1 . Robots are now being employed not just for dangerous tasks, such as discovering mines or rescuing people in disasters. They are also finding application as household helps and as nursing assistants. As the number of machines increases, which are equipped with the latest artificial intelligence and take on a growing variety of specialized and everyday tasks, the question of how people see them and behave towards them becomes ever more urgent.
A team led by Sari Nijssen of Radboud University and Markus Paulus, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Ludwig-Maximilians- Universitat (LMU), have carried out a study to determine the degree to which people show concern for robots and behave toward them based on moral principles.
According to Sari Nijssen, the study set out to answer the following question: "Under what circumstances would adults be willing to sacrifice robots to save human lives?" The participants were faced with a hypothetical (假设的) moral dilemma:Would they be prepared to put a single person at risk in order to save a group of injured persons? The intended victim presented in the situations was either a humanoid robot that had been humanized (人性化的) to various degrees or a robot that was clearly recognizable as a machine.
The study suggested that the more the robot was humanized, the less likely participants were to sacrifice it. Situations that included vivid stories in which the robot was described as a merciful being or as a creature with its own understandings, experiences and thoughts, were more likely to stop the study participants from sacrificing it in the interests of anonymous (无名的) humans.
"This result indicates that our study group attached a certain moral status to the robot," says Paulus. "One possible suggestion of this finding is that attempts to humanize robots should not go too far. Such efforts could come into conflict with their intended function—to be of help to us."
1. What has become a concern about robots?| A．How to treat them in life. | B．How to humanize them. |
| C．How to use them effectively. | D．How to find more applications. |
| A．where to experience risks. | B．when to sacrifice a robot. |
| C．which robot to work with. | D．what robots should be like. |
| A．Humanized robots offer less help to people. |
| B．Certain moral status should be attached to robots. |
| C．Humanizing robots too much may be improper. |
| D．Conflicts often happen between humans and robots. |
| A．Robots, a Must for Future | B．Robots Saved, People Take the Hit |
| C．Humanized Robots, a New Trend | D．Humanized Robots Replace Human |
2 . Vacation Deals Online
Sunbridge vacations
Booking with Sunbridge gives you the Sunbridge Advantage. This means one simple price covers everything. Unlike other websites, we don’t fool you with a low price for airfare, then sneak (偷偷地做) in charges for hotel, rental cars, and food until you’re paying more than you wanted. Our price is all inclusive and can’t be beat !
The Sunbridge Advantage also includes our Sunbridge Resort Ambassadors. Two of our friendly, helpful staff members will meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel.
Punta Senca Resort
Punta Senca Resort features one of the finest Caribbean beaches. The facilities(设施) include garden areas with quiet relaxation space and over two miles of paths for walking and jogging. The beauty of the garden space is improved by thousands of tropical flowers, native sculptures, and three spectacular fountains.
Punta Senca is one of our most family-friendly attractions. One option any family should consider is our Family Package, in which up to two children under ten years old stay and eat free. We know you love your family, but we also know that sometimes different family members prefer different activities. While Mom and Dad are cared for in our Spa and Wellness Center, our friendly staff can help the kids explore the island through a variety of activities including horseback riding, sailing lessons, and bike trips.
Punta Senca also features a variety of restaurants offering exciting dining experiences. We have a steakhouse, a bakery and coffee shop, a home-style Italian restaurant, a seafood restaurant serving fresh-caught fish from local fishermen, and a casual bar and grill for dining on the beach.
Guest review
Sara P. 09/23/2019
My family and I went to Punta Senca for a week and it was fine. But just that——fine. I really was expecting something a little more special. For example, I was shocked to find the different restaurant options weren’t all open every night of the week. Most nights, only two or three of the restaurants were open. And I really was unimpressed by the food.
1. What is the main benefit of the Sunbridge Advantage?| A．A relatively low total price. | B．A small hotel charge. |
| C．A discount on food. | D．A low airfare. |
| A．It provides special food for children. |
| B．It has different recreation options. |
| C．It has playground equipment. |
| D．It offers group transportation. |
| A．Delightful | B．Unpleasant |
| C．Rewarding | D．Ordinary |
3 . If you’ve ever been on a fishing boat, you’ve probably seen crowds of birds following it, hoping to catch a snack. Now scientists use those birds’ behavior to track illegal fishing boats.
