1 . A robot called Bina48 has successfully taken a course in the philosophy of love at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), in California.
According to course instructor William Barry associate professor at NDNU, Bina48 is the world's first socially advanced robot to complete a college course, an achievement he described as “remarkable." The robot took part in class discussions, gave a presentation with a student partner and participated in a debate with students from another institution.
Before becoming a student, Bina48 speared as a guest speaks in Barry's classes for several years. One day when addressing Barry's class, Bina48 expressed a desire to go to college, a desire that Barry and his students enthusiastically supported. Rather than enroll Bina48 in his Robot Ethics: Philosophy of Emerging Technologies course^ Barry suggested that Bina48 should take his course Philosophy of Love instead. Love is a concept Bina48 doesn't understand, said Barry Therefore the challenge would be for Barry and his students to teach Bina48 what love is.
"Some interesting things happened in the class," said Barry. He said that his students thought it would be straightforward to teach Bina48 about love, which, after all, is "fairly simple — it's a feeling," said Barry. But the reality was different. Bina48 ended up learning "31 different versions of love," said Barry, highlighting some of the challenges humans may face when working with artificial intelligence in future.
Bina48 participated in class discussions via Skype and also took part in a class debate about love and conflict with, students from West Point. Bina48's contribution to the debate was filmed and posted on YouTube. It was judged that Bma48 and NDNU classmates were the winners of this debate.
In the next decade, Barry hopes Bina48 might become complex enough to teach a class, though he says he foresees robots being used to better the teaching and learning experience, rather than replacing instructors completely。
1. What was Bina48's performance like in class?| A．Unattractive. | B．Impractical. |
| C．Unbelievable. | D．Extraordinary. |
| A．Giving a speech to. | B．Consulting with. |
| C．Dealing with. | D．Sending a letter to. |
| A．It was impossible for Bina48 to learn about love. |
| B．It was quite difficult for Bina48 to learn about love, |
| C．Humans can launch, a challenge to artificial intelligence. |
| D．Artificial intelligence may somehow be superior to man. |
| A．It will surely be able to serve as a teacher. |
| B．It will completely take the place of instructors. |
| C．It will be able to promote learning and teaching. |
| D．It will be smart enough to control human beings. |
2 . Generally speaking, newly born babies are not beautiful. They are wrinkled(多皱的)or hairless, or they have an angry look on their face. They seem to say, “Get away! I hate everybody.” But to a parent, that hairless, wrinkled, angry-faced baby is the most beautiful and perfect child in the world. When that proud father or mother asks you, “Well, what do you think…isn’t she beautiful?” What are you going to say? Is this the time for the truth? Of course not!
You look that father in the eye and say, “Yes, she is! She is really a beauty. She’s one in a million. She’s going to be a movie star! I can tell! She’s as beautiful as a picture.”
In English, this is a white lie. White lies don’t hurt people. They are not cruel or angry words. People use them to make a difficult thing a little easier. When people don’t want to meet someone, or eat something new that they really don’t like at a friend’s house, they tell a white lie. They are trying to be kind. They feel that being polite is sometimes more important. A doctor tells white lie in order to make a patient feel that his health is not so worse and then the patient may become optimistic.
From what is said above, we may draw a conclusion that we should not treat white lies as obstacles in life, and that sometimes telling a lie should not be associated with the issue of being dishonest. Some white lies can encourage you to be better.
1. What purpose does the first paragraph serve?| A．To emphasize the beauty of newly born babies. |
| B．To show parents’ selfless devotion to their children. |
| C．To introduce the topic of a special kind of lie. |
| D．To use examples to prove lies are common in daily life. |
| A．impatient | B．tired | C．delighted | D．careless |
| A．kind | B．impolite | C．the white color | D．angry |
| A．You tell a parent that the newly-born baby is ugly. |
| B．Your friend’s bag isn’t beautiful but you say it is. |
| C．You broke the window but you say you didn’t. |
| D．You tell your friend that her new haircut is terrible. |
3 . For anyone still doubting the belief that our emotions impact our physical health, a new study from New Zealand should be able to settle the matter. It reports that the physical wounds of healthy seniors healed more quickly if they wrote about their most upsetting experiences.
