1 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. commercial	B. reducing	C. conduct	D.   orbit	E. lunar	F. measures
G. unmanned	H. programme	I. powerful	J. potentially	K. range

China’s new Long March-8 rocket makes first flight

China’s new carrier rocket, the Long March-8, made its maiden flight on Tuesday, the country’s space agency said, the first phase of a strategy to deploy launch vehicles that can be reused.

The Long March-8 series is part of China’s endeavours to develop reusable rockets,     1     lowering mission costs and paving the way towards     2     launch services.

The programme has drawn parallels to private US rocket firm SpaceX’s Falcon     3    , although China said in 2018 its reusable carrier vehicle would use different technologies.

The new medium-lift carrier rocket sent five satellites into planned     4    , blasting off from the Wenchang launch site on the southern Hainan island at 12:37 pm Beijing time (0437 GMT) on Tuesday.

It    5     50.3 metres and has a take-off mass of 356 tonnes, and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said it is of "great significance for accelerating the upgrading of launch vehicles".

The rocket’s design was based on technologies developed for previous Long March editions, Xinhua reported Tuesday.

It is also expected to lay the foundation for development of large and heavy rockets, shortening development periods and     6     costs, said Song Zhengyu, the chief designer of the Long March-8.

The five experimental satellites launched by the new rocket will     7     experiments in space science, remote sensing and communication technologies, said Xinhua.

Beijing has invested heavily in its space     8     as a sign of its technological prowess and scientific endeavour.

A(n)    9     Chinese spacecraft returned to earth last week with rocks and soil from the moon—the first     10     samples collected in four decades.

The Long March 8 rocket will eventually help China replace its fleet of medium-lift launch vehicles, providing launch services for low Earth orbit satellite constellations and payloads bound for higher altitudes, such as geosynchronous orbit, CASC said.

2 . How does VR work? How does wearable tech make you think you’re standing on Mars when you’re actually about to bump into the kitchen counter? We’ll be explaining how virtual reality headsets work here.

Let’s start with some basics.

The headset set-up is being used by Oculus, Sony, HTC, Samsung and Google, and usually requires three things. A PC, console or smartphone to run the app or game, a headset which secures a display in front of your eyes (which could be the phone’s display) and some kind of input-head tracking, controllers, hand tracking, voice, on-device buttons or trackpads.

Total immersion is what everyone making a VR headset, game or app is aiming towards— making the virtual reality experience so real that we forget the computer, headgear and accessories and act exactly as we would in the real world. So how do we get there?

VR headsets like Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR are often referred to as HMDs and all that means is that they are head mounted displays. Even with no audio or hand tracking, holding up Google Cardboard to place your smartphone’s display in front of your face can be enough to get you half-immersed in a virtual world.

The goal of the hardware is to create what appears to be a life size, 3D virtual environment without the boundaries we usually associate with TV or computer screens. So whichever way you look, the screen mounted to your face follows you. This is unlike AR which overlays graphics onto your view of the real world.

Video is sent from the console or computer to the headset via a HDMI cable in the case of headsets such as HTC’s Vive and the Rift. For Google’s Daydream headset and the Samsung Gear VR, it’s already on the smartphone slotted into the headset.

VR headsets use either two feeds sent to one display or two LCD displays, one per eye. There are also lenses which are placed between your eyes and the pixels which is why the devices are often called goggles. In some instances, these can be adjusted to match the distance between your eyes which varies from person to person.
1. The VR headset set-up calls for the following items except _________.

A．a game

B．a headset

C．a PC

D．a smart phone or console

2. The underlined word “immersion” means _________.

A．one invades another world which is quite different

B．one is exposed to a virtual world as realistic as the real world

C．one travels in a strange foreign country

D．one is absorbed in the advanced technology of the headset

3. What is Oculus Rift?

A．VR headsets.

B．VR app.

C．VR smart phones.

D．VR lens.

4. What does VR aim to achieve?

A．To overlay graphics onto your view of the real world.

B．To create an environment that appears to be a life-size and 3D virtual.

C．To generate a situation that is similar to TV or computer screens.

D．To introduce an environment that enables one to live in a different world.

3 . The TheatreWorks Writers’ Lab:

a development space for worldwide writers

24-HOUR WRITING COMPETITION

A programme of TheatreWorks Writer’s Lab

LET YOUR IDEAS SPARK

5 Stimuli

24 Hours

1 script

Are you up for it? Anyone can discover a new you through the competition!

