Mama and I spent morning s cleaning up the dirt that blew into our house. Mama said all dust was due to the drought. It was dust y everywhere. Dust covered our clothes. We had to wash the dishes before each meal. We rarely drove the automobile because Papa feared the dust from the road would ruin its front lights and horn (喇叭).
When my sister, Faye, and I walked to school, we wore handkerchiefs over our mouths so we didn’t breathe in the dirt. On days when the air was so bad that they closed the school, we stayed home and helped Mama put wet sheets over the windows. But the dirt always found a way in.
Last Sunday, there was no dirt in the air, only bright spring sunshine and a clear blue sky. After church, Papa headed out to the field to check on the cattle while Mama started dinner. Faye and I played in the yard. The temperature suddenly dropped—it felt good. The heat had been building since dawn.
Then Mama shouted from the house, “Iris, you and Faye get inside, real quick now!”
I looked to the west and saw a huge black cloud of dust. All the birds flew away. “Faye, go with Mama!” I shouted. “I’ll warn Papa.”
Faye sprinted toward the house. The storm hit so fast, I barely saw her climb the porch steps. Fine sand beat my face and in an instant the day turned into night. I stumbled over our bicycles left carelessly in the yard. I screamed for Papa, hoping my voice would lead him back.
The dirt and sand stung my skin like a thousand bees. I needed to get to shelter. Covering my face with one hand, I felt my way toward the automobile and opened the door. Dirt flew in with me as I pulled the door closed. Papa was still out there! I needed to help him find the automobile.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右：
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Staring at the automobile, I got an idea.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Papa nodded, “Good. We’ll wait out the storm here.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Evolving from the discovery that
According to Records of the Grand Historian, written by Sima Qian about 2,100 years ago, Bian Que, a
According to TCM, stimulating the acupoints can unblock motionless qi,
Li Ming, a 41-year-old, spent one and a half years on the treatment of her dry eyes. After more than 130
In 2010, UNESCO inscribed acupuncture and moxibustion of TCM on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Yet, the practice is not only cultural and historical, but a medical technique
3 . London life for Cathy Hagner and her three children is set to be permanent. Their
Often, the
In today’s world, middle class American and British parents
Parents take their children from activity to activity to make their future
“There is a new parenting trend under way which says you have to
“It isn’t entirely
| A．half | B．full | C．meaningful | D．relaxing |
| A．seeing | B．sending | C．dropping | D．taking |
| A．exhausted | B．loving | C．energetic | D．nuclear |
| A．assess | B．encourage | C．remind | D．treat |
| A．hoping | B．racing | C．calling | D．caring |
| A．challenging | B．exciting | C．promising | D．inviting |
| A．realistic | B．specific | C．difficult | D．important |
| A．Doctors | B．Parents | C．Headmasters | D．Teachers |
| A．start | B．attend | C．skip | D．prefer |
| A．lack | B．establishment | C．explosion | D．business |
| A．practice | B．enjoy | C．teach | D．include |
| A．unlock | B．fulfill | C．show | D．record |
| A．let down | B．pushed off | C．laughed at | D．taken over |
| A．new | B．out-dated | C．wrong | D．right |
| A．respected | B．done | C．accepted | D．managed |
4 . To better understand the ocean’s overall health, researchers hope to utilize some simplest creatures as tools to assess aquatic ecosystems. All they need is stunning $20 worth of materials, a 3D-printer, and some natural jellyfish.
Although it’s extremely dangerous, technologically challenging, and expensive for humans to reach the ocean’s deepest regions, jellyfish do it all the time. Jellyfish first began dancing through Earth’s ancient oceans at least half a billion years ago, making them some of the planet’s oldest creatures. In all that time, however, their biological appearance has remained pretty consistent—a bell-shaped, brainless head attached to a mass of tentacles （触须）, all of which is composed of around 95 percent water. Unfortunately, that same steady state can’t be said of their habitat, thanks to humanity’s ongoing environmental impacts. “Since they don’t have a brain or the ability to sense pain, we’ve been able to cooperate with bioethicists to develop this biohybrid robotic application in a way that’s ethically principled,” a lead researcher of this study, John Dabiri said in a recent profile.