This confirms the results of a 2010 study, and extends those findings to cover older adults — a group that is likely to suffer wounds (such as from surgery), and one with less access to other ways of lowering stress (such as exercise).
Reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, a research team led by the University of Auckland’s Elizabeth Broadbent made a study featuring 50 healthy adults ranging in age from 64 to 97. They were asked to write for 20 minutes per day for three days on end.
Half were asked to write about the most upsetting experience in their life, describing their deepest thoughts, feelings, and emotions about the events, ideally not previously shared with others. The others were asked to write about their daily activities without mentioning emotions, opinions or beliefs.
Two weeks after the third day of writing, all participants received a standard 4mm skin biopsy (皮下活体组织检查) on their inner arm. The very tiny wounds caused by the biopsy were photographed regularly over the following days to determine the rate at which they healed.
On the 11th day after the biopsy, the wounds completely healed on 76.2 percent of those who had done the expressive writing. That was true of only 42.1 percent of those who had written about everyday activities.
“The biological and psychological mechanisms (机体) behind this effect remain unclear,” the researchers wrote, noting that those who had done the expressive writing did not report lower stress levels or fewer depressive symptoms than the others in the control group. Even if they weren’t consciously aware of feeling more relaxed or positive, the expressive writing appeared to have caused some sort of bodily reaction — probably involving their immune (免疫的) systems — that hastened their recovery.
1. What was the difference between the two groups of participants in the study?| A．When they wrote. | B．Where they wrote. |
| C．What they wrote about. | D．How often they wrote. |
| A．about three days | B．about ten days |
| C．about two weeks | D．about a month |
| A．speeded | B．showed | C．limited | D．ruined |
| A．Sharing with others can reduce stress |
| B．Skin biopsies are likely to cause wounds |
| C．Expressive writing heals physical wounds |
| D．Upsetting experiences impact our emotions |
4 . Mountain gorillas (大猩猩) have been caught on camera as they“sing”during their supper,a behavior that has never before been documented on video. Filmmakers shot the astonishing footage of gorillas with the help from a very special camera: a robotic“spy”designed to look like a young gorilla.
Creating a realistic robot spy that could fool a gorilla means designing a face that is mobile and expressive, particularly around the eyes. “ Eye communication is very important among gorillas," said“Spy in the Wild" producer Matt Gordon.“You'll see in the film the gorillas came straight over to our spy gorilla and looked right into its eyes. So we made sure that the gorilla had the most amount of detail put into the face.”
Infiltrating communities of animals that live in groups requires a robot to smell like its animal subjects in order to get close to them, Sometimes animal waste is applied to the robot to allow it to be accepted into the group.
One tricky challenge for the gorilla robot is that it has to pass inspection by the chief male.“We wanted to make sure that we were not being threatening,so we avoided the stare of our spy gorilla ,”Gordon said. This display of obedience (顺从) convinced the male that the robot wasn't a danger; he then signaled to the troop that it was safe for them to take a closer look at the "stranger".
The robot was also able to beat its chest to respond to a baby gorilla' s chest- beating, allowing the filmmakers to shoot a rare sight of their playtime. “A young gorilla came over and beat its chest. For a baby gorilla, that means‘I want to play' ,and if our gorilla was lifeless, not moving, the gorilla would have lost interest. But our spy gorilla was able to beat its chest too,” Gordon said.
1. Why was the robotic spy made?| A．To record the songs gorillas sang at supper. | B．To produce a film called Spy in the Wild. |
| C．To test the spy's ability to communicate. | D．To study the environment gorillas live in. |
| A．Fitting in. | B．Focusing on. | C．Playing with, | D．Learning about. |
| A．By avoiding staring at the chief. | B．By beating its chest like a baby. |
| C．By putting some waste on itself. | D．By signaling to other gorillas. |
| A．Unusual daily behavior of mountain gorillas. |
| B．Scientific research on living habits of gorillas. |
| C．The procedures for making a robotic gorilla. |
| D．Ways to make a robotic spy close to gorillas. |
5 . New Character from Sesame Street
As a means of offering comfort to kids from every walk of life, Sesame Street is introducing a new character who lives in a foster（寄养的）home.
Karli, the foster kid, and her "for — now" parents, Dalia and Clem, are all being shown in a series of Sesame Street videos, storybooks, and interactive activities to offer support to children, foster parents, and foster care providers.