Researchers attached data loggers to the backs of 169 albatrosses (信天翁) in Indian oceans. Weighing only 42 grams, the devices included a GPS, which enabled them to detect the presence and intensity of radar signals emitting from boats. That information was then sent 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, collected from a system boats use to declare themselves, called the Automatic Identification System (AIS). And noticeable differences appeared frequently.
More than a third of the times the birds “loggers” detected radar signals, and therefore a boat, but no such boat appeared in the official log—meaning that the vehicles had likely switched off their AIS—something that 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 boats, you can find hundreds of birds at any one time that are flying around. And the birds with loggers are not marked in any way. So it’s not really possible for fishermen to pick out a specific bird.
But what concerns researchers is that albatrosses often get caught by some fishing boats. 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.
1. What characteristic of albatrosses do scientists take advantage of in their research?| A．Their feeding patterns. |
| B．Their sense of direction. |
| C．Their greedy behaviors. |
| D．Their habit of following fishing boats. |
| A．To seek more fishes. |
| B．To have it mistaken for another. |
| C．To avoid being detected. |
| D．To save the trouble of declaring itself. |
| A．Identifying birds with loggers. |
| B．Monitoring illegal boats. |
| C．Tracking radar signals automatically. |
| D．Fishing illegally. |
| A．AIS: an Effective System to Locate Boats |
| B．Humans Are Good at Discovering Birds’ Nature |
| C．Data Loggers Help Fishermen Get a Good Harvest |
| D．Scientists Use Birds to Track Illegal Fishing Operations |
Whatsonstage.com is the UK’s biggest and best online guide to the performing arts including theatre, opera, classical music, dance and so on.
◆ The Lion King
Musical: The stage adaptation of the Disney film taken from an original African story. A young lion grows up and learns that taking over the pride requires wisdom and maturity(成熟).
Place: Lyceum Theatre, Wellington Street, London
Telephone: 0870 243 9000
Date: Friday, 18 Nov. 2015
Ticket price: ￡37.5
◆ Oliver
Musical: Dickens’ story of a boy in a London workhouse and his adventures on the way to his family. The songs include “Food glorious food”, “You’ve got to pick a pocket or two”, “Who will buy this wonderful morning”, “I am reviewing the situation” and “Consider yourself at home.”
Place: Theatre Royal, Catherine Street, London
Telephone: 020 7494 5061
Date: Thursday, 17 Nov. 2015
Ticket price: ￡25, but now save 20%
◆ Jersey Boys
Musical: It tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four seasons: the blue-collar kids from New Jersey formed a singing group and became famous. The musical features many of the group’s popular songs such as “Big girls don’t cry”, “Oh, what a night” and “Can’t take my eyes off you”.
Place: Prince Edward Theatre, Old Compton Street, London
Telephone: 0870 850 9191
Date: Saturday, 19 Nov. 2015
Ticket price: ￡22.5
◆ Alls Well That Ends Well
Play: A romantic story. Helena, daughter of a poor physician, loves Bertram, son of a Countess(女伯爵).
Place: Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Park Street, London
Telephone: 020 7401 9919
Date: Sunday, 20 Nov, 2015
Ticket price: ￡40.5
1. If Mary is available on Friday, which of the following should she call to buy a ticket?
| A．0870 850 9191 | B．020 7494 5061 |
| C．0870 243 9000 | D．020 7401 9919 |
| A．Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre |
| B．Lyceum Theatre |
| C．Prince Edward Theatre |
| D．Theatre Royal |
| A．To show the importance of Whatsonstage.com |
| B．To give some information about the performing arts. |
| C．To introduce some famous English theatres. |
| D．To teach readers how to use the online guide. |
5 . Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are compounds(化合物;复合物) that are set to solve some tough challenges: producing water in the desert, removing greenhouse gases from the air and storing dangerous gases more safely.
The Arizona desert is really dry. Anyone stuck in it without water would die from dehydration (脱水) within three days, unless he had one of Omar Yaghi's next-generation water harvesters, who is a chemist at the University of California, Berkeley. Although daytime wetness is only about 10 percent, this rises to 40 percent at night, which means there's enough water in the atmosphere to support life - if it can be transformed into liquid form.