The 24-hour writing competition organized by TheatreWorks Writers’ Lab is back for its 9th year!(Held at the peaceful seaside resort, Aloha Changi, the challenge is on again to stimulate one’s heart and mind to produce a script within 24 hours.)

TheatreWorks Writers’ Lab has for the past 16 years discovered and nurtured new talent, and provided research and development opportunities for existing writers.

Dates: Thu 29 July (4 pm) to Fri 30 July(4pm) 2010

Venue: Aloha Chanji

Competition Categories     Prizes for each category

Youth Category 1st Prize: $800

15 to 18 years 2nd Prize: $500

Open Category 3rd Prize: $200

19 years and above Merit Prize: $100

Registration Fee Registration Deadline

Youth-$25   15 July 2016

Open-$25     Limited to 100 places

Visit www.theatreworks.org for a registration form.

1. The underlined word “nurtured” probably means _________.

A．discovered

B．provided

C．emphasized

D．cultivated

2. This event has been held for _________ years.

A．5

B．8

C．16

D．24

3. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．The event was held by TheatreWorks Writers’ Lab.

B．The highest prize is $800.

C．The competition is limited to existing writers.

D．The registration forms can be downloaded online.

4 . Like most people, I’ve long understood that I’ll be judged by my occupation, that my profession is used by people to see how talented I am. Recently, however, I was disappointed to see that it also decides how I’m treated as a person.

          Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a job waiting tables. As someone paid to serve food to people, I had customers say and do things to me I suppose they’d never say or do to the people they know. One night a man talking on his cell phone waved me away, and then called me back with his finger a minute later, saying angrily that he was ready to order and asking where I’d been.

I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon (勤杂工) by plenty of people. But at 19 years old, I believed I deserved inferior treatment from professional adults. Besides, people responded to me differently after I told them I was in college. Customers would joke that one day I’d be sitting at their table, waiting to be served.

        Once I graduated I took a job at a community newspaper. From my first day, I heard a respectful tone from everyone who called me. I assumed this was the way the professional world worked—politely and formally.

I soon found out differently. I sat several feet away from a person in advertising department with a similar name. Our calls would often get mixed up and someone asking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie. The mistake was immediately clear. Perhaps it was because of money, but people used a tone with Kristen that they never used with me.

It’s no secret that there’s a lot to put up with when waiting tables, and fortunately, much of it can be easily forgotten when you pocket the tips. The service industry exists to meet others’ needs. Still, it seemed that many of my customers didn’t get the difference between server and servant.

        I’m now applying to graduate school, which means someday I’ll return to a profession where people need to be nice to me in order to get what they want. I think I’ll take them to dinner first, and see how they treat someone whose job is to serve them.
1. What makes the author disappointed?

A．Professionals tend to look down upon workers.

B．Talented people have to do the job waiting tables.

C．One’s position is used to measure one’s intelligence.

D．Occupation affects the way one is treated as a person.

2. What does the author intend to say by the example in Paragraph 2?

A．Waiting tables is a hard job.

B．Some customers are difficult to deal with.

C．The man making a phone call is absent-minded.

D．Some customers show no respect to those who serve them.

3. How did the author feel when waiting tables at the age of 19?

A．She felt it unfair to be treated as a servant.

B．She found it natural for professionals to treat her as inferior.

C．She was embarrassed each time her customers joked with her.

D．She felt badly hurt when her customers regarded her as a peon.

4. The author says one day she’ll take her customers to dinner in order to _________.

A．see what kind of person they are

B．experience the feeling of being served

C．share her working experience with her customers

D．help them realize the difference between server and servant

5 . We suppose it makes sense that, after humans, connected dogs are the next big thing. Link AKC, backed by the American Kennel Club (hence the AKC), has just announced a smart collar _______to give dog owners more information about their pet’s well-being.

The collar does a few different things, from tracking your dogs’ location to _______ its comfort. The collar’s built-in GPS means you’ll be able to keep an eye on your pup’s _______ at all time, and, when paired with the base station, even set up a “_______ fence” that will alert you if the dog starts wandering astray (迷路). There’s also a handy remote-controlled light _______ you need to go out in the dark in search of your dog companion.

Like any wearable worth its salt (名副其实), the collar also _______ as an activity tracker. The Link AKC collar will let owners track their dogs’ activity levels and see whether it’s getting the right amount of exercise each day, taking into _______ its breed, age and size.

