2 . This Is How Scandinavia Got Great

Almost everybody admires the Nordic model. Countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland have high economic productivity, high social equality, high social trust and high levels of personal happiness.

Nordic nations were ethnically homogeneous(同质的) in 1800, when they were dirt poor. Their economic growth took off just after 1870, way before their welfare states were established.     1    

The 19th-century Nordic elites did something we haven’t been able to do in our country recently. They realized that if their countries were to prosper they had to create truly successful “folk schools” for the least educated among them. They realized that they were going to have to make lifelong learning a part of the natural fabric of society.

    2     The German word they used to describe their approach, bildung, doesn’t even have an English equivalent. It means the complete moral, emotional, intellectual and civic transformation of the person. It was based on the idea that if people were going to be able to handle and contribute to an emerging industrial society, they would need more complex inner lives.

Today, Americans often think of schooling as the transmission of specialized skill sets — the student can read, do math and recite the facts of biology.     3     It is devised to help them understand complex systems and see the relations between things — between self and society, between a community of relationships in a family and a town.

The Nordic educators worked hard to cultivate each student’s sense of connection to the nation. Before the 19th century, most Europeans identified themselves in local and not national terms.     4     The idea was to create in the mind of the student a sense of wider circles of belonging — from family to town to nation — and an eagerness to assume shared responsibility for the whole.

That educational push seems to have had a lasting influence on the culture. Whether in Stockholm or Minneapolis, Scandinavians have a tendency to joke about the way their sense of responsibility is always nagging at them. They have the lowest rates of corruption in the world. They have a distinctive sense of the relationship between personal freedom and communal responsibility.

A．Bildung is the way that the individual matures and takes upon him or herself ever bigger academic responsibility.

B．What really launched the Nordic nations was generations of phenomenal educational policy.

C．Bildung is designed to change the way students see the world.

D．But the Nordic curriculum conveyed to students a pride in, say, their Danish history, folklore and heritage.

E．They look at education differently than we do.

F．The Nordic educators also worked hard to develop the student’s internal awareness.

3 . There's a loud bang, and then it starts: A battery of an electric car is on fire in the test tunnel. A video of the test impressively shows the energy stored in such batteries: meter-long flames flee in disorder and produce enormous amounts of thick, black smoke. The visibility in the previously brightly lit tunnel section quickly approaches zero. After a few minutes, ashes have spread throughout the room.

"In our experiment we were considering in particular private and public operators of small and large underground or multi-storey car parks," says project leader Lars Derek Mellert,"all these existing underground structures are being used to an increasing extent by electric cars. And the operators ask themselves: “    1    ?"But until now there has been hardly any meaningful technical literature, let alone practical experience for such a case. So Mellert developed three test scenarios（场景）, the results of which were published in a final report in August 2020.

“    2    . Besides, they are possibly fatal regardless of the type of drive or energy storage system." says the final report. The primary objective has to be to get everyone out of the danger zone as quickly as possible. The highly poisonous hydrofluoric（氢氟）acid has often been discussed as a particular danger in burning batteries.    3    . The real problem, however, is the extinguishing and cooling water that is produced when fighting such a fire and storing a burnt-out battery in a water basin. The analyses showed that some chemical substances in the extinguishing water goes beyond the limit values for industrial wastewater by a factor of 70; the cooling water is even up to 100-times above limit values.

    4    Firefighters know that the battery of an electric car is impossible to extinguish and that it can only be cooled with large amounts of water. But this is already known to the specialists and is being practiced.

A．The pollutants emitted by a burning vehicle have always been dangerous

B．What on earth causes Lithium batteries to catch fire

C．Even the fire brigades do not have to learn anything new on the basis of the tests

D．The acid can possibly result in death, while its effects may delay after exposure

E．But in the three tests in the tunnel the concentrations remained far below critical levels

F．What will happen if such a car catches fire

4 . Explore some of New Zealand's best skiing & snowboarding field. Whatever your ability, Cardrona has the snow for you!

The 2018 winter season runs from June 16 — October 14,2018.

