1 . We’ve all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.

What’s the problem? It’s possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s awkward and challenging, or we think it’s annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it’s an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.

Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t

even exist if it weren’t for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease(润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. ＂Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk,＂ he explains. ＂The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.＂

In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction(互动) with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. ＂It’s not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband,＂ says Dunn. ＂But interactions with peripheral(边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also.＂

Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. ＂Small talk is the basis of good manners,＂ he says.

2 . We love letters. Just as John Donne, a poet, _________ it, “Letters, to me and my friends mean _________ greetings; they get souls together. Thanks to letters, friends who are _________ speak.” He wrote these words nearly 400 years ago. Today, in the age of instant text message, social media, and email, they _________ ring truer than ever, because writing or receiving a letter has become such a _________ event.

A UK-wide survey undertaken by Sunday Times suggests that one in four of us has not _________ a letter for at least 10 years. That’s ten years without the bitter-sweet _________ of pacing the floor waiting for the _________; ten years without recognizing the handwriting on the envelope and eagerly _________ the letter to read its content.

We ____________ not get them any more, but we still love handwritten letters. In the same survey, one third of ____________ people interviewed say that they ____________ the content of sentimental (充满情感的) letters. Shouldn’t we make ____________ to give our friends and families what they will treasure forever? Ann Bickley went online in 2013 and offered to handwrite a letter to anyone who ____________ her. Her website received 50,000 ____________ in its first three months. Five years later, she is still the main ____________ behind one-million-lovely-letter.com and has personally written 4,000 letters offering hope and ____________ to strangers.

The thought behind a letter ____________ as much as its contents. “I never tell anyone that ____________ is going to be OK,” Ann Bickley says, “I am letting someone know that there is someone in the world who ____________ them.”

Who wouldn’t love to receive a letter like that? Let’s get writing!

4 .

News anchors(主播) must have been reluctant to read out the following news: Xin Xiaomeng began working as the world’s first female artificial(人工的) intelligence news anchor at Xinhua News Agency on Sunday, three months after a male robot joined the profession.

Unlike previous news robots though, Xin does not read news like a cold machine; she reads it almost like a human being. The muscles on her face stretch and relax-and her reactions change-as she continues reading. That’s why many news anchors were worried: Will AI replace us in the near future?

To find the answer, we have to analyse the technologies that support Xin at her job. Three key technologies are used to support Xin. First, samples of human voices are collected and synthesized (合成). This is followed by the collection and synthesis of human muscle movement samples. And third the voices and movements are married in a way that when the Al news anchor reads, the micro -electric motors behind her face move to make her expressions seem more human.

Yet we need a thorough knowledge of deep leaning technology to make a robot imitate a person’s voice. The developer needs to collect tens of thousands of pieces of pronunciations, input them Into the machine and match them with the text or the Al to lean and read. The process for imitating facial movements is similar. The developer has to analyse the movements of the 53 muscles in the human face, make a model set from the collected data for the AI news anchor to lean, and imitate the movements of facial muscles via programs

Both the technologies used to make Xin’s performance impressive are mature. The real difficulty lies in the third -the technology to match the pronunciations with facial movements so that Xin expressions vary according to the content of the news report. In fact, Xins expressions don' t always change according to the content. As a result, her expressions look anything but human. Actually. AI is still no match for human qualities.

Welcome to China in the coming winter vacation,

Yours,

Li Hua

7 . When people see machines that respond like humans, or computers that perform amazing feats of strategy, they sometimes joke about a future in which humanity will need to accept robot overlords. But buried in the joke is a seed of unease. Science fiction writing and popular movies have shown us about artificial intelligence (AI) that exceeds the expectations of its creators and escapes their control, eventually outcompeting and enslaving humans or targeting them for extinction(灭绝).

Even in the real word, not everyone is ready to welcome AI with open arms. In recent years, as computer scientists have pushed the boundaries of what AI can accomplish, leading figures in technology and science have warmed about the frightening dangers that artificial intelligence may pose to humanity, even suggesting that AI capabilities could destroy the human race.

But why are people so frightened about the idea of AI?

Elon Musk is one of the famous voices that have raised red flags about AI, In July 2017. Musk told attendees at a meeting of the National Governors Association, I have exposured to the very cutting-edge Al,and I think people should be really concerned about it.I keep sounding the alarm bell. But until people see robots going down the street killing people, they don't know how to react, because it seems so impossible."