One of the best features, we think, is the temperature sensor that will _______ you if your dog is in an environment that’s too hot or cold. Considering the number of foolish people who still leave dogs in hot cars _______ all common sense and endless public service announcements (seriously, just don’t do it, yeah), this could ________ save some lives.

Finally, the collar has a ________ called “Adventures” that will let you create a “scrapbook” of memories with your dog by pushing a button, which you can then ________ on social media. We assume this will be more like a Facebook check-in with a photo, and that it won’t be uploading a montage of you and your dog playing in the forest to Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”— but we secretly hope for the latter.

A lot of ________ is being put on how the collar looks too, and we can see why; somehow the market for wearable dog tech has already nailed fashion better than the human one.

The collar will cost $199, however you’ll also need to ________ up for a monthly membership in order to use the device, and plans start at $6.95 with a two-year commitment. We assume that might put some people off.

The collar will be shipping by December 28, the company says, however right now it can only be ordered to the US. You can ________ one today from the website, and we’ll let you know if we get word on UK pricing and availability.

1.

A．enabled

B．designed

C．faced

D．inspected

2.

A．monitoring

B．committing

C．concerning

D．avoiding

3.

A．reality

B．reach

C．location

D．experiment

4.

A．magic

B．virtual

C．realistic

D．powerful

5.

A．for sure

B．in case

C．so that

D．in spite of

6.

A．appears

B．distinguishes

C．manufactures

D．functions

7.

A．account

B．step

C．concern

D．thrill

8.

A．delight

B．criticize

C．alert

D．inspect

9.

A．thanks to

B．due to

C．owing to

D．despite

10.

A．effectively

B．harmlessly

C．potentially

D．currently

11.

A．performance

B．feature

C．condition

D．technology

12.

A．share

B．solve

C．create

D．measure

13.

A．emphasis

B．effect

C．foundation

D．consideration

14.

A．enter

B．add

C．sign

D．enroll

15.

A．preserve

B．conserve

C．maintain

D．reserve

6 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. equipment；B. exposing；C. entertainment；D. interact；E. reality；F. eventually G. proved； H. dramatically；I. significant；J. applications；K. virtual

Most people associate virtual reality with the world of gaming or     1    . What is all the fuss, you may wonder, about futuristic equipment you wear on your head that makes you look like a creature from Star Wars? But this emerging technology has been spreading rapidly into many other areas and could eventually change your life in the future.

Virtual reality, or VR, is a computer-generated technology that creates a three-dimensional digital world that you can not only see and observe, but explore and     2     with it as if you are there. Once you put on the special     3    —a helmet or goggles with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors—you become absorbed in the     4     world.

VR now has serious     5     in fields as wide-ranging as business and medicine. VR has already     6     effective as a training tool as it simulates real experiences. One simulation programme educates young drivers about the dangers of bad driving. Participants experience a dangerous car journey and a virtual accident. It is now being used to train surgeons. Connor Pierce of Samsung’s IT for UK and Ireland thinks it will make a difference on all walks of life: “We’ll socialize via VR, we will do business via VR, we’ll have VR team-meetings, we’ll have VR education, museums will have virtual     7     experiences ...”. Its benefits have been felt in the field of psychology and the treatment of mental health patients. Professor Daniel Freeman at the Warnford Hospital in Oxford uses it to treat vertigo and other anxiety disorders. He explains that by     8     patients to what they fear most in a virtual environment and showing them that nothing bad happens, they can eventually overcome their panic.

In the world of work too, VR may change our lives     9    . Working individually at home, we can connect to our colleagues in a virtual space. We can be at home and at the office at the same time. For the first time, we can really be in two places at once.

Some VR developers predict that the impact of VR could be as     10     as the internet or mobile phones. Google alone has sold 2 million cardboard VR headsets in the last two years. Is a new age of reality about to dawn?

7 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Many drivers dream of the day     1     they can sit back while their car drives itself.     2     several companies are working hard to make it a reality, self-driving cars still face many problems.

Google was one of the first     3     (get) into this industry. It     4     (develop) self-driving cars since 2009, and its new driverless car is called Firely.

But the driverless car is only a “fair weather friend”, the Daily Mail     5     (comment).

According to the MIT Technology Review, the current driverless cars can’t react like a human driver. They can’t drive in heavy rain or snow.

