| A．At a store. | B．At the airport. | C．At the post office. |
| A．Today. | B．Tomorrow. | C．The day after tomorrow. |
3 . An Austrian company Tec-Innovation recently showed smart shoes that use ultrasonic sensors (超声波传感器) to help people suffering from vision impairment to discover obstacles(障碍) up to four meters away.
Known as InnoMake, the smart shoe aims to replace the decades-old walking stick that millions of people around the world depend on to get around as safely as possible. The currently available model relies on sensors to detect obstacles and warns the wearer through shaking and a loud alert sounded on a bluetooth-linked smartphone. That sounds impressive enough, but the company is already working on a much more advanced version that incorporates cameras and artificial intelligence to not only detect obstacles but also their nature.
“Not only is the warning that I am facing an obstacle relevant, but also the information about what kind of obstacle I am facing. Because it makes a big difference whether it’s a wall, a car or a staircase.” Markus Raffer, one of the founders of Tec-Innovation, told TechXplore.
”Ultrasonic sensors on the toe of the shoe detect obstacles up to four meters away. The wearer is then warned by vibration and/or acoustic signals. This works very well and is already a great help to me personally.” Raffer, himself visually impaired, added.
The current version of the InnoMake shoe is already available for purchase on the Tec-Innovation website, for €3,200 per pair.
The advanced system is integrated in the front of the shoes, in a waterproof and dustproof case. It is powered by a heavy-duty battery that can last for up to one week, depending on use. The battery can be charged in just three hours, using a USB cable.
The next step for Tec-Innovation is to use the data collected by its system to create a kind of street view navigation map for visually impaired people.
“As it currently stands, only the wearer benefits in each case from the data the shoe collects as he or she walks. It would be much more sustainable if this data could also be made available to other people as a navigation aid,” computer scientist Friedrich Fraundorfer explained.
1. Who are interested in the smart shoes?| A．The deaf people. | B．The injured people. |
| C．The blind or sight-impaired. | D．The sick people. |
| A．Combined. | B．Separated. | C．Benefited. | D．Allowed. |
| A．Why the smart shoes are developed. | B．What the smart shoes can do. |
| C．How the smart shoes work. | D．How the data are collected. |
| A．A science report. | B．A fashion magazine. |
| C．An educational column. | D．A news report. |
A Little Boy
A little boy selling magazines for school walked up to a house that people rarely visited. The house was very old and shabby and the owner hardly ever came out. When he did come out, he would not say hello to his neighbors or passers-by but simply just glared at them.
The boy knocked on the door and waited, sweating from fear of the old man. The boy’s parents told him to stay away from the house, and a lot of other neighborhood children were told the same thing from their parents.
Dusk found the boy lingering on and hesitating what to do. As he was ready to walk away, the door slowly opened. “What do you want?” the old man said impatiently. The little boy was very afraid but he had a quota (定额) to meet for school with selling the magazines. So he got up the courage and said, “Uh, Sir, I am selling these magazines and, uh, I was wondering if you would like to buy one from me.”
The old man just stared at the boy without a word. The boy could see inside the old man’s house and saw that he had dog figurines (小雕像) on the fireplace mantle. “Do you collect dogs?” The little boy asked. “Yes, I have many collections in my house. They are my family here and they are all I have.” The boy then felt sorry for the man, as it seemed that he was a very lonely soul.
“Well, I do have a magazine here for collectors. It is perfect for you. I also have one about dogs since you like dogs so much.” The old man was ready to close the door on the boy and said, “No, boy. I don’t need any magazines of any kind, now goodbye.”
The little boy was sad that he was not going to make his quota with the sale. He was also sad for the old man being so alone in the house that he owned. The boy went home and then had an idea. He had a little dog figurine that he got some years ago from an aunt. The figurine did not mean nearly as much to him since he had a real live dog and a large family.
注意:1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
The little boy headed back down to the old man’s house.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________From that day on something changed inside the old man.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . You know the feeling — you have left your phone at home and feel anxious, as if you have lost your connection to the world. “Nomophobia” (无手机恐惧症) affects teenagers and adults alike. You can even do an online test to see if you have it. Last week, researchers from Hong Kong warned that nomophobia is infecting everyone. Their study found that people who use their phones to store, share and access personal memories suffer most. When users were asked to describe how they felt about their phones, words such as “hurt” (neck pain was often reported) and “alone” predicted higher levels of nomophobia.