Earlier, in 2014, Musk had labeled AI "our biggest existential threat," and in August 2017, he declared that humanity faced a greater risk from AI than the terrorists. Physicist Stephen Hawking, who died on March14, also expressed concerns about AI, telling the BBC in 2014 that "the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.

We three were running down the path, shouting and laughing when our dog Rubby suddenly stopped in the distance. He turned around and eyed us, with his tail swinging up and down.

My little brother Toby immediately sped up and rushed to where Rubby was. He bent down. picked up something and ran back to us.

It was a bunch of keys. We gathered in a circle, examining the keys one by one. hoping to find some useful information about its owner. There were 3 keys — a house key, a mail key and a car key and a unique key fob (吊坠) very likely designed specially.

“Gosh, the owner might be in great trouble,” my sister sighed. She was right. We once lost our keys. Although we had an extra house key, it took our parents quite a long time to get a new mail key. let alone there was a car key.

Who might have lost them?

Alter many wild guesses, we finally drew a conclusion. It might belong to someone in our neighborhood as only our neighbors wandered into the woods for a walk. But it was still impossible to figure out who it was. We had a very big neighborhood.

“The owner might come back to look for them,” Toby reminded.

So we decided to stay where we were, keeping a watchful eye on all passers-by. Our little dog ran in circles of excitement since we stayed so long in the wild. We remained in the woods for two hours, asking everyone we came across whether they lost their keys, but in vain.

It seemed we had to give up. But my sister wouldn’t, saying that she just couldn’t stop picturing the owner brushing aside tall grasses hoping to find the lost keys. “How anxious and upset the owner would be!”

I took a look at the bunch of keys again and quite by accident, found the key fob had the alarm button. “Look! If we press the alarm button, close enough of course, we can set off the owner’s car alarm.”

“That’s brilliant.”

We rushed back to our neighborhood.

The door opened and in front of us stood an old lady.

9 . Two years ago I was a typical girl with a rather plain life. When ______ to a local voluntary organization called “Peer-to-Peer” by a poster, I had no idea what this group was about.______, to learn more about it, I decided to attend a ______, which changed my life.

Just like the ______ suggests, everyone is considered a peer, including regular members and our leaders. This means we can ______ our leaders by their first names. We can also ask our leaders for help in ______ life situations, which we know they will never ______! When it comes to conversations about awkward topics like love, we are ______ not to be ashamed of ourselves.

This organization’s meetings ______ in our local library. We usually gather and communicate about ______ topics concerning our society: education, equality and safety… This kind of communication helps us to make the right choice and ______ our mind. Sometimes we’ve gone outside in order to participate in ______ events. One event we had,______, was “Give a cigarette — Take a candy” intending to ______ smoking.

At this organization we are friends with each other and are a   ______   community. I’ve also gained a lot of ______   experience by communicating with people and working in the team.

With time going by, I have found an abundance of other ______ organizations such as “Give Good” and “Youth Initiative Center”. All of them have ______ me a great chance to develop my own personality and make my life ______.

I’m sure I’ll have a lot of wonderful ______ about my youth with me getting older.

10 . It was raining. I went into a café and asked for a coffee. _________ I was waiting for my drink, I realized that there were other people in the place, but I sensed _______. I saw their bodies, but I couldn’t feel their souls _________ their souls belonged to the _________.

I stood up and walked between the tables. When I came to the biggest computer, I saw a thin, small man _________ in front of it. “I’m Steve”, he finally answered after I asked him a couple of times what his name was. “I can’t talk with you. I’m _________”, he said. He was chatting online with somebody—probably someone he didn’t know—and, _________ , he was playing a computer game—a war game. I was_________.

Why didn’t Steve want to talk with me? I tried _________ to speak to that computer geek (怪人), ________ not a word came out of his mouth. I touched his shoulder, but no reaction. I was __________. I put my hand in front of the monitor, and he started to shout, “ __________!” I took a few steps back, wondering if all those people in the café were looking at me. I __________, and saw nobody showed any interest.

________ , I realized that the people there were having a nice conversation with their machines, not with people. They were more __________ having a relationship with the __________, particularly Steve. I wouldn’t want to __________ the future of human beings if they preferred sharing their lives with machines ____________ with people.

I was worried and I sank in my thoughts. I didn’t even ________ that the coffee was bad, __________ Steve didn’t notice there was a person next to him.