1 . ‘Small Data’ Are Also Crucial for Machine Learning

Many people relate “artificial intelligence” with “big data.” There’s a reason for that: some of the most prominent AI breakthroughs in the past decade have relied on enormous data sets. Image _________ made great progress in the 2010s thanks to the development of ImageNet, a data set containing millions of images hand sorted into thousands of categories. More recently, GPT-3, a language model, was trained on _________ online texts to produce humanlike text in Jan, 2021. So it is not surprising to see AI being tightly connected with “big data” in the _________ imagination. But AI is not only about large data sets, and research in “small data” approaches has grown extensively over the past decade. The so-called transfer learning serves as an especially _________ example.

Also known as “fine-tuning,” transfer learning is helpful in settings where you have _________ data on the task of interest but abundant data on a related problem. You need to first train a model using a big data set and then retrain slightly using a smaller one related to your _________ problem. A research team working on German-language speech recognition, _________, showed that they could improve their results by starting with an English-language speech model trained on a larger data set. Then, they used transfer learning to _________ that model for a smaller data set of German-language audio.

Small data approaches such as transfer learning are more _________ than more data-intensive methods. They can promote progress in areas where little or no data exist, such as in forecasting natural hazards that occur relatively __________. In this context, small data approaches will become increasingly important as more organizations look to diversify AI application areas and invest in previously __________ fields.

Despite the progress in research, transfer learning has received relatively little __________. While many machine learning experts are likely familiar with it at this point, the existence of techniques such as transfer learning does not seem to have reached the awareness of the broader space of policymakers in positions of making important decisions about AI funding and __________.

As long as the success of small data technique like transfer learning is __________, resources can be allocated to support their widespread use. In that case, we can help correct the popular __________ regarding the role of data in AI and foster innovation in new directions.

3 . A serious car crash leads one woman to rediscover her faith in human kindness.

In March last year, the car I was driving was_______in a serious crash with another car on a country road.   I soon _______ myself at the centre of a disorder of activity, surrounded by doctors, police, rescuers and members of the local community. An huge can opener was used to _______ me out of my broken car and _______ an ambulance.

Over the next eight hours, I was transported to hospital, dragged up, X-rayed and diagnosed with a broken neck. Knowing that I’d _______ death by a fraction of a second sustained me throughout the long wait in the emergency ward and _______ me to deal with the visible distress of my hospital visitors.

Only after I’d convinced the last friend to _______ could I direct my energies inwards. Flitting (掠过) in and out of my line of vision during my hospital stay was the Red Cross lady, a _______ presence in white who, from time to time, placed her head in to _______ cups of tea. After the visitors had gone, she ventured further into my room to ________ that I was all right.

I found myself telling her everything: about the shock of the ________, my fears for my family as a result of my injuries and about my whole life. While I waited for an ambulance to transport me to another hospital, she stood by my trolley and held my hand as I off-loaded all the emotion I’d stoically withheld (强忍着地) from my family. She ________, quiet and non-judgmental.

Even now, the ________ that I have her contact details provides me with great comfort. I look forward to a day in the not-too-distant future when my guardian angel and I can meet again, in ________ circumstances.

In times of crisis, faith can sustain us: for me, my faith in human nature, reawakened by the ________ of a stranger, has helped ease my journey back to recovery.

4 . Days earlier, Sarah Bellamy had received a mysterious email saying that a wealth management company was interested in discussing the financial crisis of Penumbra. Now, when she was_________ to unload her groceries onto the conveyor belt(传送带), her phone rang. “They told me that MacKenzie Scott was _________ in investing Penumbra .” Bellamy remembers.

It was a familiar _________for hundreds of other nonprofit leaders—all _________the woman who has become one of the most_________ and surprising philanthropists(慈善家)in the world. Her name is MacKenzie Scott—the writer, first Amazon employee, and former wife of company founder Jeff Bezose. However, _________Scott divorced, she has _________ more than $12 billion of her fortune to help others. As this story went to press, Scott had just _________ her latest money bomb, revealing in late March that she’d given away $3.9 billion.

Scott’s only _________of her recipients is that they help maintain her privacy. It’s impossible to __________a Scott grant(拨款), to send her a thank-you note, or to contact her directly; she and her closest advisers almost never __________ to requests for interviews. Even Bellamy has been __________not to identify the person who informed them __________her donations.

Rey Saldana, CEO of a network of nonprofits, says: “Scott is a person who __________ a significant amount of power by the value of her wealth and understands how to actually __________ power.”

5 . By the time I was a junior at Yale, I’d already met everyone I cared to know. I also knew those I didn’t want to know, including Maxey. He and I were like planets in different ________ .

