1 . On the night of September 19, 1961, Betty Hill and her husband Barney were driving home through the White Mountains from Niagara Falls. They were travelling on a nearly deserted two-lane highway when Betty noticed a steady light in the sky that was getting bigger and brighter.
She thought it was a planet or a star. Barney, stimulated at her excitement, said it was probably just a wandering aeroplane. Whatever it was, it appeared to be following them.
They stopped their car for a closer look. What they said happened next, changed their lives. The flying object was noiseless. It appeared to be spinning. It was as big as a jet but shaped like a pancake.
So formed the tale of Betty Hill, a New Hampshire social worker who, with Barney, a postal worker, claimed to be kidnapped by aliens, who were from outer space, on a moonlit night about 60 years ago.
After reluctantly going public with her experience, Hill, who died of cancer at her New Hampshire home, aged 85, became a celebrity on the UFO circuit and was known as the “first lady of UFOs”.
Intriguingly, at the time of the incident, the Hills remembered nothing except that they had spied a strange object in the sky. Later, troubled by nightmares and other stress-related pains, the couple underwent hypnosis(催眠) where the full story came out with the aid of Boston psychiatrist Benjamin Simon, an expert in medical hypnosis.
On their night of contact the Hills arrived home at 5 a.m., unable to account for two lost hours. They were also confused by the odd marks on their telescopes, deep signs on the tops of Barney’s best shoes, Betty’s torn dress and strange circular markings on their car that made the needle of a compass jump wildly.
After seeing them for six months, the psychiatrist concluded the Hills’ lost memory about the hours they lost on that night in 1961 “appeared to involve an amazing experience on the part of both of the Hills”. Whether the experience had been fantasy or reality, Simon could not say, but he said he was convinced they had not been lying. He guessed that it had been a kind of shared dream.
Reports of aliens capturing humans and taking them aboard oddly shaped spacecraft were “comparatively rare” before 1975. After a movie, “The UFO Incident”, about the Hills came out, however, such stories increased.
1. When they saw the strange object in the sky, Barney and Betty Hill ______________.| A．were astonished at its strange flight and noise | B．regarded it as just a wandering car following them |
| C．realized immediately what the danger it might cause | D．showed curiosity in discovering what it really was |
| A．Ridiculously | B．Temporarily | C．Remarkably | D．Mysteriously |
| A．they had lots of secrets in their lives after the strange experience |
| B．their lives were greatly disturbed by the unexpected experience |
| C．they wanted to share their unforgettable experience with the expert |
| D．they hoped to forget completely what had happened to them |
| A．describe an unusual event to the readers | B．convince readers of the existence of UFOs |
| C．record how people were caught by aliens | D．warn people of the dangers the UFOs cause |
2 . AI could help us deconstruct the magic of music
We all know that music is a powerful influencer.
In a new paper, researchers at the University of Southern California mapped out how things like tone, rhythm, and harmony cause different types of brain activity, physiological reactions (heat, sweat, and changes in electrical response), and emotions(happiness or sadness), and how machine learning could use those relationships to predict how people might respond to a new piece of music. The results, presented at a conference on the intersections of computer science and art, show how we may one day be able to engineer targeted musical experiences for purposes ranging from therapy to movies.
The researchers first searched music streaming sites for songs with very few plays, tagged either “happy” or “sad.”
The research is still in very early stages, and it will be a while before more powerful machine-learning models will be able to predict your mental and physical reactions to a song with any precision. But the researchers are excited about how such models could be applied: to design music for specific individuals, to create movie soundtracks easily arousing sympathy, or to help patients with mental health problems stimulate specific parts of their brain.
| A．The research focuses on whether machine can learn to predict people’s preference of music. |
| B．The lab is already working with addiction treatment clinics to see how other forms of media could help patients. |
| C．A movie without a soundtrack doesn’t stimulate the same emotional journey. |
| D．Through a series of human testers, 60 pieces for each emotion were narrowed down to a final list of three. |
| E．The research is part of the lab’s broader goal to understand how different forms of media affect people’s bodies and brains. |
| F．The researchers are excited about how AI could be used to enhance the function of music in more fields. |
3 . Imagine you're standing in line to buy an after-school snack at a store. You step up to the counter and the cashier scans your food. Next, you have to pay. But instead of scanning a QR code with your smartphone, you just hold out your hand so the cashier can scan your fingerprint. Or, a camera scans your face, your eyes or even your ear.