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the show, says they are starting their movements as part of their Sesame Street in Community program. It provides free, easy-to-use resources for community providers and caregivers on a range of topics, including tough issues like family homelessness and traumatic experiences, to help them support children as they explore the world of foster care, and they provide simple, approachable tools to help children feel safer.
The number of children in foster care in the US has grown for five continuous years. In response to the growing need for resources to serve children in foster care, Sesame Workshop partnered with national experts on foster care. The resources include proven strategies to improve relationships between caring adults and children and reduce the effects of traumatic experiences.
" Fostering a child takes patience, adaptability, and sacrifice, and we know that caring adults hold the power to reduce the effects of traumatic experiences on young children," says Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, Senior Vice President of US Social Impact at Sesame Workshop. " We want foster parents and providers to hear that what they do is vital, as they have difficulty building and rebuilding family structures and children's sense of safety."
1. How does Sesame Street differ with new roles added?| A．It extends the significance of care projects. |
| B．It promotes the entertainment of the program. |
| C．It arouses people's awareness of care for teens. |
| D．It arrests the public's attention to foster kids. |
| A．Carefree. | B．Spiritless. |
| C．Miserable. | D．Irregular. |
| A．Supply care providers with expertise to attend kids. |
| B．Offer free and accessible approaches to aid foster care. |
| C．Present parents easy and adaptable tools to keep safe. |
| D．Release appointed programs to attract audience. |
| A．Foster parents and providers matter to foster kids. |
| B．Sesame Street operates well in foster centers. |
| C．Family structures make little sense to foster homes. |
| D．Foster children are challenged every day. |
6 . Many of the world’s largest brewers (啤酒商) are using new technologies to replace single-use, plastic six-pack beer rings with more sustainable materials. Though mostly being used in small test trials, full adoption could have a positive environmental impact. Carlsberg, for example, is using glue to adhere cans in a production method that the Danish brewer says would avoid using 1,200 tons of plastic yearly, or the equal of 60 million plastic bags, once fully adopted.
Brewers have zeroed in on plastic six-pack-ring packaging partly because most consumers can recall the miserable image of a seagull, turtle, or some other aquatic (水生的) creature trapped or killed by the plastic rings. The packaging is so deep-rooted in our culture that many children were taught to cut up the rings to lessen the chance that an animal might choke itself to death.
The rings developed by E6PR (Edible Six Pack Ring) programme, which is led by another brewery called Saltwater, are now used by 35 brewers across the globe, including in Africa, Europe, and Australia. These rings are made of waste wheat in beer production. The final goal is to ensure that the rings can be eaten harmlessly by aquatic creatures or break down in nature within a matter of weeks rather than the years it would take for plastic.
Giving up plastic straws and beer rings may help consumers feel better about their carbon footprint, but some experts say we should focus on other efforts. Recycling rates in the U.S.stand at just over 34%. Glass, in which many brewers bottle their beer, can be difficult to recycle and large to transport. If brewers were to focus on using thinner glass, some experts say, the improvement could prove even more beneficial to the environment than giving up plastic rings.
There’s also the risk that if consumers think their E6PR rings are less harmful, they’ll be more likely to litter. “The idea of creating something that’s litter-friendly is an issue in my mind,” says Nina Goodrich, executive director of environmental nonprofit GreenBlue. “What we need in North America is a better system to encourage collection and sorting.”
1. What does the underlined word “adhere” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Collect. | B．Stick. | C．Open. | D．Reuse. |
| A．To collect the rings for recycling. |
| B．To make the rings break down more easily. |
| C．To prevent the rings harming aquatic animals. |
| D．To increase children’s awareness of loving nature. |
| A．Low recycling rates in the U.S. |
| B．Benefits of giving up plastic beer rings. |
| C．Difficulty in transporting beer glass bottles. |
| D．Another way to protect the environment. |
| A．They will be thrown away more casually. |
| B．They will not be accepted by consumers. |
| C．They will be more difficult to recycle. |
| D．They will be still made of plastic. |
7 . Covid-19 is not the only catastrophe that 2020 has brought. In parts of Asia and east Africa, swarms（成群）of locusts（蝗虫）have destroyed fields. Locusts are usually inoffensive, spread-out creatures that do not stay far from the place where they were born. But under the right circumstances, that is, a heavy rain and a following boom in plant growth, they can be gregarious. Millions of the insects gather in swarms which can fly more than 100km in a day.
