an attempt to overcome the inaccuracies in laser-ranging techniques, the Chinese team used so-called neural networks to improve the effectiveness of their telescope system. Neural networks are computing systems which are inspired by biological networks in the brain. They can learn to become better at tasks without being given a specific set of rules to follow. Ma and his team tested this method against more traditional techniques at the Beijing Fangshen laser range telescope station. According to the team, this is the first time that neural network has been used to significantly improve the pointing accuracy of a laser-ranging telescope. They say that the latest findings could have significant meaning for guiding spacecraft in orbit.
1. What are laser-ranging telescopes designed to do?| A．Set up a neural network in space. |
| B．Find out the precise position of space waste. |
| C．Help the telescopes work more accurately. |
| D．Confirm the amount and size of space waste. |
| A．Useless man-made objects in space. | B．Fast-travelling softballs. |
| C．Launch vehicle stages in low-Earth orbit. | D．Satellites moving too fast. |
| A．Rule followers. | B．Biological computing. |
| C．Machine learning. | D．Spacecraft guidance |
| A．New Technology Used to Find Space Waste |
| B．The First Telescope to Handle Space Debris |
| C．An Invention for Astronauts and Spacecraft |
| D．The Substitute for Laser-ranging Telescopes |
4 . When you’re on a fishing boat, you may see flocks of birds following in your track, hoping to catch a snack. Now scientists say they can use those birds’ behavior to track illegal fishing boats.
Here’s how it works: Researchers attached data recorders to the backs of 169 albatrosses (信天翁) in the Southern and Indian oceans. The devices weighed only an ounce and a half, but they included a GPS and were able to detect the presence and intensity of radar signals coming from boats. That information was then transmitted by satellite, so the researchers could track the location of the birds-and thus the radar-emitting boats-in real time.
The scientists then cross-checked that data against the known locations of boats, gathered from a system that boats use to declare themselves, called the Automatic Identification System (AIS). And differences appeared frequently.
More than a third of the times the birds’ recorders detected radar signals, and therefore a boat, no such boat appeared in the official log (航海记录)—meaning that the vehicles had likely switched off their Automatic Identification Systems—something the researchers say probably happens in illegal fishing operations.
The work suggests birds could be an effective boat-monitoring tool—as long as illegal fishing operations don’t target the birds. Fortunately, such a task would be difficult.
“Around fishing vessels, you can get hundreds of birds at any one time that are all flying around. So it’s not really possible to target a specific bird. And the birds with recorders on are not marked in any way. So it’s difficult for fishermen to pick out a specific bird," said study author Samantha Patrick, a marine biologist at the University of Liverpool.
Patrick’s bigger concern is that albatrosses often get hooked on fishing lines. And though regulations have been established to protect against that happening—with success—illegal boats don’t necessarily obey. So scientists might be underestimating the risk posed to albatross populations. But this system could mean that those illegal boats may have a tougher time flying under the radar.
1. What behavior of albatrosses can be used to track illegal fishing boats according to scientists?| A．Seeking snacks on a boat. |
| B．Following a boat to catch food. |
| C．Monitoring the location of the boats. |
| D．Keeping an eye open for illegal activities. |
| A．To carry a GPS. |
| B．To record the birds’ behavior. |
| C．To help satellite transmit information. |
| D．To detect radar signals from boats. |
| A．They are probably fishing illegally. |
| B．They needn’t declare themselves. |
| C．They don’t want to emit radar signals. |
| D．They want to avoid being followed by albatrosses. |
| A．Birds—Humans’ Friends |
| B．Data Recorders—A Helper to Albatrosses |
| C．AIS—A System to Declare Locations of Boats |
| D．Albatrosses—A Tool to Monitor Illegal Fishing Boats |
5 . After about two weeks of intense negotiations in Paris, delegates from around the world reached an international agreement on Dec. 12 to address climate change. For the first time in history, 195 countries have promised to reduce greenhouse gas（GHG）emissions and to increase these reductions over time.
The agreement goes beyond requiring developed countries like the US to take actions to cut down emissions. It's a universal agreement requiring some form of action from every country, rich or poor.