In 2013, Apple introduced the iPhone 5s, one of the first smartphones with a fingerprint scanner. Since then, using one's fingerprint to unlock a phone and make mobile payments has become commonplace, bringing convenience to our lives. And since lasts year, San-sun has featured eye-scanning technology in its top smartphone, while Apple's new iPhone X can even scan a user's face.
When introducing the new iPhone's Face ID feature at Apple's Keynote Event in September. Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president, said. “
But it's already been done. In a video posted on community website Reddit on Nov 3, two brothers showed how they were each able to unlock the same iPhone X using their own face. Quartz reported. And they aren't even twins.
“We may expect too much from bio-metrics.” Anil Jain, a computer science professor at Michigan State University. told CBS news. “No security systems are perfect.”
Earlier this year, Jain found a way to trick biometric security. Using a printed copy of a thumbprint, she was able to unlock a dead person's smartphone for police.
“It's good to see bio-metrics being used more,” Jain told CBS News, “because it adds another factor for security.
| A．But despite its popularity, experts warn that bio-metrics might not be as secure as we'd imagined |
| B．Security experts don't think it absolutely necessary to use biometric technology. |
| C．But using different security measures is the best defense. |
| D．Now, this type of technology might not be far away. |
| E．If a person's biometric information is stolen, that could have extremely serious results for him. |
| F．The chance that a random person could look at your iPhone X and unlock it with his face is about one in a million. |
4 . What exactly is a lie? Is it anything we say which we know is untrue? Or is it something more than that? For example, suppose a firiend wants to borrow some money from you. You say “I wish I could help you but I'm short of money myself.” In fact, you are not short of money but your friend is in the habit of not paying his debts and you don't want to hurt his feelings by reminding him of this. Is this really a lie?
Professor Jerald Jellison of the University of Southern Califormia has made a scientific study of lying. According to him, women are better liars than men. particular when telling a “white lie”, such as when a woman at a party tells another woman that she likes her dress when she really thinks it looks awful. However, this is only one side of the story. Other researchers say that men are more likely to tell more serious lies, such as making a promise which they no intention of fulfilling. This is the kind of lie politicians and businessmen are supposed to be particularly skilled at: the lie from which the liar hopes to profit or gain in some way.
Research has also been done into the way people's behavior changes in a number of small apparently unimportant ways when they lie. It has been found that if they are sitting down at the time, they tend to move about in their chairs more than usual. To the trained observer they are saying “I wish I were somewhere else now.” They also tend to touch certain parts of the face more often, in particular the nose. One explanation of this may be that lying causes a slight increase in blood pressure. The up of the nose is very sensitive to such changes and the increased pressure make sit itch.
Another gesture which give liars away is that the writer Desmond Morris in his book Man-watching calls “the mouth cover” He says there are several typical forms of this, such as covering part of the mouth with the fingers, touching the upper-lip or putting a finger of the hand at one side of the mouth. Such as gesture can be understood as an unconscious attempt on the part of the lair to stop himself or herself from lying.
Of course, such gestures as rubbing the nose or covering the mouth, or moving about in a chair cannot be taken as proof that the speaker is lying. They simply tend to occur more frequently n this situation. It is not one gesture alone that gives the lair away but whole number of things and in particular the context in which the lie is told.