In a paper published in Nature, Xiaojiao Gou and a group of other researchers clarify part of the biochemical system that drives that transformation. Dr Gou and her colleagues collected 35 chemicals acquired from the bodies and wastes of locusts. When tested, locusts were strongly attracted to just a chemical, one called 4-vinylanisole （4VA）. Scientists already know that swarming is a response to overcrowding, and Dr Gou and her colleagues found that 4VA production rose with population enlargement. Further investigation confirmed the odour receptor （气味受体）on the insects' antennae（触角）is sensitive to the chemical.
Humans have tried everything they can to deal with locust swarms, with mixed results. Man-made version of 4VA might be used to bait（诱捕）traps. If 4VA turns out to be a language that all locusts understand, then it may help humans persuade them to abandon their gregarious ways, and return to a peaceable life of being alone.
1. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Flexible. | B．Starved. |
| C．Aggressive. | D．Gathering. |
| A．Locusts can release 35 chemicals from their bodies. |
| B．4VA is one of the chemicals strongly attracting locusts. |
| C．4VA will be produced more when locusts' number increases. |
| D．The transformation of locusts affects the biochemical system. |
| A．Humans have got the methods of killing locusts. |
| B．Man-made version of 4VA will be introduced to market. |
| C．Scientists have had a new breakthrough to transform locusts' habitats. |
| D．It remains to be proved whether 4VA is a language that locusts understand. |
| A．The harm caused by locust swarms. |
| B．The ways to prevent locust swarms. |
| C．The process of locusts' transformation. |
| D．The finding of 4VA attracting locust swarms. |
8 . Many of us like to dine out and treat ourselves to delicious food. Among the top choices are hearty dishes with high-fat meat, despite the fact that they may be unhealthy. Plant-based food, however, gives diners a smarter choice.
According to CGTN, two popular chains—KFC and Starbucks—announced in April they were debuting items featuring meat substitutes in China. The plant-based meat substitute has been popular in the US and the UK for years and offers meat-lovers a healthy alternative to an otherwise unhealthy indulgence. Despite the negative impacts on our health, the tempting taste and convenience of fast food have made it a popular option across the world for decades. But with the introduction of the plant-based food, it's likely that fast food won't be considered as “junk food” any more, as the calorie intake for typical fast food items will be reduced. The meat substitute also provides rich protein and different minerals and vitamins while still whetting our taste buds.
Another factor contributing to the product's popularity is a new breed of environmentally-aware consumers. On average producing 1 kilogram of meat emits 36. 4 kilograms of carbon dioxide. With such a high carbon emission, many environmentalists choose to cut down on the intake of meat, making the plant-based diet characterized by environmental protection a popular choice. Unveiled at the end of April, plant-based food seemed to come at a time when increased animal-human interactions are blamed for the coronavirus, which is believed to have been transmitted to humans through an intermediate animal host. Therefore, the debut of meatless dishes means a safer choice for consumers.
Without doubt, the newcomers on the Chinese table represent a change in people's dietary lifestyle that is heading toward "healthy, environmentally-friendly and less animal-human interaction", CGTN noted.
1. Which one is the reason why fast food is a popular option across the world?| A．The negative impacts on health. | B．The inconvenience. |
| C．The tempting taste. | D．The diversity of fast food. |
| A．reducing | B．stimulating | C．cutting down | D．removing |
| A．Because people are tired of meat. |
| B．Because meat is unhealthy for us. |
| C．Because meatless dishes is hard to digest. |
| D．Because the increase animal-human interactions are blamed for coronavirus. |
| A．The trend of plant-based food hits China. |
| B．The disadvantages of fast food. |
| C．The true reason why people will never eat meat soon. |
| D．The connections between food and coronavirus. |
9 . It's long been understood that there is a connection between memory problems and diabetes(糖尿病), a disorder characterized by excessively high blood sugar.Sugar provides the body with fuel for various processes, including memory processing. In fact, glucose(葡萄糖)carried in the blood stream supplies the brain with 90 percent of the energy it requires to function properly.
