2 . AI could help us deconstruct the magic of music

We all know that music is a powerful influencer.     1     Fitness without a warm-blooded song would be boring. But is there a way to quantify these reactions? And if so, could they be reverse-engineered and put to use?

In a new paper, researchers at the University of Southern California mapped out how things like tone, rhythm, and harmony cause different types of brain activity, physiological reactions (heat, sweat, and changes in electrical response), and emotions(happiness or sadness), and how machine learning could use those relationships to predict how people might respond to a new piece of music. The results, presented at a conference on the intersections of computer science and art, show how we may one day be able to engineer targeted musical experiences for purposes ranging from therapy to movies.

    2     “Once we understand how media can affect our various emotions, then we can try to productively use it for actually supporting or enhancing human experiences,” says Shrikanth Narayanan, a professor at USC and the principal investigator in the lab.

The researchers first searched music streaming sites for songs with very few plays, tagged either “happy” or “sad.”     3     Two reliably caused sadness and one reliably caused happiness. One hundred participants who hadn’t heard the songs before split into two groups, listened to all three pieces, and either took a special scan or wore pulse, heat, and electricity sensors on their skin and rated the intensity of their emotions on a scale of 0 to 10. The researchers then fed the data, along with 74 features for each song, into several machine-learning mathematical steps and examined which features were the strongest predictors of responses. They found, for example, that the brightness of a song (the level of its medium and high frequencies) and the strength of its beat were both among the best predictors of how a song would affect a listener’s heart rate and brain activity.

The research is still in very early stages, and it will be a while before more powerful machine-learning models will be able to predict your mental and physical reactions to a song with any precision. But the researchers are excited about how such models could be applied: to design music for specific individuals, to create movie soundtracks easily arousing sympathy, or to help patients with mental health problems stimulate specific parts of their brain.     4     They want to start trying music-based therapies as well.

A．The research focuses on whether machine can learn to predict people’s preference of music.

B．The lab is already working with addiction treatment clinics to see how other forms of media could help patients.

C．A movie without a soundtrack doesn’t stimulate the same emotional journey.

D．Through a series of human testers, 60 pieces for each emotion were narrowed down to a final list of three.

E．The research is part of the lab’s broader goal to understand how different forms of media affect people’s bodies and brains.

F．The researchers are excited about how AI could be used to enhance the function of music in more fields.

3 . 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. concerned；B. signals；C. mechanical；D. monitor；E. identification；F. philosophical G. thoughts；H. assume；I. embedded；J. privacy；K. procedures

Would you wear a computer under your skin?

Forget smartphones and smart glasses. One day, we might have smart tattoos, body modifications. The company NewDealDesign came up with an idea for a product called UnderSkin. The device would look like a pair of tattoos on your arms and the side of your thumb, but it would actually be a very thin computer implanted just below your skin. It would draw power from your body’s energy, and you could use it to unlock doors,     1     your health, exchange and store information, or even express your personality. UnderSkin is just an idea — you can’t go out and get one — but the technology exists to make it work. “We     2     it is about five years from being real,” says designer Gadi Amit.

Writer and technology initiator Amal Graffstra already has a chip called a radio-frequency     3     tag implanted in his hand. “I use it to log into my computer. I also use it to share contact details with people,” he says. The chip is about the size of a grain of rice and responds to radio     4     with a unique number for recognition.

If a computerized tattoo or     5     tag isn’t crazy enough for you, what about a brain chip? The company Intel is working on technology that would let you control your devices with your mind. Dean Pomerleau, one of the researchers, explains, “We’re trying to prove you can do interesting things with brain waves…. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your     6    .”

Do you think these chips sound frightening or cool? Some doctors are     7     about people hurting themselves while getting devices implanted. They argue that medical     8     are meant to heal sick people, and not to give healthy people special powers. Others worry about hacking and     9    . Could someone hack in and steal your identity, or even control your mind? On a more     10     level, if you have a computer inside your body, are you still human? Or are you a cyborg, a being that is part human and part machine, or a machine that looks like a human being?

