1 . Need more excitement in your life? Maybe it’s time to take up an extreme sport!
No one knows exactly how it started, but Cooper’s Hill CheeseRolling Race is an annual event that has taken place for over 100 years.The name comes from Cooper’s Hill where the “sport” takes place, just outside the village of Brockworth, England.
But what makes the sport so extreme, and why has the local government tried to ban the tradition? Injuries—and lots of them.The hill is so steep that it’s not actually possible to run down it.
| A．It’s as silly as it sounds. |
| B．If you win, you get to keep the cheese. |
| C．Is it wrong to let children do extreme sports? |
| D．These popular activities can be extremely dangerous. |
| E．Be prepared to both laugh and cover your eyes in shock. |
| F．Instead, you fall, bounce and roll your way to the bottom. |
| G．Extreme sports are activities that involve a high amount of danger and excitement. |
2 . China is recognized as a world leader in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition systems. A Chinese company says it has created a new facial recognition system that can identify people even if they are wearing masks (口罩). Engineers at the Beijing-based company say their system is the first to be created to effectively identify people wearing face masks.
The company told a news agency that a team of 20 people built the system in about a month. The system is based on existing technologies developed over the past 10 years. The process involved adding a collection of about 6 million unmasked faces and a much smaller collection of masked faces, the company said.
The company is now selling two main kinds of products that use the new technology. One performs “single channel” recognition, which is designed to be used at the entrances to buildings. The other product is a “multi-channel” recognition system that uses groups of surveillance (监视) cameras. It can identify individuals in a crowd of up to 30 people within a second.
“When people are wearing a mask that covers the mouth and the nose, the recognition rate can reach about 95%, which can ensure that most people can be identified,” said Huang, vice president of the company. He added that the system’s success rate for people not wearing a mask is about 99.5%.
However, the new system struggles to identify people wearing both a mask and sunglasses. “In this situation, all of the key facial information is lost. In such cases recognition is graunchy,” Huang said.
People react to the new technology differently. While some citizens have been against using such tools, the majority have accepted the technology as an effective way to reduce crime and catch criminals.
1. What did the company do to build the system?| A．It gathered many face images. | B．It used the latest technology. |
| C．It added a collection of masks. | D．It employed hundreds of people. |
| A．Its success rate is affected by cameras. |
| B．It recognizes groups of people in seconds. |
| C．Its performance changes with the location. |
| D．It does better in identifying unmasked faces. |
| A．Tough. | B．Specific. | C．Normal. | D．Different. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Doubtful. | C．Objective. | D．Supportive. |
3 . Elon Musk isn’t content with electric cars, shooting people into orbit and populating Mars. He also wants to get inside your brain.
His goal is to develop devices that can provide treatment to neural (神经的) diseases and that may one day be powerful enough to put humanity on an equal footing with possible future super intelligent computers.
Not that it’s anywhere close to that yet.
In a video Friday obviously aimed at seeking new employees, Musk showed off the second version of the Neuralink, a device about the size of a large coin. It’s designed to be put in a person’s head. An earlier version of the device has to be placed behind an ear like a huge hearing aid.
But the young company is far from having a commercial product, which would involve complex human trials and governmental approval. Friday’s video showed three pigs. One, named Gertrude, had a Neuralink device in its brain.
Musk, a founder of both the electric car company Tesla Motors and the space-exploration firm SpaceX, has always been worried about that smarter AI machines will outwit humans. His solution? Link our brains to computers so we can keep up with or even win over them in intelligence!
Musk urged coders (程序员), engineers and especially people who have actually created a product to apply. “You don’t need to have brain experience,” he said, adding that this is something that can be learned on the job.
Connecting a brain up directly to electronics is not new. Doctors have already put similar devices in brains to treat such conditions as Parkinson’s disease. In 2016, researchers reported that a man regained some movement in his own hand with a similar brain implant. But Musk’s proposal goes beyond this. Neuralink wants to build on those existing medical treatments and work on devices that could link our brains to computers one day.
1. What can we learn about the first version of the Neuralink?| A．It is smaller than a hearing aid. |
| B．It can be put in a person’s head. |
| C．It has to be placed behind the ear. |
| D．It is already available at the market. |
| A．copy | B．defeat | C．understand | D．destroy |
| A．Someone who also wants to create the same device. |
| B．Doctors who already know how to treat brain diseases. |
| C．People who have already designed some unique products. |
| D．Engineers who are good at linking brains to computers. |
| A．An advertisement. | B．A test report. |
| C．A science fiction novel. | D．A news report. |
4 . Sports day! These two words can inspire both joy and terror in the hearts of students everywhere. For many, sports day can be a great day of fun and the chance to bag a prize or two.
