1 . As we all know, insects can be remarkably agile (灵活的) in flight. This is really hard to build into flying robots, but MIT Assistant Professor Kevin Yufeng Chen has developed an insect-sized drone (无人机) that approaches insects’ agility.
Typically, drones require wide open spaces. “If we look at most drones today, they’re usually quite big,” says Chen. “Most of their applications involve flying outdoors. The question is: Can you create an insect-sized drone that can move around in very crowded and complex spaces?”
According to Chen, he overcame many problems when building the drone. The insect-sized drone requires a fundamentally different construction from a larger one. The large drone is usually powered by a motor, but the motor loses efficiency as you shrink it. So, Chen says, “For an insect-sized drone, you need to look for alternatives.” The principal alternative until now has been employing a small, rigid actuator (执行器) built from new materials. Chen designed a more agile tiny drone using soft actuators instead of hard ones.
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1. What can we know about the actuator designed by Chen?| A．It weighs about six grams. |
| B．It drives the insect-sized drone. |
| C．It loses efficiency too much. |
| D．It employs conventional materials. |
2 . Scientists say they have developed a system that uses machine learning to predict when and where lightning will strike. The research was led by engineers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Lightning is a strong burst of electricity in the atmosphere. It can strike between clouds or between a cloud and the ground. Since lightning carries an extremely powerful electrical charge, it can be destructive and deadly. It is difficult to know exactly how many people die of lightning-related causes. European researchers have estimated that between 6,000 and 24,000 people are killed by lightning worldwide each year. The strikes can also cause power failure, destroy property, damage electrical equipment and start forest fires.
For this reason, climate scientists have long sought to develop methods to predict and control lightning. The system tested in the experiments uses a combination of data from weather stations and machine learning methods. The researchers developed a prediction model that was trained to recognize weather conditions that were likely to cause lightning. The model was created with data collected over a 12-year period from 12 Swiss weather stations in cities and mountain areas. The data related to four main surface conditions: air pressure, air temperature, relative humidity (湿度) and wind speed. The atmospheric data was placed into a machine learning algorithm (计算程序), which compared it to records of lightning strikes. Researchers say the algorithm was then able to learn the conditions under which lightning happens.
“Once trained, the system made predictions that proved correct almost 80 percent of the time,” the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology said in a statement. “It can now be used anywhere.”
Amirhossein Mostajabi, a PhD student at the institute, said current systems for gathering such data are slow and complex and require costly collection equipment like radar or satellites. “Our method uses data that can be obtained from any weather station,” he said. “This will improve data collection in very remote areas not covered by radar and satellite or in places where communication systems have been cut,” he added.
The researchers plan to keep developing the technology in partnership with a European effort that aims to create a lightning protection system. Scientists working on the Paris-based project are experimenting with a laser technology that could someday control lightning activity. The idea is that powerful, ground-based lasers can be positioned in the sky to direct energy from lightning.
Which is the correct order of how the system works?
① develop a prediction model.
② learn to recognize weather conditions.
③ collect related data.
④ input the data onto the computer.
⑤ make predictions.
| A．①→②→③→④→⑤ | B．③→④→①→②→⑤ |
| C．①→②→④→③→⑤ | D．③→①→②→⑤→④ |
3 . Cuaya and her colleagues decided to use brain images from MRI scanning to shed light on her hunch. They worked with dogs of various ages that had, until the experiment, only heard their owners speak just one of the two languages, Spanish or Hungarian. Not surprisingly, getting the dogs to happily take part in the experiment took some creative coaxing and animal training! The researchers first needed to teach Kun-kun and her 17 fellow participating dogs including a labradoodle, a golden retriever and Australian shepherds, to lie still in a brain scanner. Their pet parents were always present, and they could leave the scanner at any point.
What did Cuaya consider when choosing dogs for study?
| A．Age limits. | B．Brain patterns. |
| C．Language exposure. | D．Owners' commands. |
4 . Goffin’s cockatoos, a kind of small parrot native to Australasia, have been shown to have similar shape-recognition abilities to a human two-year-old. Though not known to use tools in the wild, the birds have proved skilful at tool use while kept in the cage. In a recent experiment, cockatoos were presented with a box with a nut inside it. The clear front of the box had a “keyhole” in a geometric shape, and the birds were given five differently shaped “keys” to choose from. Inserting the correct “key” would let out the nut.