1. According to the passage, a “white lie” seems to be a lie ________.| A．that other people believe |
| B．that other people don't believe |
| C．told in order to avoid offending someone |
| D．told in order to take advantage of someone |
| A．generally lie far more than men do |
| B．are better at telling less serious lies than men are |
| C．lie at parties more often than men do |
| D．often make promise they don't intend to keep |
| A．he looks very serious |
| B．his blood pressure increase considerably |
| C．he uses his unconscious mind |
| D．there tends to be some small changes in his behavior |
| A．The touching of the tip of one's nose | B．The changes of one's behavior. |
| C．The circumstances where the lie is told | D．“The mouth cover” gesture. |
5 . Zelda Fitzgerald, as is revealed by numerous personal books and letters, wore many labels in her life. She was “the original flapper girl” and “the spirit of the Jazz Age.” Married to the celebrated writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (author of The Gireat Giatsby), she was by turns his muse and the woman who ruined his life. In her later years she was “Crazy Zelda”.
Accurate as all these descriptions may be, they do not tell the whole story. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, she was noted for her beauty and high spirits in dancing. In July 1918, at a country club dance, Fitzgerald was hooked immediately by the beautiful and charming 18-year-old Zelda who out-shined(使逊色)other beauties with her distinguished ballet. A light affection evolved into a lengthy long-distance pursuit of weekly letters, with Fitzgerald aware of her uncommitted dating of other men. He courted her after his discharge from the Army in February 1919, but Zelda had doubts. Her fiance wasn't rich and there was no guarantee he’d ever be famous. His short stories didn’t sell. His apartment was a dump. Zelda gave back the ring. Hoping to fix the “no money” part of his problem. Fitzgerald quit the job and started to rewrite novels for success and money so that he could win back his girl. Finally, he made it! On March 20, 1920, his novel This Side of Paradise got published and Zelda agreed to marry him.
However, their marriage was troubled by wild drinking, fighting, infidelity(不忠实)and bitter recriminations. Emest Hemingway, whom Zelda disliked, blamed her for Scot’s declining literary output, though she has also been portrayed as the victim of an overbearing husbano Actually. Zelda was also creative, pursuing both dancing and writing. Some scholars have portrayed Zelda as a creative talent ignored by the patriarchal(男权的)society of the day. Her inspiration was even drawn by her husband in literary creation-Scott used their relationship as material in his novels, even borrowing episodes from Zelda’s diary and applying them into his fictional writings. She detested(讨厌)her husband’s practice: “Mr. Fitzgerald-I believe that is how he spells his name-seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home.” To seek an artistic identity of her own value, as she put it “I wish I could write a beautiful book to break those hearts that are soon to cease to exist.”
Nevertheless her unique personality was starting to seem more unbalanced than charming. The couple-like the rest of the nation-was living on borrowed time. In October 1929 the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression. Six months later, Zelda suffered her first nervous breakdown. After being diagnosed with schizophrenia（精神分裂), she was increasingly confined to specialist clinics, and since then has departed with her husband. Zelda died later in a fire at her hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, putting an end to her flamboyant(绚丽夺目的)life. A young woman, especially one in the 1920s, who was against traditional dress and behavior.
1. Where will you most probably find this article?| A．In a newspaper. | B．In a literary magazine. |
| C．In a prepared speech | D．In a research report. |
| A．Ideal partnership | B．Unbalanced love relationship. |
| C．Love-hate relationship. | D．Mutually-jealous relationship |
| A．copying | B．adaption |
| C．reference | D．imagination |
| A．Fitzgerald successfully won Zelda’s heart by reading her his novels and writing her weekly letters. |
| B．Hemingway disliked Zelda because of her female identity and talent that outshined her husband. |
| C．Zelda was glad to be her husband’s muse and provided him with literary materials. |
| D．The “Crazy Zelda” died without Fitzgerald’s companion after severe schizophrenia. |
Probably the most exciting tech development of recent times, virtual reality (VR) has arrived, with sufficient options available to the consumer who’s searching for an extra amount of high-tech fun. The cheapest way to get a high-end VR experience comes courtesy of Sony. Its PlayStation VR doesn’t require a tricked-out PC or expensive phone – it works with the Playstation 4 control board and comes with a few great games in its library. There is some equipment you can purchase to enhance the experience, but if you’ve already got a PS4 you can enter the world of VR for just $400. Other high-end offerings like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, as well as mobile options like Samsung’s Gear VR, will get your head in the game.
