1 . Page, my younger brother by four years, has been brain­damaged from birth. He does not speak, cannot hear and see poorly through his remaining eye. He stays home, staring at the television happily. But it wasn’t always this way.

On a lot summer morning, Mum had penciled “VISIT GRANDMA” for Page in large letters on a napkin before we left for the nursing home. No one expected to understand that this might be our last visit.

We arrived there and stepped into her room. The strokes had left grandma trembling and unresponsive. Her mouth hung open, and her wide eyes shut and opened quickly and stared but appeared not to see.

We stood round the bed, smiling uncomfortably, and saying that everything would be all right. For the first time, I was free to talk all I wanted.     1     “We love you, grandma,” I said finally, wondering if I was reaching her.

Page was standing quietly next to the window with his face brilliant red, tears following from his eyes. Just then, he pushed through the group and made his way to the bed. He leaned over Grandma’s withered body and took her cheeks gently in his hands.     2    

Those of us with healthy ears were deaf to the volumes being spoken in that wonderful, wordless exchange.

    3     How wrong I had been about Page. Far better than the rest of us, he knew the true meaning of our visit. He knew it perfectly because he grasped it not with his head but with his heart. He had the freedom, courage and honesty to reach out in pain to grandma. This was love.

We kissed Grandma, and slowly walked out of the room one by one. I was the last to leave. “Bye, Grandma,” I said. As I turned to look at her one last time, I noticed her lips come together, as if she was trying to speak. Somehow, if for a moment, she gathered the strength to say goodbye.    4    

        That afternoon by Grandma’s deathbed, when none of us knew what to say, my speechless brother had said it all.

A．Head bowed, he stood there, his cheeks wet with tears.

B．That is when I knew Page had reached her.

C．I tried to express my love to her.

D．I felt a rush of warmth deep inside me.

E．Nobody thought he would appeared and burst out crying.

F．But I could think of nothing to say to her.

2 . Can artificial intelligence uncover a liar? It sounds like science fiction, but such an AI system is possible. The question is: How accurate can it be? Rada Mihalcea, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan, has worked on deception detection for about a decade. This is how they constructed one AI deception detector, and how it works.

The first thing that researchers working on artificial intelligence and machine learning need is data. In the case of the work that Mlhalcea did, they began with videos from actual court cases. For example, a defendant speaking in a trial in which they were found guilty could provide an example of deceit; they also used testimony from witnesses as either example of truthful or deceitful statements. Altogether, they used 121 video clips and the corresponding transcripts of what they said—about half represented deceptive statements, and half truthful. It was this data that they used to build machine learning classifiers that ultimately had between a 60 to 75 percent accuracy rate.

One thing the system noticed is the use of pronouns—people who are lying would tend to less often use the word ‘I’ or ‘we’, Mihalcea explains. “Instead, people who are lying would more often use ‘you,’ ‘yours,’ ‘he,’ ‘they,’ and ‘she.’” That’s not the only linguistic signal: someone telling a lie would use “stronger words” that “reflect certainty,” she says. Examples of those types of words are “absolutely,” and “very,” while interestingly, people telling the truth were more likely to use words such as “maybe” or “probably.” “I think people who are deceptive would try to make up for the lie they are putting forward,” she says, “and so they try to seem more certain of themselves.” As for gestures, she points out that someone being deceitful would more likely look directly into the eyes of the person questioning them. They also tended to use both hands when gesturing. Instead of just one—also, she suspects, as part of trying to be convincing.

However, Mlhalcea’s work is “far from perfection,” she concedes. “As a researcher, we are excited we were able to get to 75 percent accuracy.” But looked at another way, that’s an error rate of one in four. Ultimately, she sees technology like this as being assistive for people—it could, for example, indicate that it noticed something “unusual” in a speaker’s statement, and then perhaps have a person “investigate more.”

1. What researchers need first to predict whether a defendant is lying is ______.

A．statements

B．data

C．pronouns

D．gestures

2. How did researchers create the deceit detection using artificial intelligence?

A．They used a classifier to build the system.

B．They involved AI system in a real-life trial.

C．They fed the system with both truthful and deceptive statements.

D．They used defendant’s statements as deceptive examples and witnesses’ as truthful examples.