In humans, babies can put a round shape in a round hole from around one year of age, but it will be another year before they are able to do the same with less symmetrical (对称的) shapes. This ability to recognize that a shape will need to be turned in a specific direction before it will fit is called an “allocentric frame of reference”. In the experiment, Goffin’s cockatoos were able to select the right tool for the job, in most cases, by visual recognition alone. Where trial-and-error was used, the cockatoos did better than monkeys in similar tests. This indicates that Goffin’s cockatoos do indeed possess an allocentric frame of reference when moving objects in space, similar to two-year-old babies.
1. How did the cockatoos get the nut from the box in the experiment?| A．By following instructions. | B．By using a tool. |
| C．By turning the box around. | D．By removing the lid. |
| A．Using a key to unlock a door. | B．Telling parrots from other birds. |
| C．Putting a ball into a round hole. | D．Grouping toys of different shapes. |
5 . Psychologist Susan Levine, an expert on mathematics development in young children the University of Chicago, found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills. Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of cognition(认知) after controlling for differences in parents’ income, education and the amount of parent talk, Levine said.
1. In which aspect do children benefit from puzzle play?| A．Building confidence. | B．Developing spatial skills. |
| C．Learning self-control. | D．Gaining high-tech knowledge. |
| A．Parents’ age. | B．Children’s imagination. |
| C．Parents’ education. | D．Child-parent relationship. |
6 . At 88, I remain a competitive runner. The finish line of my life is drawing close, and I hope to reach it having given the best of myself along the way. I’ve been training my body to meet the demands of this final stretch. But, I wonder, should I have asked more of my mind?
If I didn’t exercise, I would release the hungry beasts that seek their elderly prey on couches, but not in the gym. The more I sweated, the more likely it was my doctor would continue to say, “Keep doing what you’re doing, and I’ll see you next year.” My mind, on the other hand, seems less willing to give in to discipline. I have tried Internet “brain games”, solving algebraic problems flashing past and changing the route of virtual trains to avoid crashes. But these never approach my determination to remain physically fit as I move deeper into old age.
Though I have many friends in their 70s, 80s and 90s, I’ve been far too slow to realize that how we respond to aging is a choice made in the mind, not in the gym. Some of my healthiest friends carry themselves as victims abused by time. Other friends, many, whose aching knees and hips are the least of their physical problems, find comfort in their ability to accept old age as just another stage of life to deal with. I would use the world “heroic” to describe the way they cope with aging.
One such friend recently called from a hospital to tell me a sudden brain disease had made him legally blind. He interrupted me as I began telling him how terribly sorry I was: “Bob, it could have been worse. I could have become dead instead of blind.”
In spite of all the time I spend lifting weights and exercising, I realized I lack the strength to have said those words. It suddenly struck me that I’ve paid a price for being a “gym rat”. If there is one characteristic common to friends who are aging with a graceful acceptance of life’s attacks, it is contentment. Aging had to be more than what I saw in a mirror.
But rather than undertaking a fundamental change in the way I face aging. I felt the place to begin would be to start small. A recent lunch provided a perfect example.
I’ve always found it extremely difficult to concentrate when I’m in a noisy setting. At this lunch with a friend in an outdoor restaurant, a landscaper began blowing leaves from underneath the bushes surrounding our table. Typically, after such a noisy interruption, I would have snapped, “let’s wait until he’s finished!. ”, then fallen silent. When the roar(吼叫)eventually faded, my roar would have drained(消耗)the conversation of any warmth. It troubled me that even a passing distraction(分心)could so easily take me from enjoying lunch with a good friend to a place that gave me no pleasure at all. I wanted this meal to be different.
My years in gyms had taught me to shake off pains and other distractions, never permitting them to stop my workout or run. I decided to treat the noise this way. I continued talking with my friend, challenging myself to hear the noise, but to hold it at a distance. The discipline was so familiar to me in the gym—this time applied to my mind— proved equally effective in the restaurant. It was as though I had taken my brain to a mental fitness center.
Learning to ignore a leaf blower’s roar hardly equips me to find contentment during my passage into ever-deeper old age. But I left the lunch feeling I had at least taken a small first step in changing behavior that stood in the way of that contentment.