Chris Urmson, director of the Google car team, said that this is because the detection technology is not yet good enough to separate certain objects from weather conditions. In the cars’eyes, raindrops and snowflakes are the same     6     rocks, and cars stop for them. But if the manhole (下水道入口) ahead is uncovered, they drive over it without hesitation.

    7     all these problems, Urmson said driverless cars will happen more quickly than people think.

But even at that time, driverless cars won’t be truly “driverless”.

In the US, only     8     someone sits in the driver’s seat are driverless cars allowed on roads in certain states.

European countries, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Russian follow the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic. The convention used to say: “Every driver     9     at all times be able to control his vehicle.” A change was agreed in May,     10     (allow) a car to drive itself as long as a driver is in the car and able to take the wheel at any time.

8 . Self-driving cars raise fears over "weaponisation"

Autonomous vehicles are in danger of being turned into "weapons", leading governments around the world to block cars operated by foreign companies, the head of Baidu's self-driving car programme has warned.

Qi Lu, chief operating officer at the Chinese internet group, said security concerns could become a problem for global car-makers and technology companies, including the US and China.

"It has nothing to do with any particular government -- has to do with the very nature of autonomy," he said on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show last week. "You have an object that is capable of moving by itself. By definition, it is a weapon."

Increasingly, self-driving technology is seen as advancing faster than regulators can keep up with. Regional and national governments are struggling with the issue of when to allow autonomous cars on to their roads and under what conditions.   

Multinational companies will have a "high bar" to meet local policy requirements for autonomous driving," Mr. Lu said. "The days of building a vehicle in one place and it runs everywhere are over. Because a vehicle that can more by itself by definition it is a weapon."

Baidu is investing heavily in Apollo, its open-source autonomous car software, as it looks to shift away from its core business of internet advertising into artificial intelligence. At CES, it unveiled Apollo 2.0, which offers improved security, alongside a new $200m fund to invest in south-east Asian efforts to improve autonomous driving.

Mr. Lu, who joined Baidu from Microsoft a year ago, said autonomous vehicles should reduce fatalities on the road, whether caused accidentally or intentionally as an act of terrorism. Pointing to incidents in London and Charlottesville where cars were used intentionally to run down pedestrians, he said: "In the future, these cars won't move if they see a human in front of them -- it doesn't matter who controls the car."

Despite the "overwhelming benefits" of autonomous driving. Mr. Lu said it would not happen without a "log of dialogue" between companies, regulators and politicians. "How we ensure safety, in my view, is going to be journey," he said.

Mr. Lu also said the open nature of Apollo, to which any company can contribute new software coding, would help Baidu navigate regulatory challenges.

"Apollo is created by Baidu but not owned by Baidu," he said. "We fundamentally believe that an open system that cultivates an environment where the best of breed can participate is better than one single company that does it alone."

1. Which of the following is banned by governments all over the world?

A．Self-driving cars used as offensive weapons.

B．Vehicles that are capable of moving by itself.

C．Undocumented self-driving car programme.

D．Autonomous cars owned by foreign companies.

2. Baidu's chief operating officer Qi Lu believes ________.

A．self-driving cars can be seen as weapons because they are autonomous

B．some government have strong hostility towards self-driving technology.

C．autonomous technology is advancing faster than regulators can understand.

D．customers can only buy and drive self-driving cars from domestic brands.

3. What is Apollo according to the article?

A．Baidu's artificial intelligence project

B．Baidu's electric self-driving car.

C．Baidu's autonomous car software.

D．Baidu's core business of the future.

4. According to Mr. Lu, which feature enables autonomous cars to reduce fatalities on the road?

A．They can change direction in accordance with the operator

B．They can avoid any obstacle ahead of them.

C．They can give priority to cars rather than pedestrians.

D．They can stop automatically when detecting a living creature.

9 . The first daigou, meaning someone who makes purchases on another’s behalf, were Chinese students studying abroad, who carried ____ products home on behalf of family and friends. Adding a commission (佣金) helped them pay their tuition fees. The ____ of social-networking apps such as WeChat, China’s most popular, brought the business online. Daigou could then offer their services to friends of friends, and ____ items they thought might appeal to their network. But while daigou in America and Europe purchase mainly luxury goods for their customers, in Australia they buy mainly vitamins, food and beauty products. And while luxury brands see daigou as a threat, undercutting sale in China, Australian firms have come to ____ them.