3. According to professor Mihalcea, which is NOT the symbol of deception?

A．Using pronouns frequently.

B．Looking straight in your eyes.

C．Gesturing with both two hands.

D．Using strong words to make it sound more certain.

4. From last paragraph, we can conclude that professor Mlhalcea thinks that ______.

A．Her work fails to live up to her expectation.

B．AI technology can be used as an aid for human beings.

C．AI can replace human beings in deception detection now.

D．AI is so far from perfection that it can’t be used to assist people to uncover a liar.

3 . Arthur C Clarke (1917-2008) is a science-fiction writer. His fictional HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which he co-wrote, _______ many of today’s fears about artificial intelligence. I have a copy of a long-forgotten 1987 book of him July20, 2019: Life in the 21st century. I did not plan on mentioning it until the 50^th anniversary of the first moon landings, which its title reflects. But I am _______ my own word because re-reading it has given me new insight.

Till now, the book is _______ in almost every detail. Clarke suggests, for example, “amplifiers(放大器)” to make us more intelligent, but makes no _______ of the Internet, which was in development at the time and was _______ 15 years earlier by Joseph Licklider of MIT, when he was working at the US defence department.

Being wrong is just one problem I have with Clarke’s book. Like most future-gazing, it sees tomorrow _______ in terms of technology. He viewed technology as humanity’s saviour(救世主). Technology is marvellous, but it has had little or nothing to do with the best things about the world, and it will play a _______ role in casting out humanity’s worst things: poverty, ignorance and madness. What do I mean by the best things? The outlawing of racism; rights for disabled people; liberation for women; the rise of _______ but the fall of superstition(迷信); social security, animal rights and greater life expectancy.

I love what technology is doing for the developing world, where electric lighting, washing machines and the Internet have _______ progress. But even better for that world will be universal education, the elimination of corruption(腐败), the rule of law, and democracy. Technology will play its part, but it will not be ________.

Mare Demarest, an Oregon-based digital thinker and author, believes technology tells us truths regardless of our nasty tendency to get distracted, to miss the moment, and to ________ data to make it mean what we want it to mean. “Gathering data is mostly done to ________ the human lot one way or another. Making sense of data, ________, will remain a human activity,” he says. “We are better at ________ than any machine we will be able to make for a very long time to come.”

We’re not progressing humanity or changing the world. That’s what ideas do, and machines don’t have ideas. Technology is only the ________ of our desires. It isn’t the future; we are the future. It’s funny that even Clarke stopped short of predicting machines with imaginations.

1.

A．experiences

B．causes

C．eliminates

D．foresees

2.

A．coining

B．breaking

C．emphasizing

D．parroting

3.

A．wrong

B．technical

C．readable

D．informative

4.

A．use

B．sense

C．mention

D．doubt

5.

A．launched

B．predicted

C．discovered

D．inspected

6.

A．entirely

B．attentively

C．seriously

D．positively

7.

A．constructive

B．supervisory

C．minor

D．leading

8.

A．economy

B．industry

C．reason

D．reflection

9.

A．achieved

B．assessed

C．traced

D．aided

10.

A．active

B．essential

C．revolutionary

D．passive

11.

A．bend

B．store

C．download

D．transfer

12.

A．create

B．educate

C．understand

D．improve

13.

A．besides

B．however

C．therefore

D．otherwise

14.

A．multitask

B．identification

C．judgment

D．flexibility

15.

A．agent

B．spokesperson

C．signboard

D．illustration

4 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A.encouraged	B. excuse	C. featured	D. favor	E. approaches	F. defended
G. access	H. serve	I. regional	J. celebrated	K. lengths

When Coca-Cola was first sold in 1886, nobody thought it could be improved. Nearly a century later, in 1985, New Coke was introduced to replace the original recipe of Coke in order to rebrand the product amidst falling sales——Coke was losing customers to Pepsi, whose sweeter taste was finding     1    . Unfortunately, the Coca-Cola Company saw a significant drop in sales soon after the release of New Coke. Some customers just preferred the “classic” recipe. The old adage(格言), “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” seems to apply here.