What do you think — would you want a computer under your skin?

4 . Imagine you're standing in line to buy an after-school snack at a store. You step up to the counter and the cashier scans your food. Next, you have to pay. But instead of scanning a QR code with your smartphone, you just hold out your hand so the cashier can scan your fingerprint. Or, a camera scans your face, your eyes or even your ear.

    1     As technology companies move away from traditional password, biometric security, which includes fingerprint, face and voice ID, is becoming increasingly popular.

In 2013, Apple introduced the iPhone 5s, one of the first smartphones with a fingerprint scanner. Since then, using one's fingerprint to unlock a phone and make mobile payments has become commonplace, bringing convenience to our lives. And since lasts year, San-sun has featured eye-scanning technology in its top smartphone, while Apple's new iPhone X can even scan a user's face.

    2     “Bio-metrics, ideally are good.” John Michener, a biometric expert, told tech website Inverse. “In practice, not so much.”

When introducing the new iPhone's Face ID feature at Apple's Keynote Event in September. Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president, said. “     3    ”.

But it's already been done. In a video posted on community website Reddit on Nov 3, two brothers showed how they were each able to unlock the same iPhone X using their own face. Quartz reported. And they aren't even twins.

“We may expect too much from bio-metrics.” Anil Jain, a computer science professor at Michigan State University. told CBS news. “No security systems are perfect.”

Earlier this year, Jain found a way to trick biometric security. Using a printed copy of a thumbprint, she was able to unlock a dead person's smartphone for police.

“It's good to see bio-metrics being used more,” Jain told CBS News, “because it adds another factor for security.     4    .”

A．But despite its popularity, experts warn that bio-metrics might not be as secure as we'd imagined

B．Security experts don't think it absolutely necessary to use biometric technology.

C．But using different security measures is the best defense.

D．Now, this type of technology might not be far away.

E．If a person's biometric information is stolen, that could have extremely serious results for him.

F．The chance that a random person could look at your iPhone X and unlock it with his face is about one in a million.

5 . Naquela Wright’s life took an unexpected turn when she lost her eyesight as a teenager, but even when her world became dark, the New Jersey resident didn’t want to quit social media.

Using Facebook was a challenge at first. Diagnosed in 2010 with pseudotumor cerebri, a rare health condition in which pressure increases around the brain and can result in the loss of vision, Wright learned how to use a screen reader to read the site through the touch of the keyboard and sound of a robotic voice. Still, when a friend sends her a photo, Wright often has no clue what the image shows.

Now Facebook is trying to solve this problem by exploiting the power of artificial intelligence to create new tools that not only describe items in a photo but allows users to ask what’s in an image.

“I can have a basic picture in my mind of what’s going on in the picture and now I can comment on my own,” said Wright, who got to try out the new tools that are still being tested. “Of course, it’s different, but it’s something more than I had.”

An estimated 285 million people are visually disabled globally, according to the World Health Organization, and research conducted by Facebook showed that blind users have trouble figuring out what’s in a photo because the description isn’t clear or doesn’t exist.

Facebook has made it easier to skim through the content on its website with a screen reader by improving HTML headings, adding alternative text for images, launching keyboard shortcuts, and more. Using artificial intelligence to describe photos is only a part of these ongoing efforts.

With 1.5 billion users, Facebook isn’t the only social media company that wants to improve its website for the visually disabled. Along with Facebook and other major tech firms, Twitter and LinkedIn have their own accessibility teams and belong to an initiative called “Teaching Accessibility”.

Jeff Wieland, Facebook’s head of accessibility engineering, said the group wants to educate more engineers, especially early in college, about designing products that are compatible with the disabled and others. “We really don’t want accessibility to be the luxury of a handful of companies,” Wieland said. “We want everything around the world to be built with accessibility in mind.”

1. What tool helps the visually disabled to read Facebook?

A．A screen reader.	B．A special keyboard.
C．A helpful robot.	D．HTML headings.