Previously, Dabiri’s lab implanted jellyfish with a kind of electronic pacemaker that controls the speed at which they swim. This time, the team went a step further, adding what they call a forebody to the jellyfish. It is like a hat that sits on top of the jellyfish’s bell. This 3D-printed, hat-like addition not only houses electronics and sensors, but makes its wearer even faster. In a specially built, three-story vertical aquarium, a jellyfish equipped with a combination of the swimming pacemaker and forebody can swim up to 4.5 times faster than its all-natural counterpart.
“It’s well known that the ocean is critical for determining our present and future climate on land, and yet, we still know surprisingly little about the ocean, especially away from the surface,” Dabiri said. “Our goal is to finally move that needle by taking an unconventional approach inspired by one of the few animals that already successfully explores the entire ocean.”By controlling their jellies’ vertical ascent and descent, Dabiri’s team believes the biohybrids could help gather deep ocean data previously obtainable only by using extremely price y research vessels and equipment.
1. What made jellyfish chosen for the study?| A．Its consistent habitat. | B．Its existence for long. |
| C．Its watery composition. | D．Its insensibility to pain. |
| A．A forebody. | B．A pacemaker. |
| C．A hat-wearing jellyfish. | D．A speed sensor. |
| A．A data collector. | B．A device carrier. |
| C．A climate change predictor. | D．The model of a robotic application. |
| A．Its potential to explore the ocean. | B．Its role in determining the climate. |
| C．The animal-friendly approach to research. | D．The significant decline in research funding. |
5 . Smart entertainment is changing how we engage with leisure. By combining cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence (Al), augmented reality, and the internet of things with traditional forms of entertainment, this inn ovation is enhancing users’ experiences.
In 2023, Huawei introduced its Vision Smart TV3, transforming your home into your own amusement park. This innovative technology features groundbreaking AI super-sensing cameras and AI vision chips powered by deep learning and big data. These advanced components see and study your movements, enabling you to control characters through your body gestures. Social media is busy with users sharing their experiences of playing motion-sensing games, which require real-life movements like jumping and squatting instead of simply holding a controller.
The Vision Smart TV is not only cutting-edge but also family-friendly. Turning on the kids mode allows the screen to monitor real-time data, offering suggestions for adjusting a child’s viewing distance and posture. This provides a safe and comfortable entertainment experience for the younger audience. TorieZ, a Huawei Vision Smart TV3 owner and a mother of a 3-year-old daughter, shared her experience on Xiaohongshu. “Thanks to the smart screen, my child maintains good posture without constant supervision because her favorite cartoons stop if she slouches(懒洋洋地坐),” she said. When she’s free, TorieZ and her husband enjoy exercising together under the instructions of the TV.
We cannot only play video games merely on the screens; now, with smart entertainment, you can get an immersive experience of Mario Kart, a racing video game, put right into your living room. While playing the game, players can control their karts running in their living rooms. Each kart has an onboard camera on it. The camera can record the layout of where they are and upload it to the Nintendo system. After processing it, some settings, like jungles and snowy landscapes, are created based on the layout and shown on the Switch screen. So, things in your living room, like the sofa and table, your feet or even your cat, can be a part of your game.
Step outside and you can also enjoy smart entertainment experiences. Shanghai Disney Resort uses big data analysis to offer personalized services. In the US and South America, VR World, the largest VR club, gives users super real gaming and travel adventures.
Looking forward, cutting-edge technologies will continue to change how we spend our leisure time.