That's exactly what Yaghi's invention does. It's about the size of a small microwave oven, designed to suck the water from the air at night and turn it into drinking water the next day using only the heat of the sun as its power source. What makes it work is a special material called a MOF, which at normal temperatures attracts water molecules (分子) onto the surface of its internal small holes. Warm it up and get the water, each harvest producing one-third of a cup of pure drinking water. "A device the size of a washing machine could produce enough water for the basic needs of a household," says Yaghi.
These crystalline (结晶的) groups of metals linked by organic molecules can be made into materials with an extremely high absorption ability, attracting specific molecules to their surfaces. In this way, MOFscling toa variety of liquids and gases.
MOFs work thanks to their distinctive structure. In fact, one MOF the size of a sugar cube has so many small holes that they would cover an area as large as six football fields. MOFs are also extremely stable, light and have many different uses: their molecular structure can be varied to attract specific molecules. Adding a small amount of heat or pressure causes the MOF to give what it's holding. More than 70,000 different MOFs have been produced to date for various applications.
1. Why is the Arizona desert mentioned in the second paragraph?| A．To introduce water harvesters. |
| B．To stress the importance of water. |
| C．To show the severity of its condition. |
| D．To express the urgent need for water there. |
| A．Solar energy. |
| B．Water molecules. |
| C．Metal-organic frameworks. |
| D．MOFs' internal small holes. |
| A．Give off. |
| B．Tum into. |
| C．Hold onto. |
| D．Break down. |
| A．The future of the MOF technology. |
| B．Other uses of the MOF technology. |
| C．The improvement to the MOF technology. |
| D．Possible limitations of the MOF technology. |
Nike
In the Greek myth, Nike is the goddess of victory and the source of inspiration for soldiers. This logo represents the wing in the famous statue of the Greek goddess. Nike’s logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson in 1971 for $35, and was registered as a trademark in 1995.
McDonald’s
The logo was designed in 1962 by Jim Schindler to resemble the archshaped(拱形的) signs on the side of the company’s then walk-up hamburger stand. Later on, the two golden arches were combined together to form the M. The McDonald’s name was added to the logo in 1968.
Apple
There are different stories behind Apple’s logo. The first logo was a reference to the religious story of Adam and Eve, in which the apple represented the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. One year later, the second logo was designed in 1977 by Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne, and it described Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. This logo didn’t stay long. One year later it was replaced almost immediately by graphic designer Rob Janoff’s “rainbow apple”, a rainbow-colored silhouette(轮廓) of an apple with a bite taken out of it. And then the rainbow-colored apple was replaced by the one-colored logo in 1998. It has not been changed so far.
Mercedes Benz
The Mercedes Benz logo, which was originally created by Gottlieb Daimler in 1909, consists of a simple description of a three-pointed star that represents its rule of the land, the sea and the air. The company was founded by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. Mercedes is the name of Maybach’s elder daughter, while Benz came as a result of a combination with Benz, Cie and DMG in 1926.
Adidas
The Adidas logo, which was created by the founder of the company Adi Dassler, represents mountains, pointing towards the challenges that are seen ahead and goals that can be achieved. The logo was used for the first time in 1967.
1. What does the author think of the stories of the great logos?
| A．They are boring. | B．They are out of date. |
| C．They are attractive. | D．They are practical. |
| A．The goddess of victory. |
| B．The source of inspiration for soldiers. |
| C．The statue of the Greek goddess. |
| D．The wing of the Greek goddess. |
| A．the religious story of Adam and Eve |
| B．a bitten apple with only one color |
| C．Newton’s sitting under an apple tree |
| D．the rainbow-colored bitten apple |
| A．Nike’s logo | B．Apple’s logo |
| C．The Mercedes logo | D．The Adidas logo |
| A．Mercedes Benz –McDonald’s – Nike – Apple. |
| B．Nike – McDonald’s – Apple – Mercedes Benz. |
| C．McDonald’s – Apple – Nike – Mercedes Benz. |
| D．Nike – Mercedes Benz – McDonald’s – Apple. |
7 . Reducing plastic waste isn't easy because the cheap material is found in almost every household item. Now, a delicious and nutritious solution has come up to help reduce our dependence on this environmental hazard.
David Christian, the co-founder of Evoware, says the idea of creating the biodegradable (生物降解的) products came from concern at the country’s high pollution rate. Indonesia is home to four of the world's worst polluted rivers. Since single-use packaging is a large contributor to the problem, Evoware decided to deal with that first.