Wireless headphones
Combining ease of use with the ability to move wild around your home, gym or workplace, wireless headphones just make sense. And there are plenty of practical options to suit any budget. The Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones are definitely worth a test drive, though. The full-size, around-ear Bluetooth headphones highlight active noise cancellation and double as a headset for making phone calls. They’ve even earned the Editor’s Choice award at Cnet.com and can be purchased for less than $400 online.
Digital cameras
While your phone is a worthy assistant, there’s no substitute for a real camera when it comes to taking the perfect picture. And these days you can get quality specifications in a package that’s almost as small as your smartphone. The shiny design of the Fujifilm X70, $699, makes it the perfect companion, or you could go retro with the Olympus PEN-F ($1,200) that offers old school looks alongside cutting edge technology. Domestically, it’s worth checking out Xiaomi’s mirrorless Yi M1 for a more affordable option. With a high-end 20-megapixel (兆像素) sensor and the ability to host multiple lenses, it’s available from just 2,199 yuan.
1. Sony can provide high-tech fun at the lowest cost because________.| A．players can play free games online | B．PS4 owners don’t need any other device |
| C．it gives players adequate experience | D．players have purchased expensive PCs |
| A．They have various types to meet users’ needs. |
| B．Users can reduce noise manually. |
| C．They work better in the wild. |
| D．Users can make phone calls with the headphones. |
| A．A smart phone. | B．Fujifilm X70. |
| C．Olympus PEN-F. | D．Yi M1. |
7 . Naquela Wright’s life took an unexpected turn when she lost her eyesight as a teenager, but even when her world became dark, the New Jersey resident didn’t want to quit social media.
Using Facebook was a challenge at first. Diagnosed in 2010 with pseudotumor cerebri, a rare health condition in which pressure increases around the brain and can result in the loss of vision, Wright learned how to use a screen reader to read the site through the touch of the keyboard and sound of a robotic voice. Still, when a friend sends her a photo, Wright often has no clue what the image shows.
Now Facebook is trying to solve this problem by exploiting the power of artificial intelligence to create new tools that not only describe items in a photo but allows users to ask what’s in an image.
“I can have a basic picture in my mind of what’s going on in the picture and now I can comment on my own,” said Wright, who got to try out the new tools that are still being tested. “Of course, it’s different, but it’s something more than I had.”
An estimated 285 million people are visually disabled globally, according to the World Health Organization, and research conducted by Facebook showed that blind users have trouble figuring out what’s in a photo because the description isn’t clear or doesn’t exist.
Facebook has made it easier to skim through the content on its website with a screen reader by improving HTML headings, adding alternative text for images, launching keyboard shortcuts, and more. Using artificial intelligence to describe photos is only a part of these ongoing efforts.
With 1.5 billion users, Facebook isn’t the only social media company that wants to improve its website for the visually disabled. Along with Facebook and other major tech firms, Twitter and LinkedIn have their own accessibility teams and belong to an initiative called “Teaching Accessibility”.
Jeff Wieland, Facebook’s head of accessibility engineering, said the group wants to educate more engineers, especially early in college, about designing products that are compatible with the disabled and others. “We really don’t want accessibility to be the luxury of a handful of companies,” Wieland said. “We want everything around the world to be built with accessibility in mind.”
1. What tool helps the visually disabled to read Facebook?| A．A screen reader. | B．A special keyboard. |
| C．A helpful robot. | D．HTML headings. |
| A．It adds a lot of shortcuts on the keyboard. |
| B．It helps users to employ their senses other than sight. |
| C．It meets no competitors with its advanced technology. |
| D．It inspires more engineers to explore artificial intelligence. |
| A．are unaffordable to | B．bring harm to |
| C．keep company of | D．well suit |
| A．Screen reader: tool to access social media |
| B．Ongoing efforts: strength to improve websites |
| C．Artificial intelligence: power to help the blind |
| D．Teaching accessibility: initiative to educate engineers |
8 . Born in 1823 in Wales, Alfred Russel Wallace was a man of modest means, but he had a passion for nature and he chose to follow it. He started out collecting insects as a hobby, but eventually his longing for adventure led him to explore the world.