The agreement sets the date for an emissions peak "as soon as possible". It would also limit warming worldwide to less than 2℃ above the levels in the 1800s. According to scientific studies 2℃ is the point at which climate change will bring destructive consequences to the planet, including rising sea levels, severe droughts, increased flooding, destructive storms, and widespread food and water shortages.
The deal also urges wealthy countries to set a non- binding goal of providing more than $100 billion（650 billion yuan）per year in public and private financing by 2020 for poorer countries to help them invest in clean energy and combat the impact of climate change.
The Paris deal asks countries to make voluntary promises based on an analysis of each country's economy, politics and technology. However, the deal also includes a series of legally binding（有约束力的）requirements. It requires countries to reconvene every five years, starting in 2020, with updated plans that would cut their further emissions. Countries will also be legally required to reconvene every five years starting in 2023 to publicly report on their progress.
The Paris deal alone won't solve global warming. Its effectiveness will depend on whether each country enacts（立法）their promise. But the deal "could be viewed as a signal to global financial and energy markets, triggering a fundamental shift away from investment in coal, oil and gas as primary energy sources like wind, solar and nuclear power", according to The New York Times.
1. Which of the following is true according to the passage?| A．The agreement requires only developed countries to take actions to cut down emissions. |
| B．The agreement would limit warming worldwide to 2℃ less than the levels in the 1800s. |
| C．The agreement requires some form of action from all the countries in the world |
| D．The constant global warming will do great harm to the planet. |
| A．do something to fight against the influence of climate change |
| B．invest more in coal, oil and gas as primary energy sources |
| C．provide more than $100 billion per year in public and private financing |
| D．report on their progress of reducing their emissions every 5 years in Paris |
| A．Meet | B．Report. | C．Promise | D．Return. |
| A．a science magazine | B．a newspaper |
| C．a school text | D．an economic lecture |
6 . If the world wants to control global warming, water shortage and pollution, then we all need to welcome “flexitarian” diets, say scientists.
This means eating mainly plant-based foods, and is a key step toward an environment friendly future for all in 2050, they say. Food waste will need to be halved ad farming practices will also have to improve, according to the study arid out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Without action, the influence of the food system could increase by up to 90%
The authors say that he present food industry has a number of considerable environmental effects including being a great driver of climate change, using up freshwater and causing pollution through heavy use of chemical fertilizer. The study says that thanks to the population and income growth expected between 2010 and 2050, these effects could grow between 50-90%. This could push our world beyond is planetary boundaries, which the authors say represent a “safe operating space for humanity and the international community”.
However, the study finds that no single solution will avoid the dangers, so a combined approach is needed. So when it comes to climate change, the authors looked at what they called a “flexitarian” diet.
“We can eat a range of healthy dies but what they all have in common, according to the latest scientific evidence, is that they are all relatively plant-based,” said Dr. Marco from the University of Oxford. “You can go from a diet that has small amounts of animal products (some might call it a Mediterranean-based diet; we call it a flexitarian diet) over to a vegetarian(素食的) diet—we tried to stay with the most traditional one of these which in our view is the flexitarian one, but even this has only one serving of red meat per week.”
If the world moved to this type of diet, the study found that greenhouse gas emissions(排放物) from farming would be reduced by more than half.
Dr. Marco says that all measures combined can result in keeping both the planet and people healthy.
1. What is the IPCCs study about?| A．The role of modern farming practices. |
| B．The differences between various diets. |
| C．The effects of food industry on the planet. |
| D．The harmful consequence of global warming. |
| A．It is far too wasteful. |
| B．It has raised farmers’ income. |
| C．It contributes to the development of farming. |
| D．It is a key step to an environment-friendly society. |
| A．Eating a variety of food. |
| B．Eating a lot of animal products. |
| C．Eating vegetables grown without fertilizer. |
| D．Eating mostly plant-based meals and some red meat. |
| A．The water pollution will be controlled in 2050. |
| B．Less greenhouse gas will be produced. |
| C．Food waste will be reduced by half. |
| D．Much more money will be saved. |
7 . It sounds like science fiction, but the world's first floating dairy farm(奶牛场 )the brainchild of Dutch company Beladon, will become a reality.