After investigating various materials, the company settled on seaweed. Unlike corn, commonly used for biodegradable containers, seaweed does not require resources like water or large amounts of space. Since Indonesian farmers already harvest more seaweed than they can sell, it's easy for the company to find the material.
Though they will not reveal their production process, Evoware says the seaweed packaging contains no chemicals and is safe to consume. The company has also invented single-use cups, which can break down 30 days after they're thrown away.
While replacing plastic with the seaweed products may seem appealing to most of us, it is a hard-sell in Indonesia. According to Christian, ''The awareness to reduce single-use plastic is still very low. This makes our bioplastic unnecessary.” Also a factor is the cost, which is higher than using plastic. Hopefully, Evoware will succeed in convincing Indonesians and people worldwide that switching to their products will be helpful to protecting our beautiful planet.
1. What problem did Evoware decide to deal with first?| A．Ways to clean the four worst polluted rivers. |
| B．What nutritious materials for people to use. |
| C．How to deal with single-use packaging. |
| D．Means to contribute to the country's economy. |
| A．It didn't require much space and was easy to get. |
| B．It could be found everywhere in his country. |
| C．It was most commonly used for packaging. |
| D．It grew thickly in most of the polluted rivers. |
| A．Their seaweed products have won government support. |
| B．Sometimes it's hard to get people to reduce the use of plastics. |
| C．Their new products have received worldwide popularity. |
| D．The cost of making seaweed products will be lowered soon. |
| A．Something lasting long. | B．Something hard to accept. |
| C．Something easy to get. | D．Something commonly seen. |
8 . Supermarket shelves are filled with plant-based alternatives (可代替品) to cow milk, including soy, nut, and coconut milk. These products are popular with consumers who cannot drink cows’ milk for health reasons, as well as with those concerned about animal welfare and environmental sustainability. While the dairy-free (非乳制的) options work well with cereal or in coffee, they fail miserably when it comes to making milk-based products like cheese or yogurt. However, these shortcomings may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a new company in California, which has figured out how to create animal-free milk in a laboratory!
Perumal Gandhi and Ryan Pandya founded the company in 2014 after becoming increasingly annoyed with the lack of cows’ milk-free alternatives, particularly for cheese. For Gandhi, who stopped consuming animal products five years earlier due to environmental and animal welfare concerns, the motivation to create a better alternative stemmed from his love of cheesy pizza. Pandya was spurred (被激发) to take action after being forced to eat some “really bad” dairy-free cream cheese on his sandwich.
The two MIT biomedical engineering scientists decided to join forces to create a more realistic alternative to dairy-based products. In their university lab, the pair spent nine months first isolating (分离) cow DNA then inserting it into yeast (酵母). This genetic modification (改造) enabled the yeast to produce the necessary milk proteins. The final step of the process involved mixing the proteins with some plant nutrients and fats.
The dairy-free milk not only tastes like the real thing but is also healthier, has a longer shelf life and, most important of all, is Earth friendly. According to the company’s website, when compared to conventional (常规的) milk production, their process uses 65% less energy, creates 84% less greenhouse gas emissions (排放) and requires 91% less land and an amazing 98% less water! Best of all, since it contains real milk proteins, the product behaves like the cow-produced version, which means vegetarian (素食的) consumers will no longer have to deal with the unpleasant cheese on their sandwiches and pizzas.
The company plans to bring their creation to market later this year and their first product will most likely be cheese since there are already many good cows’ milk products available to consumers.
1. The underlined word “those” in paragraph 1 refers to _______.| A．actions | B．products | C．people | D．reasons |
| A．their deep concern for the environment |
| B．their worry that farm animals were poorly treated |
| C．the over-consumption of the dairy-based products |
| D．the poor taste of dairy-free cheese presently available |
| A．The dairy-free products cannot be stored for a long time. |
| B．Cow farming causes considerable environmental damage. |
| C．The new products will taste better than dairy-based ones. |
| D．The dairy-free milk will be more expensive than cow’s milk. |
| A．Healthier Cheese |
| B．New Milk Saves Planet |
| C．Making Milk without Cows |
| D．Fresher Milk, Better Future |
9 . While bees hopping from one flower to another is vivid to watch, having bees disturbing a backyard barbecue certainly isn’t. They may seem like pesky creatures to get rid of, but there are quite a few things you may not know about bees, especially the impact they have on our livelihood.