Could I employ that same discipline to accept with dignity the unavoidable decline awaiting me like the finish line? Hoping that contentment will guide me as I make my way along the path yet to be travelled.
1. The author’s question in Paragraph 1 implies that ________.| A．he feels unsatisfied with the result of the brain games. |
| B．he has never believed the necessity of mind training. |
| C．He has realized he should mentally prepare for aging. |
| D．he feels regret for not sharpening his thinking skills |
| A．He takes physical illnesses as they come. |
| B．He fears that his illness will become worse. |
| C．He needs to find a way through those hardships. |
| D．He sees life as a series of disappointments. |
| A．he had made small changes to adapt to aging. |
| B．the restaurant was not an ideal place for eating |
| C．distractions were not uncommon in everything life. |
| D．his roar had spoiled the friendly conversation. |
| A．Benefits of Regular Exercise |
| B．Old Age Hate and Blessing |
| C．Never Too Old to Learn |
| D．The Secret to Aging Well |
7 . 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. |
8 . E-cigarettes can damage vital immune system cells and may be more harmful than previously thought, a study suggests. Researchers found e-cigarette vapour disabled important immune cells in the lung and boosted inflammation (炎症).
The researchers caution against the widely held opinion that e-cigarettes are safe. However, Public Health England advises they are much less harmful than smoking and people should not hesitate to use them as an aid to giving up cigarettes.
The small experimental study, led by Prof David Thickett, at the University of Birmingham, is published online in the journal Thorax. Previous studies have focused on the chemical elements of e-cigarette liquid before it is vaped.
In this study, the researchers designed a mechanical process to mimic (模拟) vaping in the laboratory, using lung tissue samples provided by eight non-smokers. They found vapour caused inflammation and impaired the activity of alveolar macrophages cells (肺泡世噬细胞) that removed potentially damaging dust particles, bacteria and allergens. They sail some of the effects were similar to those seen in regular smokers and people with chronic lung disease.
They caution that the results are only in laboratory conditions and they are planning to do more research to better understand the long-term health impact the changes recorded took place only 48 hours.
Prof Thicket said while e-cigarettes were safer than traditional cigarettes in terms of cancer risk, they may still be harmful in the long-term. If you vape for 20 or 30 years, you can suffer from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), then that’s something we need to know about.
1. What’s the widely held opinion about e-cigarettes?| A．They’re more harmful. | B．They’re less harmful. |
| C．They’re unknown to people. | D．They’re harmless. |
| A．It’s believable. | B．It’s conducted narrowly. |
| C．It’s accepted by most people. | D．It’ s carried out in America. |
| A．They are safer in terms of mental problems. |
| B．They may be little harm in the long run. |
| C．They are safer with regard to cancer risk. |
| D．They can completely replace traditional ones. |
| A．Can e-cigarettes damage vital brain system cells? |
| B．Can e-cigarettes become popular among people? |
| C．Can e-cigarettes be recommended to smokers ? |
| D．Can c-cigarettes damage vital immune system cells ? |
9 . Because the commercial internet has been developed with so little regard for privacy, tech companies have been able to turn personal data into considerable profits, raising billions of dollars off their ability to collect and sell information about anyone who has wandered within shouting distance of their software. This week, Google announced a step in the right direction-but not a huge step, nor one that will stop Google from continuing to collect immense amounts of personal data.
At issue is how online companies track internet users as they browse (浏览) from site to site online, typically through cookies (information that a website leaves in your computer so that the website will recognize you when you use it again). The most harmful version, “third-party” cookies, is the web alternative of a company posting security guards across the internet to monitor what you do, even when you’re on other companies’ sites.
Google declared in a blog post Wednesday that it would no longer use or support third-party cookies, nor would it create or use any other technology that tracks individual users across the web. Given that Google is a main supplier of online advertising technology, its change in approach will impact far and wide.
That’s welcome news, although with huge amounts of warning. As Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation noted, third-party cookies were already on the retreat, with Apple and other makers of popular web browsers moving to block them. Meanwhile, Google, Facebook and other Big Tech companies continue to collect personal information in large quantities from people who use their sites and services through first-party cookies and similar techniques.
The concerns about personal data collection are the same whether it’s being collected through first-party or third-party techniques, said Michelle Richardson of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “Companies may use the information to discriminate among internet users, offering different goods, services and even prices to different users.”