Luckily for Wallace, Victorian Britain was discovering an interest in weird and wonderful insects, so the demand from museums and private collections for these beasts was growing. Wallace was able to make a living doing what he loved: collecting beetles and other insects.
But his first trip of exploring the world ended in disaster. Wallace proceeded to the Amazon in South America. Its giant forests promised a wealth of new species, sure to put him on the scientific map. The trip took 6 weeks and involved every mode of transport in existence at the time. After four years Wallace set off for home, but his boat caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic. Everyone survived, but Wallace had to watch in despair as his samples went up in flames — including live animals he was bringing home that were trying to jump free of the flames. But he did not let it stop him.
In 1854, Wallace set off on another adventure, this time to the Malay Archipelago. Wallace found himself humbled by the new and exciting things he saw. He later recalled: “As I lie listening to these interesting sounds, I think how many besides myself have longed to see with their own eyes the many wonderful and beautiful things which I am daily encountering.”
In 1858, Wallace wrote what became known as the “Ternate essay”: a piece of writing that was to change our understanding of life forever. In his essay, Wallace argued that a species would only turn into another species if it was struggling for existence. Henry W. Bates was one of many scientists delighted by the idea of evolution by natural selection. In a letter to Wallace, he wrote: “The idea is like truth itself, so simple and obvious that those who read and understand it will be struck by its simplicity; and yet it is perfectly original.”
1. ________ finally caused Wallace to explore the world.| A．His strong affection for nature | B．His life-long devotion to beasts |
| C．His deep love for adventure | D．Increasing demand for insects |
| A．It took him six weeks to explore the Amazon with all kinds of transportation. |
| B．He made a scientific study of a fairly limited number of insects. |
| C．The fire cost him his four years’ collection of animals. |
| D．His passion cooled after the disaster. |
| A．fearless | B．lucky | C．challenged | D．risky |
| A．made no sense at that time | B．built up a new concept of life |
| C．was too simple to be true | D．revealed the origin of nature |
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1. Which of the following statements is true about the medical alert system?| A．The users of it will be given timely support on the phone. |
| B．All medical serious events can be avoided after using it. |
| C．Its service runs in the daytime and suspends at night. |
| D．People can buy it from hospitals at the same price. |
| A．No set-up fees. | B．Long-term contract. |
| C．Shipping fee discount. | D．A water-proof necklace. |
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| B．provide advice to old people on how to prevent falls |
| C．alert people to the high risk of falls |
| D．promote a medical alert system. |
| A．a father who cares for his young daughter |
| B．a doctor who specializes in heart disease |
| C．a teacher who worries about his elderly father |
| D．a student who makes troubles at school |
Adolescents Worldwide Not Sufficiently Physically Active
New WHO-led study says majority of adolescents worldwide are not sufficiently physically active, putting their current and future health at risk.
The health benefits of a physically active lifestyle during adolescence include improved heart and lungs fitness, bone health and positive effects on weight. There is also growing evidence that physical activity has a positive impact on cognitive development and socializing.
To achieve these benefits, the WHO recommends for adolescents to do moderate or vigorous physical activity for an hour or more each day. The authors estimated 80 percent of teems do not meet this recommendation by analysing data collected through school-based surveys on physical activity levels.
| A．Current evidence suggests that many of these benefits continue into adulthood. |
| B．To increase physical activity for adolescents, the authors need to identify the many causes and inequities. |
| C．The authors say that levels of insufficient physical activity in adolescents continue to be extremely high. |
| D．To improve levels of physical activity among adolescents, the study provides some recommendation as follows. |
| E．The authors note that adolescents' participation in physical activity will continue into adulthood. |
| F．The study highlights that young people have the right to play and should be provided with the opportunities to realize their right to physical and mental health and well-being. |