Everything changed dramatically when we had a field trip for a weekend. Although I was________, I could get along well with others except Maxey who still made me________. I couldn’t think of anything to say to him. When he walked up to me and stuck out his hand, I just ________ it quickly. We stood awkwardly for a few minutes. When someone tried to get my attention, Maxey politely ________. That last morning, when we discussed how to return home, he insisted I ride home on the back of his motorcycle. I said I thought it was a terrible ________ and I wanted to refuse, but Maxey ________ a helmet at me. ” I wanted to give you a________. You didn’t seem to like me. I want you to like me.” he said. Maxey started up the________ and we roared out of the driveway. The bike ________down the highway. I________ my arms around him and held on for dear________. Maybe our friendship started from that day.

We were now both 60, but my ________ with him remained strong. I was sure if I was in ________, Maxey would be there for me. I was ________sure that if he wanted my help, I would give it without hesitation.

6 . In February Chen Qiqi was riding on a field trip, seeking interesting plants in South China’s Hainan province. Suddenly, she ______ and gave other passengers a shock.

As the car pulled over, she jumped off and ______ to a plant. Chen ______ the plant at close quarters, while taking pictures and shooting it from various angles. “It was Entada phaseoloides (榼藤) and I couldn’t wait to share it with my ______,” she says.

She applied for studies of ______ protection at college in 2016. The college study has given her ______ knowledge of plants and the plant-hunting ______ has made her have a good ______ of the natural world. These led to her option of becoming a teacher at a (n) ______ education institute after graduation.

However, the lockdown interrupted her plans so she couldn’t ______ with it. Instead, she picked up skills of video shooting, which ______ her to be a plant video blogger. Her short videos cover a ______ range of plants, including red spider lily, box bean and air plants, etc. In Chen’s ______ on TikTok, over 100 videos explaining varieties of plants have earned her almost 1 million followers.

“I feel proud and my job is ______ when people say they know about some plants because of me. As for her future plans, Chen says she ______ to carry on exploring the world of plants.

8 . The 8-year-old boy across the street stormed in and out of his own house very often. A neighbor, William Dunn, _______what was going on in his life. So Dunn asked him.

“He told me that he didn’t have a_______,” says Dunn, now 58, “and I realized there was_______I could do for him.” That something was_______, a passion Dunn’s father had shared with him.

Dunn has taken groups of kids out almost every _______to fish. Most didn’t have father figures in their lives and had never fished. “They’d been through a lot, and their lives were_______,” Dunn says. “But when they were fishing, all of that_______.   Out on the boat, they’d be smiling, and even_______.”

Jayden, now 13, has become a devoted fisherman and_______ Dunn with helping him mature. “I hope he knows I mean it when I say thank you,” he says.

Just as__________as the fishing are the__________Dunn forms with the kids. “When Jayden was going through a__________period recently in study — I let Dunn know that his grades were suffering and he had a little talk with Jayden,” Jayden’s mother says. To her delight, Jayden’s grades__________improved in the next exam.

“There is nothing like seeing a__________light up with a smile,” Dunn says. “I feel lucky to__________that every weekend.”

9 . As an ordinary mother, I am proud of my three children, David, Phil and Angel. I gave birth to my last little Angel in the middle of pandemic.

Due to the pandemic, society was cornered into ___mode. Schools were closed, food supplies and deliveries were ___and children were stuck at home. Luckily, I had some____time to do what I enjoyed. Since it was winter, I purchased tons of yam (毛线) to make scarves for my children as Christmas gifts. In such ___times, however, my children spent every day happily. Meanwhile, they had a new friend named Jane, the only daughter from a family which moved in down the street. It seemed that her family was a financially ____one, for she always wore old clothes. _____, in such cold days, she had no more clothes to wear and_____with cold.

Every time David came in, he always cried,“Mum, it is freezing cold outside!” Then he __ to see whether I finished the scarf. I could tell how______he was to wear it sooner! I had to speed up, but David____ me saying he could wait a few days. At last, my great art project was accomplished on the morning ahead of Christmas. Both David and Phil were in high spirits, and they rushed out___to play with Jane. David was a caring and considerate boy,and he noticed Jane would hardly bear the freezing weather with worn-out clothes.“Can I give this scarf to Jane as a gift?” David_____in a low voice. Smilingly, I nodded. David was wild with joy and gave his scarf to Jane without hesitation. Seeing Jane play happily outside, with the scarf sheltering her to____the bone-chilling wind, I felt relieved and I felt ___of David.

For Jane- -a scarf to keep warm, and for David- -a taste of_____of giving.