Though the project has been in the works for years, the farm only recently got the green light for construction. This summer, a 900-ton platform was pulled to its current position in Rotterdam's harbor. It will soon be a multi-level home to 40 cows.
According to Peter, owner of Beladon, animal welfare was important when they were designing the farm. The finished farm will feature a “cow garden"on the top floor, with artificial trees and bushes to offer shade. A team of robots will be hired，collecting about 800 liters of milk per day. The milk will then be processed on the floor below and sold locally. In their free time. however, cows can walk a ramp(斜坡) to reach the firm ground on the bank.Tasty waste from the city-cut grass, potato skins, etc.- will be their main food source And waste from the farm will be used as fertilizer throughout Rotterdam.
The building will attract many visitors, but the real focus is food security. Getting cows on the water is a great step towards creating healthier cities. The idea first came in 2012, while Peter was in New York. When Hurricane Sandy hit, he watched the city's transportation paralyzed (瘫痪的)as Manhattan's roads were filled with water. Trucks for food distribution couldn’t move anymore.After two days. there was no fresh food in the stores, Then Peter had a thought: To create a climate-adaptive method of producing fresh, local food, why not harvest right on the water?"You going up and down with the tide, and you don’t need the transport."
Though it's just one small farm the project can serve as a model for cities across the globe. A building on the water is transportable, so you can move it when necessary.
1. What do we know about the dairy farm?| A．It is meant to serve local citizens. |
| B．It is out of the question. |
| C．It is located in the deep sea. |
| D．It is owned by the government. |
| A．They feed on the plants grown on the farm. |
| B．They have access to the real land. |
| C．They can wander in the real garden |
| D．Their waste can be fully used aboard. |
| A．To improve the local environment. | B．To add a new scenic spot. |
| C．To help ensure food supply. | D．To reduce pressure on transport. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Worried. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Supportive. |
8 . Fabien Cousteau is the grandson of Jacques Cousteau, an ocean scientist who brought the wonders of the sea to the attention of people around the world. Jacques Cousteau helped invent the Aqua-Lung(水肺) , now used by divers everywhere. Fabien Cousteau has followed a similar path,exploring the sea as a scientist and working to protect the oceans.
Oceans cover more than 70% of our planet. NOAA says we have created maps of less than 20% of the world's oceans, and only 5% have been explored. Space seems to have gotten much more attention , even though it's farther away. The International Space Station( ISS) has been around for more than 20 years , and more people have gone to the moon than have gone to the deepest point in the ocean.
"The ocean is our life support system. It is the very reason why we exist in the first place,'Fabien says.
But though the ocean is all around us , studying it is a challenge. Divers are limited in how far down they can go and how long they can stay below. Returning to the surface can be dangerous. Fabien has announced a plan to build a large research station under the ocean named Proteus,which is designed to deal with many of those problems. The power for the station is expected to come from solar energy and the movement of the ocean. Fabien says that the research base won't just be used to study and help protect the sea, but also to research new ways of creating energy , and perhaps even searching for new medicines. Proteus is also expected to have the first under water greenhouse in the world , so that the lab will be able to grow some of its own food.
Like the ISS , Proteus is designed so that it can grow in the future , as scientists decide to add new sections or equipment to the station. Fabien hopes to have the lab completed and ready to use by 2023.
1. What do we know about Fabien Cousteau?| A．He's doing what Jacques once did. |
| B．He took part in the work in the ISS. |
| C．He built an undersea laboratory. |
| D．He helped invent the Aqua-Lung. |
| A．To show the world's oceans are vast. |
| B．To prove oceans and space are vital. |
| C．To advise people to protect oceans. |
| D．To tell why oceans need exploring. |
| A．Environment-friendly. | B．Water-saving. |
| C．Expensive. | D．Risky. |
| A．Fabien's Ocean Research Achievements |
| B．Proteus: Research Lab Growing Gradually |
| C．Proteus : Plan for Underwater Version of ISS |
| D．Fabien's Dream about Promoting his Station |
9 . Most online fraud （诈骗）involves identity theft. Passwords help. But many can be guessed. Newer phones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers often have strengthened security with fingerprint and facial recognition. But these can be imitated. That is why a new approach, behavioural biometrics （生物统计学），is gaining ground.