Half Day & 1 Day lift passes are split into Peak & Off Peak pricing:

Peak — July, August & September                    Off Peak — June & October

2018 Single Day Ski Passes	Half Day* Off Peak	Half Day* Peak	1 Day Off Peak	1 Day Peak	1 Day Learner	1 Lift
Adult	$80	$85	$99	$115	$65	$35
Child	$45	$50	$50	$60	$42	$25
Student	$70	$75	$85	$95	$65	$35
Senior	N/A	N/A	$75	$85	$65	$35

* Half day passes: 8.30am — 12.30pm morning, 12.30 — 4pm afternoon

* Rocky Mountain Super Pass holders must book lodging with Cardrona to be eligible for free day passes. Please email reservations@cardrona.com with an accommodation booking request & the lift ticket benefit request.

What pass am I eligible for? Read our lift pass age definitions below to find out.

* Multi passes are valid for both consecutive & non-consecutive days & can be used any time throughout the 2018 winter season at Cardrona only.

Your lift pass will be stored on an electronic RFID pass. To make the most of your clever pass, activate your personal profile online. Once you' re logged into your profile you can:

·Top up your card with lift passes, rental gear, lift & rental packages and lessons.

·Keep track of your on-slope stats at Cardrona (days spent, run count, activities taken, etc. )

Definitions for Lift Passes:

Student: 18+yrs enrolled full time (minimum 32 weeks in a calendar year)with a New Zealand or Australian tertiary institution. Student ID & proof of full time status (letter from institution) is required. ID card must be in English & include a valid expiry date.

Child: Currently attending school, 6-17yrs inclusive. Kids under 6 ski for free in winter, & kids under 9 bike for free in summer! Photo ID will be required.

Senior: 65-74yrs of age. Photo ID will be required.

Under 6yrs &75 Years+: Under 6yrs & over 75yrs, as at June 1, 2018, ski for free. Please collect a complimentary lift pass from the ticket office. Photo ID will be required.

1. After activation of your online profile, what can you do to maximize the value of your pass?

A．You can open up the online account of your clever pass.

B．You can store your lift pass on an electronic RFID pass.

C．You can monitor what activities you have done at Cardrona.

D．You can participate in most tutor lessons without any charge.

2. Which of the following statement is true according to the passage?

A．Cardrona is only open to those who are skilled at snowing or skiing.

B．Anyone with Rocky Mountain Super Pass can have free access to Cardrona.

C．Those with 1 Day Off Peak pass are entitled to ski at Cardrona on Oct. 24th

D．One can get in Cardrona from 8.30 am to 4 pm with 1 Day Peak pass.

3. How much will the Half Day Peak passes cost for a family of two parents, one 12-year-old boy, one freshman at Auckland University, one 5 year old, and one grandmother of 76?

A．$295.

B．$275.

C．$320.

D．$270.

5 . “Is data the new oil?” asked advocates of big data back in 2012 in Forbes magazine. By 2016, with the rise of big data’s fast-growing cousin deep learning, we had become more certain: “Data is the new oil,” stated Fortune magazine.

Amazon’s Neil Lawrence has a slightly different comparison: Data is coal. Not coal today, though, but coal in the early days of the 18th century, when Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine. Newcomen built his device to pump water out of the southwest’s rich tin (锡) mines.

The problem, as Lawrence said, was that the pump was rather more useful to those who had a lot of coal than those who didn’t: it was good, but not good enough to be able to buy enough coal in to run it. That was so true that the first of Newcomen’s steam engines wasn’t built in a tin mine, but in coal works near Dudley.

So why is data coal? The problem is similar: there are a lot of Newcomen in the world of deep learning. New companies are coming up with revolutionary new ways to train machines to do impressive tasks, from reconstructing facial data from images to learning the writing style of an individual user to better predict which word they are going to type in a sentence. And yet, like Newcomen, their innovations are so much more useful to the people who actually have large amounts of raw material to work from.

But there is an ending to the story: 69 years later, James Watt made a nice change to the Newcomen steam engine, adding a condenser (冷凝器) to the design. That change, Lawrence said, “made the steam engine much more efficient, and that’s what triggered the industrial revolution.”

Whether data is oil or coal, then, there’s another way the comparison holds up: a lot of work is going into trying to make sure we can do more, with less.

“If you look at all the areas where deep learning is successful, they’re all areas where there’s lots of data,” points out Lawrence. That’s great if you want to classify images of cats, but less helpful if you want to use deep learning to diagnose rare illnesses. “It’s generally considered unacceptable to force people to become sick in order to acquire data.”

It’s not as impressive as teaching a computer to play a game better than any human alive, but “data efficiency” is a vital step if deep learning is to move away from simply taking in large amounts of data and giving out the best correlations (关联) possible.