1. How does Huawei’s Vision Smart TV3 improve user interaction in gaming experiences?| A．Through touch-activated screens. |
| B．Through voice-activated commands. |
| C．Through thought-based gaming controls. |
| D．Through immediate responses to motion gestures. |
| A．By making a comparison. | B．By presenting a reason. |
| C．By giving an example. | D．By clarifying a definition. |
| A．The settings are fixed and can’t be changed. |
| B．Physical objects in the room can become part of the game. |
| C．Players wear VR headsets for a more engaging experience. |
| D．Players interact with AI characters in the game. |
| A．Having fun in new ways | B．How to spend our leisure time |
| C．Cutting-edge technologies | D．Innovative video games |
6 . Linda Brown, a real estate agent, believes that when it comes to solving homelessness, it takes a village. She spent nine years supporting homeless people in Springfield, Missouri, through a charitable organization called The Gathering Tree, which welcomed people a few times each week during daylight hours, providing a safe and welcoming place for them to take showers, socialize, or simply rest. But they had to close their doors for the night. “One cold winter night, I watched as my friends walked off into the darkness to a wet, cold camp, while we went home to a warm bed,” Linda said, “I realized I had to do something.”
She had an idea to create a village of tiny houses to make sure no one slept outside on her watch! Linda started fundraising. She began by appealing to her fellow estate agents in the area before branching out into local businesses.
Using these donations, Linda purchased a nearby abandoned area that already had the infrastructure in place. By February 2019, they’d built 31 tiny homes for their Eden Village and found residents for each one. All the residents must be good neighbors in order to stay in the village, and they certainly are! Linda was happy when she learned that the village actually increased local property values rather than lowering them as some people had feared.
The driving philosophy behind Eden Village is as follows: The root causes of a person’s homelessness cannot be thoroughly addressed until his or her immediate housing needs are met. “When I watched my homeless friends walk into a hidden, wet, and cold camp, I realized I had to do something,” Linda said. “And that made me have the idea to build the tiny-home village that serves as a place where the chronically disabled homeless can live with dignity and self-worth.”
To this day, Linda firmly believes that there are a million reasons why someone can become homeless, but each of them can be solved with love and community involvement.
1. What does The Gathering Tree do for the homeless?| A．It provides them with day shelters. | B．It raises money for them. |
| C．It helps them find warm camps. | D．It builds tiny houses for them. |
| A．Their own homes would be lost. | B．Their jobs would be taken over. |
| C．Their safety would be threatened. | D．Their local property would be devalued. |
| A．Every homeless person should be offered a job. |
| B．Housing is the key to addressing homelessness. |
| C．Medical treatment should be given to the homeless. |
| D．We should help the homeless quit some bad habits. |
| A．Generous and independent. | B．Ambitious and scholarly. |
| C．Sympathetic and innovative. | D．Brave and imaginative. |
7 . Get together in Doon Heritage Village
Doon Heritage Village, where you can experience what life was like in 1914, is newly enhanced with restored buildings, more farm animals and fun activities for the entire family to enjoy.
Waterloo Region Museum
The new gateway to Doon Heritage Village is Waterloo Region Museum, to be opened on July 1, 2024. Come share in the stories that connect us at the new Waterloo Region Museum! The colors in the glass façade of the Waterloo Region Museum were selected from bedding, mostly quilts, in the museum’s collection and represent the textile heritage of Waterloo Region.
Special Events for JULY
2nd A Day in the Life 1914
Daily, from Saturday, July 2 to Saturday, July 30
4th World In Kitchener Film Festival
Monday, July 4 to Friday, July 8
9th History Under the trees
—Looking After Your Family’s History
23rd Flower Bouquet Workshop
& New! Summer Patio Music Enjoy live music every Saturday afternoon on our patio in July.
HUNGRY?
The museum features a café open during busy periods. The café menu includes light snack items, including hot and cold beverages. Vending machines are also available for your convenience. Water fountains are located near the café, on the patio and in the Living History Village. Please do not eat or drink inside the historic buildings.
SHOP
Be sure to visit the museum gift shop to find one-of-a-kind souvenirs, toys and gift items.