Something similar is happening with A Bite of China, a     2     food documentary focusing on the stories, traditions and culture surrounding interesting regional dishes from around China. The first two seasons of the show saw great success. However, when the third season began last month, the reviewers were not so “sweet”. With an entirely new production team, Season Three steers away from(偏离) the show’s core focus on     3     dishes and towards intimate life stories, non-food-related subject matter and even product placement(植入广告).

In the first episode of Season Two, a teenager in the countryside collects honey high up in a tree. The scene is stunningly filmed, telling a moving story about the dangerous     4     to which people go to gather food for their families. In the third season, however, the focus is taken almost completely away from the food. In one of its most infamous episodes, DIY lipstick using questionable ingredients bought online is     5    . Viewer response has been swift and severe, with several commentators wondering whether it is still suitable to call the show a food documentary. The production crew have     6     the changes, claiming that the innovation is meant to keep the show fresh and interesting to an expanding audience. While this may     7     in part, to explain the show’s creative differences from previous seasons, it doesn’t     8     the show’s declining professionalism, which has led to some silly mistakes such as mixing up ingredients or confusing the correct names of regional dishes.

Innovation is generally     9     in industries big and small, but a winning formula that has popular     10     is not necessarily something that requires changes. Innovation is a tool often best used when a new direction is called for. By trying to reinvent the wheel, one might just end up with a flat tire. It’s time that A Bite of China took a page out of Coca-Cola’s playbook and returned to the classic recipe, where success has never tasted so sweet.

5 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

When scientists accidentally killed     1    turned out to be the world’s oldest living creature, it was bad enough. Now, their mistake has been worsened after further research found it was even older – at 507 years.

The ocean quahog, a type of deep-sea clam, was dredged (捕捞) alive from the bottom of the North Atlantic near Iceland in 2006 by researchers. They then put it in a fridge-freezer,     2    is normal practice, unaware of     3    age. It was only when it was taken to a laboratory     4    scientists from Bangor University studied it and concluded it was 400 years old.

The discovery made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. However, by this time, it was too late for Ming the Mollusc(软体动物),     5    (name) after the Chinese dynasty     6    its life began. Unfortunately, researchers who calculated Ming’s age killed it instantly by opening its shell.

The researchers opened the ancient clam up to judge its age by counting growth rings inside. But the rings were so close together     7    scientists ended up having to count the rings on the outside to be accurate,     8    (lead) CBS journalists to point out that if scientists had just started there, Ming could have lived on. Now, after examining the quahog     9    (closely), and     10    (use) more advanced methods, the researchers have found the animal was actually 100 years older than they first thought.

Dr Paul Butler, from the University’s School of Ocean Sciences, said: “We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit hasty publishing our findings back then. But we are absolutely certain that we’ve got the right age now.” The mollusc was born in 1499 – just seven years after Columbus discovered America and before Henry VIII had even married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon in 1509.

6 . The Comfort Inn, Ramsgate is a Victorian building located on the coast of the Isle of Thanet, overlooking the English Channel. Previously known as the famous San Glu Hotel, the Comfort Inn, Ramsgate is ranked 3 stars from AA and 3 stars from the London Tourism council.

It has 44 rooms consisting of single, double, twin, family and executive rooms. All rooms offer satellite TV and Internet access.

There is a well-stocked bar, and the restaurant has a menu offering traditional dishes, with a choice of tempting starters, a variety of main courses and desserts, with a pleasant and efficient waitress services. The hotel offers a friendly service with its own car park and unrestricted on-street parking nearby.

Local Points of Interest

The Comfort Inn, Ramsgate is centrally situated in a quiet location overlooking the sea. The hotel is close to the town center and only 1 km from Port Ramsgate.

For inland and overseas flights Gatwick International Airport is only 100 km. The local attractions include Championship Golf Courses, Canterbury Cathedral, and Dover Port. Dartford Tunnel is only 55 miles.

Conference & Banqueting

The Comfort Inn, Ramsgate provides excellent conference and banqueting facilities for 10 to 150 people. Special events include Christmas party nights, Christmas day lunch, Boxing Day Carvery, and our wonderful New Year’s Eve dinner and dance. In addition to the provision of food, wine, bar facilities and function rooms, the Hotel offers the following services:

• Extension of license

• Printing

• Flowers

• Toastmaster

• Bands

• Cabaret

• Cake

• Piano

• Photograph

How to Find the Comfort Inn

From the M25 highway, travelling clockwise (顺时针方向), take the M2 on to A299 and the A253 to Ramsgate, or if travelling anti-clockwise from the M25, take the M26 on to the M20, then the A249 to the M2, A299 and A 253. Once in Ramsgate, head to the harbor, then travel east until you reach the hotel.