It relies on the wealth of measurements made by today's devices. These include data from sensors that reveal how people hold their phones when using them, how they carry them and even the way they walk. Touchscreens, keyboards and mice can be monitored to show the distinctive ways in which someone's fingers and hands move. These features can then be used to determine whether someone attempting to make a transaction （交易）is likely to be the device's habitual user.
Behavioural biometrics make it possible to identify an individual's unique motion fingerprint"，says John Whaley, head of Unifyid, a firm in Silicon Valley that is involved in the field. When coupled with information about a user's finger pressure and speed on the touchscreen, as well as a device's regular places of use—as revealed by its GPS unit一that user's identity can be pretty well determined.
Used wisely, behavioural biometrics could be a great benefit. In fact, Unifyid and an unnamed car company are even developing a system that unlocks the doors of a vehicle once the pace of the driver, as measured by his phone, is recognised. Used unwisely, however, the system would become yet another electronic spy on people's privacy, permitting complete strangers to monitor your every action, from the moment you reach for your phone in the morning, to when you throw it on the floor at night.
1. What is behavioural biometrics for?| A．To ensure network security. | B．To identify network crime. |
| C．To track online fraud. | D．To gather online data. |
| A．By restricting and detecting the access to an account of users. |
| B．By spotting and revealing a device's regular places of use. |
| C．By monitoring and comparing the ways users interact with devices. |
| D．By offering and analyzing the operating system of devices. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Concerned. | C．Objective. | D．Favorable. |
| A．Health and wealth. | B．Science and technology. |
| C．Finance and economics. | D．Books and arts. |
10 . Scientists say they discovered an earth-like planet orbiting the star closest to our planet other than the sun.It is the closest planet ever found outside our solar system that could support life as we know it.This planet is just 4.2 light years away from us.It is so close that space scientists have compared it to a next door neighbor.They say it could be reached by an unmanned spacecraft before the end of the century.The newly-discovered planet is a little larger than the earth.Scientists have named it Proxima b.It orbits its sun, Proxima Centauri, once every 11days.
Alan Boss is the Chairman of NASA’s advisory group for planet exploration.He told VOA that Proxima b not only confirms the discovery of a planet, but also increases the number of other possible “earths” by a huge amount.Boss said it is possible that most stars may have at least one earth-like planet orbiting them.
This makes the possibility of living organisms increasingly likely.Boss said he believes human beings will prove that there is life in places other than the earth in his lifetime.“I am 65, ”he told VOA, “But I expect to still be alive when it happens.”
Paul Butler works at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.He told VOA that finding Proxima b “makes the case concrete” that there are other planets where life could exist.Paul Butler said the researchers used two telescopes in different countries to look for possible planets like the earth.Discovering Proxima b, he believes, changes the world.
“This work has resulted in the discovery of hundreds of planets around the nearest stars, and now a potentially habitable planet around the nearest star is in the sky, ” Butler said.
1. Which of the following does the newly-discovered planet move around?| A．The earth. | B．The sun. |
| C．Proxima Centauri. | D．Proxima b. |
| A．It is most likely that life exists on other planets besides the earth |
| B．Proxime b can be used to help people find more earth like planets. |
| C．There is at least one earth-like plane orbiting each star.. |
| D．Discovering Proxims b will change the world, |
| A．Exploring another sun. |
| B．Discovering Proxima b. |
| C．Researching life on other planets |
| D．Using telescopes to find earth like planets |
| A．Potentially Habitable Planets |
| B．Planet Exploration in the Universe |
| C．Stars with Earth like Planets Orbiting |
| D．A Neighboring Possible Earth like Planet |