1. The first of Newcomen’s steam engines wasn’t built in a tin mine because________.

A．its operation required a lot of coal	B．it would lose its function in a tin mine
C．it was in greater demand in coal works	D．the rich mines required more advanced aids

2. According to the passage, in which situation is deep learning the least successful?

A．Reconstructing facial data.	B．Predicting a word in a sentence.
C．Classifying images of cats.	D．Diagnosing rare diseases.

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Watt’s condenser helped the steam engine consume less coal.

B．Data involving patients is often collected through immoral ways.

C．Teaching machines to learn is a vital step towards data efficiency.

D．Thomas Newcomen’s steam engine had revolutionary applications.

4. Neil Lawrence compared data to coal to indicate that________.

A．acquiring data is as complex as mining for coal

B．a change is required to make more out of less data

C．data is the new fuel to start an information revolution

D．a larger amount of data is needed to accomplish something

6 . SPORTS EVENTS

BASKETBALL Central Sports Center, ★City Road All Stars vs. Rockets, Sat. 8:30 p.m., $12 ★Northerners vs. Tigers, Sun. noon, $10	LAWN BOWLS Tans Town B.C ●Tans Town vs. White Vale Sun. 9:00 a.m. Wake Hill B.C ●Wake Hill vs. Colls, Sat. 2:00 p.m.
BUSHWALKING ◆Meet at Wanda Station, Sat. 9:00 a.m. sharp for hour. ◆Walk to Canary Mountains $5, ph 5432868 ◆Meet at Westley Station, Sun. 9:00 a.m. Sharp for full day ◆Walk to Wombat Valley $5, ph 3416384. Bring your own lunch	FOOTBALL St. Martins Sports Center ▼Martins vs. Doonsberg, Sat. 2:00 p.m. $8 ▼Eastside Central vs. Light Hill, Sun 2:00 p.m. $8 ▼Neil Park Recreation Center Neil Park vs. Robinson, Sat. 2:00 p.m. $11 ▼Essen vs. Springwood, Sun. 2:00 p.m. $11

1. Which of the following events can be viewed by the same person?

A．Martins vs. Doonsberg and Wake Hill vs. Colls.

B．Northerners vs. Tigers and Eastside Central vs. Light Hill.

C．Essen vs. Springwood and Eastside Central vs. Light Hill.

D．Neil Park vs. Robinson and Northerners vs. Tigers.

2. Which of the following events is the most expensive to attend?

A．Martins vs. Doonsberg	B．Eastside Central vs. Light Hill
C．All Stars vs. Rockets	D．Neil Park vs. Robinson

3. Which day and time is the most popular for spots events?

A．Sat 8:30

B．Sun noon

C．Sat 2:00 p.m.

D．Sun 2:00 p.m.

7 . Currently, it’s the beginning of the rainy season in the heart of Brunei (文莱), and I have never been so sweaty. Last night I was poking at insects larger than I’d ever seen or even, in my worst nightmares, imagined existed, but despite this, I’m still having the time of my life.

I’m on a taxonomy expedition at the Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre in the Kingdom of Brunei Darussalam with a small group of entomologists (昆虫学家), biotech researchers and laypeople (门外汉) like me. We are searching for new species in the rainforest under the guidance of a research organization. Taxon Expeditions is one of a new crop of private organizations that is tapping into the pockets of people who are science-curious but not science-trained. We help to fund this research, and we get to participate in it.

I can’t emphasise how remarkable this is. I spent a lot of time as a child dozing in my Snoopy sleeping bag under the table in my mother’s lab as she worked on her Ph.D. in development genetics. Sequencing DNA in the 1980s wasn’t something that a person just did in a few hours, and it certainly wasn’t done using a device that fitted in the palm of one’s hand. And the result wasn’t then immediately cross-referenced with an offline version of an online public database of more than 5.3 million “DNA barcodes” to see if the organism being sequenced is a newly discovered species.

And the craziest thing about all of this is that the sequencer costs less than £1,000 from a company based in Oxford. I would recommend pairing up with an actual geneticist, a biotech expert and a real entomologist to make sense of the data, but the implications for the future of access to hands-on science are astonishing. Mark my words: we are less than a generation away from an army of layperson bioprospectors (生物勘探员) working the field using a little bit of scientific training and a lot of YouTube online knowledge.