ACCESSIBILITY
Washrooms are fully accessible and can accommodate large groups and bus tours. The Waterloo Region Museum and the ground floors of most historic buildings are wheelchair accessible. We offer many services and assistive devices for visitors with disabilities. Please ask for our Guide to Access.
1. What inspired the colors used in the glass façade of the Waterloo Region Museum?| A．The natural surroundings of Waterloo Region. |
| B．The art heritage of Waterloo Region. |
| C．The bedding items from the museum’s collection. |
| D．The stories connecting us around the region. |
| A．4 | B．3 | C．2 | D．1 |
| A．The cafe featuring snack items is always busy. |
| B．Drinking in the Living History Village is banned. |
| C．The museum gift shop has something unique to offer. |
| D．The Doon Heritage Village is fully wheelchair accessible. |
8 . There’s no doubt that loneliness hurts. Functional MRIs show that the area of the brain triggered by social rejection is the same area that’s triggered by physical pain. To understand why loneliness hurts, let’s take a closer look at friendship through the eyes of two heavyweight philosophers.
In one corner we have Aristotle, who wrote that without friends, there’s no reason to live. The Greek great believed that friendships are based on the virtues of the friend.
So as a sharp counterpunch to Aristotle, let’s turn to the renowned Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant, who said that all people have value regardless of their virtues. Since we view our true friends with this kind of unconditional love and respect, we can assume they view us the same way.
| A．This may sound fine at first. |
| B．They last through thick and thin. |
| C．This tells us why loneliness hurts. |
| D．These acts may not make you a lifelong friend. |
| E．The more friends you have, the happier you’ll be. |
| F．We feel like we’re not accepted by the people around us. |
| G．Thus, the cure for loneliness can be found in other people. |
9 . Many people think that the world is about to step into the fourth industrial revolution. This time, machines can do a lot of work in the charge of human beings, even better than human beings. In the future, the world can be more efficient and enjoy cheaper services, but unemployment will become more common.
It raises a troubling question for all of us — when will a machine be able to do my job? Katja Grace, a research associate at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, and her colleagues from the AI Impacts project and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, have surveyed 352 scientists and compiled (汇编) their answers into predictions about how long it may take for machines to outperform humans on various tasks.
The good news is that many of us will probably be safe in our jobs for some time to come. The researchers predict there is a 50% chance that machines will be capable of taking over all human jobs in 120 years.
“One of the biggest surprises was the overall lateness of the predictions,” says Grace. “I expected the amazing progress in machine learning in recent years, plus the fact that we were only talking to machine learning researchers, to make the estimates earlier.”
“I am a bit sceptical of some of the timelines given for tasks that involve physical manipulation (操纵),” says Jeremy Wyatt, professor of robotics and artificial intelligence at the University of Birmingham. “It is one thing doing it in the lab, and quite another having a robot that can do a job reliably in the real world better than a human.”
Manipulating physical objects in the real world — figuring out what to manipulate, and how, in a random, changing environment — is an incredibly complex job for a machine. Tasks that don’t involve physical manipulation are easier to teach.
Perhaps the hardest jobs for machines to perform are those that take years of training for humans to excel at. These often involve intuitive (直觉的) decision making, complex physical environments or abstract thinking — all things that computers struggle with.
1. Why did the researchers conduct the survey on the future role of machines?| A．To make it clear how machines can replace humans. |
| B．To find why machines can take the place of humans. |
| C．To explain humans will be substituted by machines. |
| D．To learn when machines may be superior to humans on jobs. |
| A．She thought the time would be totally uncertain despite the survey. |
| B．She thought the time would be later than predicted. |
| C．She thought the time would be earlier than predicted. |
| D．She thought machines would take over all the jobs in 120 years. |
| A．A robot can do a job reliably in the real world better than a human. |
| B．Tasks that don’t involve physical manipulation are quite complicated. |
| C．It is difficult for robots to finish the jobs related to physical manipulation. |
| D．He is sure of the timelines given for tasks that involve physical manipulation. |
In ancient China lived an artist
Filled with curiosity, the artist packed his bags and left.
