1 . Katie always wanted to be a performer. She, the youngest of, the three kids from Cleveland, was crazy about musicals and Disney movies from an early age and would often watch them singing with her mom, Karen. However, Katie’s happy childhood took a turn when her mother was diagnosed(诊断)with cancer. When the doctor informed the family that Karen’s disease was terminal, they decided to make a trip to Disney World.
The family spared no expense for their once-in-a-lifetime vacation and stayed at Disney’s hotel for eight nights. They spent their days in the parks, seeing the sights, greening characters, all the while pushing Karen in her wheelchair and watching her face light up with joy. They all shared in the merriment of experiencing the parks for the first time with Karen. The trip to Disney World at the height of Karen’s battle with cancer slowed them to escape into a world of magic and laughter. This was the day Katie decided she wanted to work for Disney.
Sadly, Karen lost the battle and died later, but the whole family remembered her every day and often thought of that Disney vacation Katie went on to go after her dream. After she received her degree in musical theater, she struggled for years, working as a waitress and trying to be a performer. Her hard work finally paid off when she was hired to work for Disney.
As a Disney performer, Katie is aware that many other families visit the parks and have similar stories to her own. She encourages everyone, especially children, who may be experiencing a hard time. “Every moment -is meant for you, even the painful ones.” she says. “It’s just like in your favorite Disney movie: There is always some kind of conflict or hardship or pressure. Remember to celebrate those moments, too, because they are taking you to whatever your version of a happy ending is.”
1. What made Katie decide to work for Disney?| A．The dream that she wanted to live a lire full magic. |
| B．The memory that she watched Disney movies as a kid. |
| C．The great joy the Disney vacation brought to her family. |
| D．The great courage her mother showed in fighting cancer. |
| A．Kind and curious. | B．Patient and helpful. |
| C．Strict and independent. | D．Tough and determined. |
| A．Sweet is pleasure after pain. | B．Experience must be bought. |
| C．Many drops make a shower. | D．Good medicine tastes bitter. |
2 . In 2012, James Cameron, creator of Avatar and Titanic, became the first person to reach the Challenger Deep. When he arrived at the deepest spot on Earth at 7 miles below sea level, he spent hours mapping the region and taking photos and samples.
“As human beings, we’re drawn to absolutes—the deepest, the highest, the coldest, the farthest,” he says. “And as a storyteller and curious monkey, I just wanted to see what was there.” The answer is obvious—plastic and more. “Our so-called civilization is using the ocean as its toilet,” Cameron says. “Unless this changes, ocean ecosystems are going to continue their rapid collapse.”
Despite decades of environmental studies, the impact of plastic and other forms of pollution on oceans are not entirely understood. Initial studies appear to indicate that ingesting(摄取) them—either directly or indirectly—could cause disease. Plastics can also release poisonous substances into the water, which could potentially impact animal populations.
But plastic is just one of the problems facing oceans that have yet to be fully understood. “Plastic waste in the ocean is horrifying but is only the most obvious of our many deadly waste streams, which include carbon that’s heating the atmosphere and making the ocean acidic, and the run-off nutrients from all the world’s agriculture, which is causing anoxic(缺氧的) dead zones the size of countries,” Cameron says.
Oceans, like the rest of the world, are impacted by the burning of fossil fuels and the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide—about 30 percent of which is absorbed by the sea. This absorption causes ocean acidification, where the pH level is altered to become more acidic. As a result, it’s harder for some creatures to form shells and skeletons and countless species at the base of the food web can struggle to survive, which, scientists say, has the potential to cause huge disruptions to entire ecosystems. Indeed, ocean acidification is thought to have played an important role in Earth’s worst-ever mass extinction event 252 million years ago.
The effect of climate change on the world’s oceans will likely worsen in coming decades. Last June, scientists announced carbon dioxide levels had reached the highest levels since human records began. The last time carbon dioxide levels were this high was during the Pliocene era, between 3 and 5 million years ago, when global temperatures were about 4 degrees Celsius warmer than they are today. Current climate models suggest that if greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current trend, we may be on course to see 4 degrees of warming by 2100.
As a result, understanding the role oceans have on global systems is becoming more and more important.