There are perhaps 50,000 daigou, ____ the aisles (过道) of Australian shops and periodically stripping them bare. Ordinary daiguo can post 60,000 parcels to China every day. The biggest have grown into ____ export businesses which deliver goods through China’s free0trade zones. Express delivery services to China have ____ and some 1,500 stores in Australia mainly take are of the needs of daigou. One such chain, AuMake, recently listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its ____ sales staff can arrange for a purchase to be posted to China as soon as it has been rung up (收款记账).

The ____ for the customers is simple: the products daigou post are guaranteed to be genuine. Ever since Chinese firms were found to have been selling contaminated (污染过的) milk power in 2008, many anxious Chinese parents have turned to foreign brands. But websites selling foreign goods are riddled with ____, while Chinese shops charge a fortune for the real thing.

The odd sales channel works for companies, too. Daigou allow young Australian firms to build their brands in China much more cheaply and easily than if they tried to ____ their products directly, argues Keong Chan, the chairman of AuMake. A firm called the a2 Milk Company doubled its profit in the year to June thanks to soaring Chinese ____. Daigou ____ more of those sales than Chinese retailers or e-commerce sites, according to Peter Nathan, who heads its Asia-Pacific unit. ____, many business fall over themselves to win the favour of the most influential daigou. “It’s like having 50,000 ____,” says Andrew Cohen, chief executive of Bellamy’s, a listed manufacturer of infant formula.

1.

A．desirable

B．enjoyable

C．reasonable

D．imaginable

2.

A．impact

B．contact

C．spread

D．exchange

3.

A．discover

B．promote

C．remind

D．contribute

4.

A．reject

B．embrace

C．cooperate

D．employ

5.

A．wandering

B．glancing

C．pasting

D．purchasing

6.

A．amazed

B．modified

C．skilled

D．organized

7.

A．disappeared

B．emerged

C．boomed

D．provided

8.

A．restless

B．gracious

C．persistent

D．efficient

9.

A．appeal

B．caution

C．stress

D．manual

10.

A．errors

B．fakes

C．virtues

D．values

11.

A．market

B．deliver

C．subscribe

D．develop

12.

A．price

B．demand

C．supply

D．trade

13.

A．cut down

B．make out

C．take on

D．account for

14.

A．Moreover

B．Therefore

C．Nevertheless

D．Likewise

15.

A．competitors

B．customers

C．representatives

D．sponsors

10 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. range       B. novel        C. interest       D. unlikely     E. benefit       F. experiencing G. available     H. necessarily     I. initiative       J. generated       K. partnership

Google gives $1M grant to Press Association to develop robot journalists

New consumers of the future could be reading stories pieced together by advanced data-analyzing robots rather than human journalists, if Google has its way.

On Thursday, the Press Association, the U.K.’s national news agency, announced that it received €706,000 from the tech giant for its Reporters and Data an Robots (RADAR)     1    .

A collaboration between the Press Association and data-driven news start-up Urbs Media, RADAR aims to set up an artificial intelligene-fueled, news service that will generate tens of thousands of news stories a month using publicly     2     data.

Everyone from big-name news organizations to hyper-local outlets and bloggers could     3     from the program. Press Association editor-in-chief Peter Clifton claimed, “this is a hugely exciting development, and we believe our     4     with Urbs Media can be a genuine game-changer for media outlets across the U. K. and Ireland.”

According to the Press Association, RADAR won’t     5     mark the end of the flesh-and-blood journalists, but will rather enable the AI to produce a volume of stories that would be impossible to match manually.

The envisioned work-flow would begin with human journalists identifying open data sets and “creating detailed story templates across a(n)     6     of topics including crime, health and employment.” The robotic reporter would then take over and scan the data, use language generation software to craft together story text and automatically locate relevant photos and video. Press Association clients would then be able to use a special distribution platform to identify news stories of     7     to their audience.

Content automation isn’t a totally     8     concept in the news industry however. AP estimated that it can free up 20 per cent of journalists’ time, allowing them to focus on more complex, qualitative tasks.

Shockingly, not all journalists are sold on the AI infiltration. A study found that journalists from leading news organizations had several reservations when shown an automatically     9     sports story. “I would never, ever, ever have written a story like that,” one BBC journalist said, while a CNN reporter thought the story was repetitive and lacked variation.

Nevertheless, it looks like AI in journalism is here to stay. At a time when many media outlets are     10     commercial pressure, RADAR will provide the news ecosystem with a cost-effective way to provide insightful local stories.