1. What’s the purpose of the passage?

A．To recommend the Comfort Inn, Ramsgate to readers.

B．To tell readers how to get to the Comfort Inn, Ramsgate.

C．To introduce the facilities of the Comfort Inn, Ramsgate.

D．To show the convenience of Comfort Inn, Ramsgate.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that the Comfort Inn, Ramsgate ________.

A．is 55 miles to Canterbury Cathedral

B．was once the famous San Glu Hotel

C．is 1 km from the town center, Port Ramsgate

D．was built off the quiet Thanet coast in Victorian times

3. If we travel to the Comfort Inn, Ramsgate in either direction, we will have to take ________.

A．M2 and M20	B．A299 and A249
C．M25 and M26	D．M25 and M2

7 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. fit B. practice C. promising D. boast E. ingredients F. disturbed G. evolution H. excuses I. passing J. stuck K. honouring

The Origin of Trick-or-treat

On October 31, hordes of children armed with Jack-o’-lantern-shaped buckets and pillow cases will take to the streets in search of sugar. Trick-or-treating for candy is equivalent to Halloween, but the tradition had to go through a centuries-long     1     to arrive at the place it is today. So how did the holiday become an opportunity for kids to get free sweets? You can blame pagans (异教徒), Catholics, and candy companies.

Historians agree that a Celtic autumn festival called Samhain (萨温节) was the origin of modern Halloween. Samhain was a time to celebrate the last harvest of the year and the approach of the winter season. It was also a festival for     2     the dead. One way Celtics may have appeased the spirits they believed still walked the Earth was by leaving treats on their doorsteps. When Catholics invaded Ireland in the 1st century CE, they rebranded many pagan holidays to     3     their religion. November 1^st became the “feasts of All Saints and All Souls,” and the day before it was dubbed “All-Hallows’-Eve.” The new holidays looked a lot different from the original Celtic festival, but many traditions     4     around, including the practice of offering food to the dead. The food of choice for Christians became “soul cakes,” small pastries usually baked with expensive     5     and spices like currants and saffron.

Instead of leaving them outside for     6     ghosts, soul cakes were distributed to beggars who went door-to-door     7     to pray for souls of the deceased in exchange for something to eat. Sometimes they wore costumes to honour the saints—something pagans originally did to avoid being     8     by evil spirits. The ritual, known as “souling”, is believed to have planted the seeds for modern-day trick-or-treating.

It wasn’t until the 1950s that trick-or-treat gained popularity in the US. Following the Great Depression and World War II, the suburbs were booming, and people were looking for     9     to have fun and get to know their neighbours. The old     10     of souling made a comeback and gave kids a chance to dress up in costumes and roam their neighbourhoods. Common trick-or-treat offerings included nuts, coins, and homemade baked goods (“treats” that most kids would turn their noses up at today).

8 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．3%.	B．15%.
C．About 18%.	D．Over 30%.

2.

A．British senior managers.	B．Patients in mental hospital.
C．Prime ministers.	D．American presidents.

3.

A．Factors of affecting people’s success.

B．Importance of keeping emotional health.

C．Encouraging children to have ambitions.

D．Relationships between hardship and success.

9 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．Because a monthly fee has to be paid.

B．Because it goes wrong on hot, sunny days.

C．Because it’s hard and expensive to be installed.

D．Because it often makes us confused when used.

2.

A．It’s a dream that will come true sooner or later.

B．It’s a new and good way to track your vehicle.

C．It’s a regular device that works with a smartphone.

D．It’s a tracking device that is changing our life greatly.

3.

A．Efficient but expensive.

B．Innovative but time-consuming.

C．Free but hard to install.

D．Small but user-friendly.

10 .

A．Wait till the end of the year.

B．Walk to his workplace.

C．Take public transportation.

D．Buy the car right now.