2. What can be inferred from the passage about the new tool created by Facebook?

A．It adds a lot of shortcuts on the keyboard.

B．It helps users to employ their senses other than sight.

C．It meets no competitors with its advanced technology.

D．It inspires more engineers to explore artificial intelligence.

3. The underlined phrase in the last paragraph “are compatible with” most probably means ________.

A．are unaffordable to	B．bring harm to
C．keep company of	D．well suit

4. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

A．Screen reader: tool to access social media

B．Ongoing efforts: strength to improve websites

C．Artificial intelligence: power to help the blind

D．Teaching accessibility: initiative to educate engineers

6 . Directions: Write an English composition in 120-150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.

请简单描绘图片内容，并用你生活中的一个经历来具体说明。你的文章必须包括：
1） 对图片的简单描述；
2） 对个人经历的具体描写；
3） 你当时的感受或想法。

7 . Born in 1823 in Wales, Alfred Russel Wallace was a man of modest means, but he had a passion for nature and he chose to follow it. He started out collecting insects as a hobby, but eventually his longing for adventure led him to explore the world.

Luckily for Wallace, Victorian Britain was discovering an interest in weird and wonderful insects, so the demand from museums and private collections for these beasts was growing. Wallace was able to make a living doing what he loved: collecting beetles and other insects.

But his first trip of exploring the world ended in disaster. Wallace proceeded to the Amazon in South America. Its giant forests promised a wealth of new species, sure to put him on the scientific map. The trip took 6 weeks and involved every mode of transport in existence at the time. After four years Wallace set off for home, but his boat caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic. Everyone survived, but Wallace had to watch in despair as his samples went up in flames — including live animals he was bringing home that were trying to jump free of the flames. But he did not let it stop him.

In 1854, Wallace set off on another adventure, this time to the Malay Archipelago. Wallace found himself humbled by the new and exciting things he saw. He later recalled: “As I lie listening to these interesting sounds, I think how many besides myself have longed to see with their own eyes the many wonderful and beautiful things which I am daily encountering.”

In 1858, Wallace wrote what became known as the “Ternate essay”: a piece of writing that was to change our understanding of life forever. In his essay, Wallace argued that a species would only turn into another species if it was struggling for existence. Henry W. Bates was one of many scientists delighted by the idea of evolution by natural selection. In a letter to Wallace, he wrote: “The idea is like truth itself, so simple and obvious that those who read and understand it will be struck by its simplicity; and yet it is perfectly original.”

1. ________ finally caused Wallace to explore the world.

A．His strong affection for nature	B．His life-long devotion to beasts
C．His deep love for adventure	D．Increasing demand for insects

2. Which of the following is TRUE about Wallace’s first trip?

A．It took him six weeks to explore the Amazon with all kinds of transportation.

B．He made a scientific study of a fairly limited number of insects.

C．The fire cost him his four years’ collection of animals.

D．His passion cooled after the disaster.

3. Wallace felt ________on the Malay Archipelago.

A．fearless

B．lucky

C．challenged

D．risky

4. Wallace’s idea on evolution of natural selection ________.

A．made no sense at that time	B．built up a new concept of life
C．was too simple to be true	D．revealed the origin of nature

8 . Being Bigger isn’t Necessarily Considered Better

The firm, which famously started life in 1939, has now declared a new age: that of smaller start-up. By 2014, when Ms Whitman announced HP’s decision to separate its computer and printer business from its corporate hardware and services operations, the company had grown into a clumsy _________. Its fortunes started to _________ with a series of expensive and much criticized purchases. By 2012 it had lost its position as the world’s leading supplier of PCs to Lenovo. The dramatic _________ was aimed at helping the firm adapt to the new age of mobile and online computing, responding to shareholder demands for more aggressive _________.