Today, more and more schools have recognized the importance of exercise.
However, some people feel that it’s important that sport has winners and that learning to lose is just as important as learning how to win.
There are lots of people who agree with the idea—parents in particular! According to a 2017 survey by Families Online, 82% of parents say they prefer “traditional” competitive sports days.
People have different ideas about whether it is the winning or the taking part that counts when it comes to school sports days. So, should School Sports Day be competitive or not? We want to know your ideas.
| A．What’s the point if no one wins? |
| B．Should sport just be about winning? |
| C．Many of them have “non-competitive” sports days. |
| D．Everyone should be celebrated for trying and playing their part. |
| E．Many adults are worried that their kids can get injured when doing sports. |
| F．For others, it might feel like having to take part in something they aren’t good at. |
| G．Many adults feel that children can learn valuable lessons in both winning and losing. |
5 . Nowadays, in many places of the world, kids play soccer less than before.
Soccer is a team sport.
Teamwork is a life skill that kids need to learn. Being part of a team isn’t just about learning how to work together and share talents. It’s also about teaching kids how to face failure. It doesn’t end there, either. Being part of a team lets kids know how to take responsibility for their behavior.
Soccer shapes motor skills (运动技能).
Nowadays, many kids prefer to stay in their rooms to have fun through TV, video games and smartphones.
Soccer can improve students’ concentration (专注) in the classroom. Besides, soccer is a fast-paced game, so kids can learn how to solve problems quickly. Plus, soccer is a sport which involves getting the ball from point A to point B. So kids’ visual-spatial (视觉空间) ability can be improved when they play the game, which can help them learn subjects like Physics.
Soccer improves the personal character.
The World Health Organization recommends kid get at least 60 minutes of exercises daily. This isn’t only for the physical benefits but also for the benefits to the personal character.
| A．Youth soccer helps improve family relationships. |
| B．So they have less time outdoors for sports. |
| C．Soccer plays a part in school performance. |
| D．Being part of a team can help you make many friends. |
| E．One cause is that many kids are busy with their studies. |
| F．Usually kids who like sports such as soccer are more outgoing. |
| G．After all, if one player performs badly, the rest of the team will suffer for it. |
6 . Last summer over 12,000 fans were at Wembley Arena in London, shouting and cheering. Thousands more were watching online.
Millions of people in the UK play computer games for fun. Some of them have become professional gamers, playing games as their full-time job.
But others say yes: eSports are sports. Players do need some physical skills, especially hand-eye coordination, reflexes, accuracy and timing. If darts, snooker and shooting are classified as sports, then perhaps eSports should be too.
For many eSports fans and players, though, the most important thing is that eSports are growing in popularity and importance.
| A．But this wasn’t a football, basketball or tennis match. |
| B．All like playing computer games. |
| C．It’s not easy being a professional gamer, though. |
| D．But are eSports really sports? |
| E．It is certain that eSports will come into the 2024 Olympics. |
| F．In fact, China and South Korea do classify eSports as sports. |
| G．If eSports are not as important as sports now, they definitely will be in the near future. |
7 .
The documentary displays Lang’s inspiring journey from her gold medal victory as a volleyball player in the 1984 Olympics to her amazing career as a successful coach for both Team USA from 2005 to 2008 and China since 2013. She was the first person to win Olympic volleyball gold as a player and coach. Lang Ping revealed the secret to such remarkable achievements in the documentary. As she said, “
But illness is certainly not the only difficulty Lang has faced. In 2005, she struggled with balancing raising her daughter Lydia Bai Lang, who lived in the US, and her coaching career. She eventually decided to work for USA Volleyball that year.
There is no doubt that Lang is one of the greatest players and coaches in history. As an American athlete commented in the documentary,
| A．Who is Lang Ping? |
| B．Lang is the hardest to defeat. |
| C．I believe volleyball was my life. |
| D．What makes one a great person? |
| E．Glory and challenges go hand in hand. |
| F．Lang Ping is like Michael Jordan in our minds. |
| G．This decision aroused a lot of negative comments in China. |