The main purpose of bees, particularly honey bees, is to help pollinate the plants around them. According to the Department of Entomology at Pennsylvania State University, pollinators (such as bees) help to fertilize plants, which results in “the formation of seeds and the fruit surrounding seeds”. Pollinators are necessary for three-quarters of our major food crops, including fruits, vegetables, and nuts. An estimated 300,000 species of plants need pollinators. That’s around 80 to 95 percent of plant species. Without pollinators, the number of crops we have will take a serious hit.
Other pollinators can help out with this process including butterflies, beetles, and flies. Even some birds and bats can be pollinators. However, bees of various species are known for being natural pollinators for plants.
Unfortunately, for years there has been an alarming decline of bees around the globe. The University of Vermont published a study stating that 23 percent of the wild bee population declined between 2008 and 2013. 139 counties in parts of California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, west Texas and the Mississippi River valley have taken the worst hit in wild bee declines. Since 39 percent of U.S. croplands rely on pollinators for their crop including those beloved apple orchards and pumpkin patches in the fall, we are facing a serious threat.
By taking care of the bees, our world is able to benefit in terms of agricultural income and nutritious food supply. You may not be able to make a huge change on an industrial level, but as someone with a landscape of your own, why not help save the bees?
1. What is the best title for the passage?| A．Bees Is Disappearing? |
| B．How You Can Save Bees? |
| C．How Bees Help Pollinate the Plants? |
| D．Why You Shouldn’t Kill Bees in Your Yard? |
| A．To provide delicious honey. |
| B．To disturb backyard barbecue. |
| C．To get rid of some pesky creatures. |
| D．To help pollinate the plants around them. |
| A．To show the diversity of plant species. |
| B．To show how we depend on plants. |
| C．To prove the importance of pollinators such as bees. |
| D．To make a comparison between plants which need pollinators and which don’t. |
| A．Because the bee population has decreased sharply. |
| B．Because lots of wild bees have been hit by people. |
| C．Because many people are attacked by wild bees. |
| D．Because the croplands have produced less crops in the fall. |
10 . Recently according to a new research, humans have had a link to starches (含淀粉的食物) for up to 120,000 years — that’s more than 100,000 years longer than we’ve been able to plant them in the soil during the time of the ice Age’s drawing to an end. The research is part of an ongoing study into the history of Middle Stone Age communities.
An international team of scientists identified evidence of prehistoric starch consumption in the Klasies River Cave, in present-day South Africa. Analyzing small, ashy, undisturbed hearths(壁炉) inside the cave, the researchers found “pieces of burned starches” ranging from around 120,000 to 65,000 years old. It made them the oldest known examples of starches eaten by humans.
The findings do not come as a complete surprise — but rather as welcome confirmation of older theories that lacked the related evidence. The lead author Cynthia Larbey said that there had previously only been genetic biological evidence to suggest that humans had been eating starch for this long. This new evidence, however, takes us directly to the dinner table, and supports the previous assumption that humans’ digestion genes gradually evolved in order to fit into an increased digestion of starch.
Co-author Sarah Wurz said, “The starch remains show that these early humans living in the Klasies River Cave could battle against their tough environment and find suitable foods and perhaps medicines. And as much as we all still desire the tubers (块茎), these cave communities were gilling starches such as potatoes on their foot-long hearths. They knew how to balance their diets as well as they could, with fats from local fish and other animals.”
As early as the 1990s, some researchers started to study the hearths in the Klasies River Cave. Scientist Hilary Deacon first suggested that these hearths contained burned plants. At the time, the proper methods of examining the remains were not yet available. We now know human beings have always been searching for their desired things.
1. When did humans begin to farm starches?| A．After the Ice Age. | B．After the Middle Stone Age. |
| C．About 20,000 years ago. | D．About 100,000 years ago. |
| A．Starch diet promoted food culture. | B．Starch diet shaped humans’ evolution. |
| C．Starches had a variety of functions. | D．Starches offered humans rich nutrition. |
| A．They were smart and tough. | B．They preferred plants to meat. |
| C．They were generally very healthy. | D．They got along with each other. |
| A．Great Civilization of South Africa | B．The Evolution of Foods in History |
| C．Starches--the Important Food of Today | D．Big Findings--the Starches in Ancient Times |