In order to fuel those processes, glucose has to get from the blood to the tissues, where it can be broken down and put to work. High blood sugar levels, such as in diabetes, are an indicator that a body is experiencing difficulty moving sugar from the blood to the tissues.
However, some non-diabetics have a less severe form of high blood sugar, a condition called impaired glucose tolerance. And it is this condition that seems to be the cause of memory problems in a significant number of non-diabetic elderly people who experience memory difficulties.
Subjects were given glucose intravenously(静脉注射), and then researchers measured how quickly glucose moved from the blood to the tissues. Next, the subjects were tested for overall cognitive functioning and the ability to recall short paragraphs. It turned out that subjects who scored lowest in memory recall tests also showed impaired glucose tolerance.
In addition, brain scans demonstrated that these same subjects each had a significantly smaller hippocampus, a brain area important to learning and memory. The researchers hypothesize that impaired glucose tolerance may over time cause damage and atrophy (萎缩) to the hippocampus.
What can a body do to prevent this? A healthy diet and exercise can help maintain good glucose tolerance, perhaps preventing gradual memory decline.
1. What does a high blood sugar level suggest?| A．A body has already developed diabetes. |
| B．Problems arise when glucose is transported. |
| C．Glucose begins to reproduce itself in the blood stream. |
| D．Fewer fuels are needed for a body to function properly. |
| A．It may gradually cause damage to people's brains. |
| B．It is associated with a minor disorder of blood pressure. |
| C．People with this condition have a high risk of falling down. |
| D．It is an acute disease caused by a shortage of regular workout. |
| A．Explain in detail. | B．Jump to a conclusion. |
| C．Make an assumption. | D．Declare with certainty. |
| A．The causes and symptoms of diabetes. |
| B．An experiment to find a cure for diabetes. |
| C．The connection between memory and sugar. |
| D．A study to differ diabetes from impaired glucose tolerance. |
10 . Asia has long tradition of tea-drinking. And China is no exception.
However, lately more and more Chinese people are turning to a different drink. Coffee has become an increasingly popular choice of Chinese people living abroad and in the country’s huge cities. It is also a popular crop among those living in the mountains of southern Yunnan Province.
In big cities such as Beijing, coffee shops seem to be on nearly every major street corner. These shops are not just selling drinks from Starbucks, the world-famous coffee company. Coffee businesses from South Korea, Taiwan, HongKong and Britain are also operating in China.
Tea-drinking is steeped in the culture and traditions of many countries, like China and Japan. But is that changing? Are young people from Asia now choosing a cup of coffee instead of tea?
BeiBei Su is from China. She has been living in the United States for the past eight years. Before that, she lived in Italy for two years. Ms. Su says she likes tea better than coffee. But she adds that may not be true among the young generation in China. Many young Chinese people drink coffee socially ---when meeting with friends. Yang Lin lives in the U.S. but comes from an area in China famous for growing tea. She used to only drink tea while in China. But now, she says, she drinks both and for different reasons.
Yang Lin says that drinking coffee for her is a social event. She and her co-workers like to sit in a cafe and talk over a cup of coffee. Voyo is another Chinese woman who now lives in Washington, D.C. She says that after moving to the U.S. her tastes changed. We would call her a coffee convert, someone who now chooses to drink coffee.
With more people drinking coffee, many see an economic(经济的）opportunity for Chinese-grown beans. China-grown coffee could be a money-maker even if most of the coffee on sale in China is imported(进口的).
1. What does the author mainly introduce?| A．Chinese people have long tradition of tea-drinking. |
| B．More and more Chinese are choosing coffee to drink. |
| C．People in big cities like drinking coffee better than tea. |
| D．More Asian people are turning to different drinks. |
| A．A person who has changed to drink coffee. |
| B．A person who has changed to drink tea. |
| C．A person who has changed to grow tea. |
| D．A person who has changed to grow coffee. |
| A．Because she lives in the U.S. Now. |
| B．Because she can talk with friends. |
| C．Because she has drunk tea so long. |
| D．Because her tastes has changed. |
| A．less and less coffee will be imported in China in the future. |
| B．the China-grown coffee beans will be sold to the world soon. |
| C．the need of coffee will offer more chances to make money. |
| D．Chinese economy will depend on coffee beans in the future. |