Instead of helping advertisers track individuals, Google says, it is improving a technology that assigns users namelessly to large groups with common interests. That’s an improvement, even though it too may be at risk of abuse. But why do any form of tracking at all? Privacy advocates say pitches (兜售) can be targeted effectively by basing them on where the user is at the moment, not where he or she has browsed previously online.
Ultimately, lawmakers are going to have to lay down regulations giving people far more control over whether and how personal information is used online. Ideally the federal (联邦的) government will set a strong floor under online privacy protections, but until then it will be up to state lawmakers or voters to act, as this state has done with its groundbreaking online privacy laws. It’s good to see Google move the ball forward, but there’s much farther to go.
1. What does the underlined phrase “on the retreat” in Para 4 most probably mean?| A．Exposed. | B．Removed. | C．Emerging. | D．Fading. |
| A．is developing new technologies to stop data collection |
| B．refuses to work with companies tracking privacy |
| C．intends to abandon its advertising technologies |
| D．resolves to stop the use of third-party cookies |
| A．are still collecting personal information |
| B．are blocked by big companies like Apple |
| C．are mainly used by advertising companies |
| D．are less concerning than third-party cookies |
| A．It is less satisfactory than expected. |
| B．It needs to be more forceful to be effective. |
| C．It will accelerate the disappearance of cookies. |
| D．It has driven lawmakers to make new regulations. |
10 . Urban planners may soon have a new way to measure traffic jams. By putting in the different routes by which vehicles can travel between locations, researchers have developed a new computer algorithm (运算法则) that helps quantify regions of jams in urban areas and suggests ways around them.
The study, published in the Journal of Physics: Complexity, used traffic speeds from taxis in New York City to demonstrate how road infrastructure (基础设施) and driver behavior can create complex road networks that differ among cities.
The team approached the issue by designing a computer algorithm to capture the topology-or relationship between the different routes between locations-of road networks. “We found that the most significant traffic bottlenecks in Manhattan seem to arise as a result of the city’s structural layout,” said study co-author Daniel Carmody. “For example, the fact that a bridge enters Manhattan at a range where traffic is already limited due to Central Park slows traffic in the area considerably.”
The researchers performed a comparative analysis using traffic patterns in Chengdu, China, to test if the algorithm works equally well in areas with different layouts. Manhattan has a long and thin structure, while Chengdu is round. There are significant differences in the way traffic moves between these two different setups, the researchers said.
“The bottlenecks in Chengdu seem to arise due to the function of the buildings in a particular area,” Carmody said. “For example, it is hard to travel in and out of the central business district in Chengdu because of the large amount of traffic alone. Beltways, or faster streets around busy areas, have emerged in circles around this area, which is not surprising because this feature was intentionally built into the city.”
In Manhattan, the bridges and underpasses that form the entry and exit points cause traffic slowdowns. However, in lower Manhattan, where drivers seem to obey the lower posted speed limits, traffic moves more smoothly, forming a new traffic beltway with the southern end of Central Park acting as a block between lower and central Manhattan.
“It surprised us that there is an emergent beltway in such a busy area of Manhattan,” Carmody said. “This indicates that, unlike in Chengdu, beltways seem to arise from driver behavior even when they aren’t part of the structural plan of a traffic network.”
“The researchers have imagined that this technology could give urban planners a means to quantify traffic patterns, leading to better traffic,” Carmody said. “As methods of transportation develop, new problems will emerge, and we hope that our tools will give planners new ways to measure what is going on with city traffic.”
1. According to the new study, what contributes to traffic jams in Manhattan?| A．The number of bottlenecks and beltways. |
| B．The location of bridges and underpasses. |
| C．Road facilities and driver behavior. |
| D．Road signs and urban population. |
| A．compare the layouts of the two cities |
| B．find better infrastructure for one city |
| C．design traffic patterns with the algorithm |
| D．assess the effectiveness of the algorithm |
| A．Because of lower posted speed limits. |
| B．Because drivers follow the traffic rules. |
| C．Because it is planned in the traffic network. |
| D．Because a beltway has emerged around the area. |
| A．City planners. |
| B．Slower drivers. |
| C．Infrastructure developers. |
| D．Road sign designers. |