“I would go from laser jet printing to our big enterprise services contracts where we were running the back end of IT for many big companies and organizations. These two things are not like each other. So the ability to focus and engage with customers on a(n) _________ set of objectives and business outcomes... I can already see the difference.” Ms Whitmann, who now heads the new spin-off, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) selling servers and services, says the change has already _________ her performance. “One big change is it _________ each of the divisions to pursue the strategy that is right for them. _________, there is ‘no way’ printer and PC company HP Inc’s decision last year to buy Samsung’s printing business for $1bn would have happened when it was part of the larger firm. So it’s that ability to drive your own program, not _________ by other businesses that don’t have the same characteristics.” Ms Whitman is so convinced her strategy is working that she’s ______________ HPE further, spinning off both its business services division and its software business into separate companies last year.

Her assumption that bigger doesn’t always mean better seems ______________. After all, a larger company should find it easier to dominate the market it operates in. But the rapid rise of much smaller start-ups, competing and often overtaking these established powerful companies means the accepted wisdom that ______________ equals success is being challenged. ______________ in 2014, eBay carved PayPal, the electronic payments arm it bought in 2001, off from the main online sale business.

Box, a cloud storage company, is another case in point. Founder Aaron Levie says “Whether Uber, Airbnb, those same lessons ______________, which is if you can build something that’s cheaper, faster and more scalable and delivers a far better customer experience than what the traditional sellers were able to do, then you can be extremely ______________.”

1.

A．appearance

B．construction

C．giant

D．possession

2.

A．decline

B．increase

C．stay

D．vary

3.

A．adventure

B．combination

C．development

D．split

4.

A．behavior

B．growth

C．markets

D．policies

5.

A．ambitious

B．complex

C．narrow

D．overall

6.

A．delivered

B．improved

C．measured

D．standardized

7.

A．allows

B．employs

C．reminds

D．threatens

8.

A．All in all

B．For example

C．On the contrary

D．What’s more

9.

A．held back

B．kept on

C．looked over

D．taken down

10.

A．dissolved

B．expanded

C．operated

D．shrunk

11.

A．fundamental

B．reasonable

C．surprising

D．widespread

12.

A．diligence

B．discipline

C．profit

D．size

13.

A．Comparatively

B．Generally

C．Similarly

D．Unexpectedly

14.

A．apply

B．fail

C．hide

D．increase

15.

A．friendly

B．miserable

C．motivated

D．troublesome

9 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage 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.

Should Children Ban Their Parents from Social Media?

It might be taken for granted - but no previous generation of children will have had the experience of having their entire childhoods intensively and publicly documented in this way. But the very first people to have had some of their childhood pictures     1     (post) online are not always happy about their formative years being preserved in digital world.

Parents may not realize it, but by posting photos and videos of their children online, they are creating an identity for their children     2     might not be welcomed. Lucy is a good example. She said she had asked her dad to de-tag her from “stuff that doesn’t necessarily represent     3     I am now”. That’s not something I’d want to remember every time I log on to Facebook… It isn’t the best memories, which is the way you’d like to reveal     4     on social media.”

Stories about online privacy are often about children and teenagers being warned of the dangers of publishing too much personal information online. But in this case it’s their parents who are in the spotlight. For some parents,     5     (safe) option is avoiding social media altogether.

Kasia Kurowska from Newcastle is expecting her first child in June and has agreed with her partner Lee to impose a blanket ban     6     her children are old enough to make their own decisions about social media. But she has two big concerns about her plan. Firstly, it will be difficult     7     (impose). “When their auntie comes round and takes a picture, we’re going to have to be like paparazzi police, saying, please don’t put these on Facebook. And secondly, the child might dislike     8     (not own) an online presence, especially if all of their friends do. But I     9     (keep) a digital record of them. It just won’t have been shared on a platform     10     the masses.”

10 . 听下面一段独白,回答以下小题。
1.

A．To concentrate for our quiet thought.

B．To give full attention to the driving.

C．To avoid being caught by the police.

D．To be as casual as possible in the driving.

2.

A．In an elevator.	B．At a special hall.
C．In a bathroom.	D．At a concert.

3.

A．By listening comprehensively and analytically.

B．By taking a sonic bath thoroughly.

C．By attending classical concerts frequently.

D．By listening to an emotional piece of music.