But if a trip to the rainforest with an organisation like Taxon is out of the question, then you can still do research as close as your back garden. The same group that took me to the rainforest went to the Vondel-park in the centre of Amsterdam and identified a new wasp that had never been recorded by science. And yes, the sequencer — while less expensive than a high-end smart-phone — does require a little more training than a touchscreen. But this kind of science is rapidly trickling down to the rest of us, so getting any science kit or apps in the hands of your kids or grand-kids this holiday season is an investment. Because there’s noting like discovery to fuel the future.

1. What can we learn about the writer of the passage?

A．The writer is a biotech researcher.

B．The writer is interested in science despite not being an expert.

C．The writer had spent a lot of money participating in the expedition.

D．The writer is a staff member at the Kuala Belalong Field Studies Center.

2. The underlined phrase “tapping into the pickets of people” probably means “________”.

A．trying to make money from people.

B．attempting to arouse people’s interest

C．trying to develop the potential of people

D．attempting to boost people’s knowledge

3. Why does the writer say that the implications for the future of access to hands-on science are astonishing?

A．Because teaming up with real experts to work on a project is by no means easy.

B．Because scientific devices like sequencers are affordable for the average person.

C．Because the assistance of non-professional bio prospectors aiding in scientific research is less than a generation away.

D．Because affordable devices, basic scientific training, and online knowledge make it possible for the average person to conduct useful research.

4. We can conclude from the passage that             .

A．scientific research is still restricted to some trained experts

B．devices like sequencers are easier to operate than smart-phone

C．one doesn’t need to be scientifically trained to take part in valuable research

D．doing research in one’s own garden can help promote the development of science

9 . On a September afternoon in 1940, four teenage boys made their way through the woods on a hill overlooking Montignac in southwestern France. They had come to explore a dark, deep hole said to be an underground passage to the nearby manor（庄园）of Lascaux. Squeezing through the entrance one by one, they soon saw wonderfully lifelike paintings of running horses, swimming deer, wounded wild oxen, and other beings—works of art that may be up to 20,000 years old.

The collection of paintings in Lascaux is among some 150 prehistoric sites dating from the Paleolithic period（旧石器时代）that have been documented in France's Vezere Valley. This corner of southwestern Europe seems to have been a hot spot for figurative art. The biggest discovery since Lascaux occurred in December 1994, when three cave explorers laid eyes on artworks that had not been seen since a rockslide 22,000 years ago closed off a large deep cave in southern France. Here, by unsteadily shining firelight, prehistoric artists drew outlines of cave lions, herds of rhinos（犀牛）and magnificent wild oxen, horses, cave bears. In all, the artists drew 442 animals over perhaps thousands of years, using nearly 400,000 square feet of cave surface as their canvas（画布）. The site, now known as Chauvet-Pont-1'Arc Cave, is sometimes considered the Sistine Chapel of prehistory.

For decades scholars had theorized that art had advanced in slow stages from ancient scratchings to lively, naturalistic interpretation. Surely the delicate shading and elegant lines of Chauvet's masterworks placed them at the top of that progression. Then carbon dates came in, and prehistorians felt shocked. At some 36,000 years old—nearly twice as old as those in Lascaux—Chauvet's images represented not the peak of prehistoric art but its earliest known beginnings.

The search for the world's oldest cave paintings continues. On the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, for example, scientists found a large room of paintings of part-human, part-animal beings that are estimated to be 44,000 years old, older than any figurative art seen in Europe.

Scholars don't know if art was invented many times over or if it was a skill developed early in our evolution. What we do know is that artistic expression runs deep in our ancestry.

1. According to the passage, where did the boys find the paintings?

A．In the woods on a hill	B．In a deep cave in France.
C．In a manor of Lascaux.	D．On an Indonesian island

2. According to the passage, figurative art in paragraph 2 is a form of art that_____________.

A．conveys concepts by using accurate numbers and forms

B．makes stories in contrast to scientific subjects

C．represents persons or things in a realistic way

D．expresses ideas or feelings by using shapes and patterns

3. It can be inferred from the passage that_____________.

A．the Chauvet's paintings had been sealed by a rockslide until 1994

B．the style of Chauvet's paintings is similar to that of the Sistine Chapel

C．Chauvet's images are the earliest figurative paintings that have been found

D．the main objects of Chauvet's images are part-human, part-animal beings

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

A．Value of Paleolithic Artwork	B．Preservation of Figurative Art
C．Artistic Expressions of Nature	D．Searches for Cave Paintings