“The findings of our study suggest that users regard smartphones as their extended selves and get attached to the devices,” said Dr Kim Ki Joon. “People experience feelings of anxiety and unpleasantness when separated from their phones.” Meanwhile, an American study shows that smartphone separation can lead to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
So can being without your phone really give you separation anxiety? Professor Mark Griffiths, psychologist and director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, says it is what is on the phone that counts — the social networking that creates Fomo (fear of missing out).
“We are talking about an Internet-connected device that allows people to deal with lots of aspects of their lives,” says Griffiths. “You would have to surgically remove a phone from a teenager because their whole life is ingrained in this device.”
Griffiths thinks attachment theory, where we develop emotional dependency on the phone because it holds details of our lives, is a small part of nomophobia. For “screenagers”, it is Fomo that creates the most separation anxiety. If they can’t see what’s happening on WeChat or Weibo, they become panic-stricken about not knowing what’s going on socially. “But they adapt very quickly if you take them on holiday and there’s no Internet,” says Griffiths.
1. Which of the following may Dr Kim Ki Joon agree with?| A．We waste too much time on phones. |
| B．Phones have become part of some users. |
| C．Addiction to phones makes memories suffer. |
| D．Phones and blood pressure are closely linked. |
| A．We worry we may miss out what our friends are doing |
| B．We fear without phones we will run into a lot of trouble |
| C．We are accustomed to having a phone on us |
| D．We need our phones to help us store information |
| A．Approved of. | B．Relied on. | C．Opposed to. | D．Determined by. |
| A．In a research report. |
| B．In a science textbook. |
| C．In a popular science magazine. |
| D．In a fashion brochure. |
6 . Tom Sawyer Play Is an Adventure
A 35-minute hand-clapping, foot-stomping musical version of a Mark Twain favorite returns with this Tall Stacks festival.
“Tom Sawyer: A River Adventure” has all the good stuff, including the fence painting, the graveyard, the island and the cave. It is adapted by Joe McDonough, with music by David Kisor. That’s the local stage writing team that creates many of the Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati’s original musicals, along with the holiday family musicals at Ensemble Theatre.
This year Nathan Turner of Burlington is Tom Sawyer, and Robbie McMath of Fort Mitchell is Huck Finn.
Tumer, a 10th-grader at School for Creative and Performing Arts, is a familiar presence on Cincinnati’s stages. He is a star act or of Children’s Theatre, having played leading roles in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “The Wizard of Oz,” and is fresh from Jersey Production “Ragtime”.
McMath is a junior at Beechwood High School. He was in the cast of “Tom Sawyer” when it was first performed and is a Children’s Theatre regular, with five shows to his credit. This summer he attended Kentucky’s Governor’s School for the Arts in Musical Theatre.
Note to teachers: Children’s Theatre has a study guide demonstrating how math and science can be taught through “Tom Sawyer.” For downloadable lessons, visit the official website of Children’s Theatre.
1. Who wrote the music for “Tom Sawyer: A River Adventure”?| A．David Kisor. | B．Joe McDonough. |
| C．Nathan Turner. | D．Robbie McMath. |
| A．They study in the same school. | B．They worked together in ”Ragtime“. |
| C．They are experienced on stage. | D．They became friends ten years ago. |
| A．Research funding. | B．Training opportunities. |
| C．Technical support. | D．Educational resources. |
7 . Aron Ralston was a pretty normal guy, but he always had an extremely adventurous desire to travel and see the world. During his childhood, his family moved to Denver, Colorado, a place offering many opportunities to climb mountains, explore, and eventually become the adventurer he’d always wanted to be. Back in 2003, Ralston was climbing in the remote, mountainous area of Southwestern Utah, when the unthinkable happened: Aron got stuck in a crevice (裂缝) in the rocks and pinned by a big stone that weighed over 360 kilograms. The weight of the rock crushed his arm, and he was pinned by it. Aron took photos of his bad situation (which was going to get a lot worse), hoping rescue teams (救援队) would know where he was and came to remove the rock so that he could get out and home safe.
But rescuers never came. Aron waited for them for days till he lost his hope. He knew he had to do something. He was 18 meters above the floor of the valley where he was pinned in, and he had a pocketknife. He made what must have been one of the most difficult decisions of his life: to cut his own arm in order to survive. Aron cut the lower part of his arm off, having to wrench (扭动) his forearm against the big stone to break the bones, and then got himself down to the bottom of the valley, where he would begin to walk and search for help. Luckily, help arrived in the form of a helicopter (直升机) that spotted him, covered in blood. Aron had tied off the wound to keep himself from bleeding to death pretty successfully and would eventually make it out alive.