1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?| A．The author’s feelings to the ocean. | B．Cameron’s movies and remarks. |
| C．The author’s discoveries under the sea. | D．Cameron’s observation and concern. |
| A．Several countries are suffering from anoxic dead zones. |
| B．More concern should have been given to the pollution on oceans. |
| C．Plastic is supposed to be the most serious environmental problem. |
| D．Ocean acidification removes the nutrients from agricultural products. |
| A．Decreases. | B．Destruction. |
| C．Diseases. | D．Discrimination. |
| A．To call on people to protect sea animals. |
| B．To compare current situations with the past. |
| C．To explain how serious the ocean problem is. |
| D．To prove pollution to be the cause of acidification. |
3 . ◆Protect the natural and cultural heritage. Don’t damage or deface any buildings，displays and other facilities. Take care of all plants. Put rubbish in the bins provided.
◆Take care when you are going up and down steps or stairs and when you are walking nearby the waters.
◆Please buy tickets before entering the scenic spot. One ticket is only for one person. Adult：＄60 per ticket. Children over 6 and under 18，half price. People over 60 and children under 6 are free.
◆If you are going into the wooded and hilly lands，for your own safety，please go with three people at least and don't take any tinder(易燃物）along with you. The hill is steep so please take care of yourself.
◆This scenic spot is the reserve of water source: No fishing，swimming，washing and any behaviors that are harmful to the water source. Meanwhile，please follow the management rules of the scenic spot conscientiously.
◆Opening time：From Monday to Friday，8：00 a. m.～18：00 p.m.；From Saturday to Sunday，6：00 a. m:一24：00 p. m.
◆Small animals such as rabbits，peacocks，squirrels，frogs must be taken care of: None of them shall be killed.
If you have any trouble in visiting our world natural park，please call 477一866一7044．Our staff will do our best to help you.
1. How much will be paid for a 65-year-old man with his 8-year-old grandson?| A．Free. | B．＄30. |
| C．＄60. | D．＄120. |
| A．clean | B．polluted |
| C．dangerous | D．colorful |
| A．Tourists can hike alone in the hilly lands. |
| B．Small animals are under protection in the park. |
| C．Children can play with small animals. |
| D．Tourists can have a swim in the water. |
4 . Hollywood’s theory that machines with evil(邪恶) minds will drive armies of killer robots is just silly. The real problem relates to the possibility that artificial intelligence(AI) may become extremely good at achieving something other than what we really want. In 1960 a well-known mathematician Norbert Wiener, who founded the field of cybernetics（控制论）, put it this way: “If we use, to achieve our purposes, a mechanical agency with whose operation we cannot effectively interfere(干预), we had better be quite sure that the purpose put into the machine is the purpose which we really desire.”
A machine with a specific purpose has another quality, one that we usually associate with living things: a wish to preserve its own existence. For the machine, this quality is not in-born, nor is it something introduced by humans; it is a logical consequence of the simple fact that the machine cannot achieve its original purpose if it is dead. So if we send out a robot with the single instruction of fetching coffee, it will have a strong desire to secure success by disabling its own off switch or even killing anyone who might interfere with its task. If we are not careful, then, we could face a kind of global chess match against very determined, super intelligent machines whose objectives conflict with our own, with the real world as the chessboard.
The possibility of entering into and losing such a match should concentrate the minds of computer scientists. Some researchers argue that we can seal the machines inside a kind of firewall, using them to answer difficult questions but never allowing them to affect the real world. Unfortunately, that plan seems unlikely to work: we have yet to invent a firewall that is secure against ordinary humans, let alone super intelligent machines.
Solving the safety problem well enough to move forward in AI seems to be possible but not easy. There are probably decades in which to plan for the arrival of super intelligent machines. But the problem should not be dismissed out of hand, as it has been by some AI researchers. Some argue that humans and machines can coexist as long as they work in teams—yet that is not possible unless machines share the goals of humans. Others say we can just “switch them off” as if super intelligent machines are too stupid to think of that possibility. Still others think that super intelligent AI will never happen. On September 11, 1933, famous physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, with confidence, “Anyone who expects a source of power in the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.” However, on September 12, 1933, physicist Leo Szilard invented the neutron-induced(中子诱导) nuclear chain reaction.
1. Paragraph 1 mainly tells us that artificial intelligence may .| A．run out of human control |
| B．satisfy human’s real desires |
| C．command armies of killer robots |
| D．work faster than a mathematician |
| A．prevent themselves from being destroyed |
| B．achieve their original goals independently |
| C．do anything successfully with given orders |
| D．beat humans in international chess matches |
| A．help super intelligent machines work better |
| B．be secure against evil human beings |
| C．keep machines from being harmed |
| D．avoid robots’ affecting the world |
| A．It will disappear with the development of AI. |
| B．It will get worse with human interference. |
| C．It will be solved but with difficulty. |
| D．It will stay for a decade. |