Ralston went on to become an inspiring speaker and continued to travel and climb mountains—he didn’t let an incident that forced him to cut his own arm off, stop him from doing what he really loved.
1. What can be inferred about Aron’s getting stuck?| A．It was unavoidable. | B．It resulted from his being lost. |
| C．It was unexpected. | D．It was caused by a moving stone. |
| A．To send them to rescuers for help. | B．To keep a record of his adventure. |
| C．To remind his friends of the danger. | D．To tell the doctors about his wound. |
| A．He waited for the rescue to come. |
| B．He cut the stone using his pocketknife. |
| C．He moved off the stone using all his might. |
| D．He cut his lower part of his arm and broke the bones. |
| A．His cruelty and anger. | B．His effort and bravery. |
| C．His talent and creativity. | D．His calmness and determination. |
1. Why did the woman first talk to the man?
| A．To borrow a book from him. | B．To invite him to lunch. | C．To ask for directions. |
| A．She isn’t used to the cold weather. |
| B．She doesn’t have a place to live. |
| C．She hasn’t made her schedule. |
| A．A library. | B．A classroom. | C．A café. |
9 . A team of psychologists led by Dr. Karen McComb at the University of Sussex in the UK have discovered an effective way for humans to communicate with cats through slow blinking (眨眼睛), similar to how cats interact with each other.
Dr. McComb and her team conducted two experiments to study this phenomenon. In the first study, owners were instructed by researchers Tasmin Humphrey and Andrew Wood to slowly blink at their cats from a distance while being recorded. Humphrey and Wood found the cats were more likely to respond with slow blinking of their own compared to when no interaction took place.
To follow up on these findings, McComb, Humphrey, and Wood designed a second experiment without considering the exsisting relationship between humans and cats. Researchers, including McComb, performed the same slow blinking action. Like in the first experiment, the cats in this study also responded more favorably to slow blinking by returning the gesture and more readily approaching an extended hand, according to Humphrey’s analysis.
The slow blink expression involves partially closing the eyes briefly, copying a relaxed, friendly facial expression in humans. McComb notes that for cats, it appears to signal good intentions as constant staring could be seen as threatening. Wood says that cats may have developed this language to acknowledge humans who react positively to the signal. Being able to effectively communicate acceptance in this subtle cat way seems to strengthen the bond between cats and their owners, McComb adds.
McComb, Humphrey and Wood hope their findings can provide insight into cat behavior and thinking. They also aim to apply this knowledge of cross-species communication to evaluate cat health in various places like veterinary (兽医的) clinics and shelters, according to Humphrey. A deeper understanding of how cats interpret and respond to humans can improve our ability to properly care for household and outdoor cat populations, McComb concludes.
1. How was the second experiment different from the first one?| A．It recorded the interactive behavior of cats. |
| B．It required cat owners to blink from a distance. |
| C．It studied how cats communicate with each other. |
| D．It focused on how cats react to strangers’ slow blinking. |
| A．To attract their owners’ attention. |
| B．To show friendliness to other animals. |
| C．To respond to humans’ positive reactions. |
| D．To send out a signal for help to their partners. |
| A．Improving cat behavior and habits. |
| B．Assessing health conditions of cats. |
| C．Developing ways to treat cats’ diseases. |
| D．Helping cat owners train their cats quickly. |
| A．Humans can communicate with cats by blinking slowly. |
| B．Extending hands to cats can strengthen the bond with them. |
| C．Cats respond favorably to humans’ friendly facial expressions. |
| D．Understanding cat signals improves humans’ ability to care for them. |
10 . You’ll make new friends in each stage of your life. Some of them will come and go, while others will last for the rest of your life.
If you are lacking in good friendships, it’s not too late. There are a lot of ways to make new friends that can stay with you for the rest of your life.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to let a friendship go, even if you’ve been friends for a long time. If one party isn’t making an effort to keep things going, it can lead to feelings of hurt and betrayal.
| A．Look for people who share things with you. |
| B．Friendship can help you get through mental and physical sufferings. |
| C．There are many benefits of having strong friendships. |
| D．It might be time to let things cool off and pursue other friendships. |
| E．Lifelong friendships are what most people desire. |
| F．This toxic friendship may bring you nothing but hurt. |
| G．You can get built-in opportunities to spend time with each other. |
