1 . With advances in electronics and neuroscience, researchers have been able to achieve remarkable things with brain implant devices. In addition to restoring physical senses, scientists are also seeking innovative ways to ____ communication for those who have lost the ability to speak. A new “decoder” receiving data from an electronic device implanted inside the skull, for example, might help paralyzed patients speak using only their minds. Researchers from the University of California developed a two-stage method to turn brain ____ into computer-synthesized speech.

For years, scientists have been trying to control and use neutral inputs to give a voice back to people whose neurological damage prevents them from talking. Until now, many of these brain-computer interfaces have ____ a letter-by-letter approach, in which patients move their eyes or facial ____ to spell out their thoughts. But these types of interfaces are very slow - most max out producing 10 words per minute, a fraction of human’s average speaking speed of 150 words per minute.

The brain is undamaged in these patients, but the neurons - the pathways that ____ your arms, or your mouth, or your legs are broken down. These people have high cognitive functioning and abilities, but they cannot accomplish ____ tasks like moving about or saying anything, “says a co-lead author of the new study and an associate research specializing in neurological surgery at UCSF.” We are essentially by passing the pathway that’s broken down.“

The researchers started with high-resolution brain activity data collected from five volunteers over several years. These participants - all of whom had normal speech function - were already undergoing a ____ process for epilepsy(癫痫)treatment that involved implanting electrodes(电极)directly into their brains. The research team used these electrodes to ____ activity in speech-related areas of the brain as the patients read off hundreds of sentences.

From there, the UCSF team worked out a two-stage process to recreate the spoken sentences. First, they created a decoder to ____ the recorded activity patterns as instructions for moving parts of a virtual vocal tract(声道). They then developed a synthesizer that used the ____ movements to produce language.

Other research has tried to decode words and sounds directly from neural signals, ____ the middle step of decoding movement. However, a study the UCSF researchers published last year suggests that your brain’s speech center focuses on how to move the vocal tract to produce sounds, ____ what the resulting sounds will be.

Using this method, the researchers successfully reverse-engineered words and sentences from brain activity that ____ matched the audio recordings of participants’ speech. When they asked volunteers on an online crowd-sourcing platform to attempt to ____ the words and sentences using a word bank, many of them could understand the simulated(模拟的)speech, though their ____ was far from perfect. Out of 101 synthesized sentences, about 80 percent were perfectly transcribed(记录)by at least one listener using a 25-word bank.

1.

A．offer

B．facilitate

C．initiate

D．influence

2.

A．signs

B．consciousness

C．signals

D．waves

3.

A．featured

B．neglected

C．rejected

D．missed

4.

A．expressions

B．muscles

C．languages

D．masks

5.

A．contribute to

B．communicate with

C．match with

D．lead to

6.

A．daily

B．delicate

C．repetitive

D．tough

7.

A．growing

B．producing

C．checking

D．monitoring

8.

A．track

B．map

C．organize

D．design

9.

A．copy

B．transform

C．follow

D．interpret

10.

A．physical

B．virtual

C．individual

D．external

11.

A．considering

B．creating

C．skipping

D．moving

12.

A．other than

B．aside from

C．regardless of

D．rather than

13.

A．roughly

B．barely

C．similarly

D．formally

14.

A．spell

B．identify

C．parallel

D．invent

15.

A．version

B．fluency

C．pronunciation

D．accuracy

2 . 语法填空

Three Hours a Week: Play Time’s over for China’s Young Video Gamers

China has forbidden under-18s from playing video games for more than three hours a week, a stringent(严苛的)social intervention that it said was needed to pull the plug on a growing addiction to     1     it once described as “spiritual opium(鸦片)”.

The new rules,     2     (publish) on Monday, are part of a major shift by Beijing to strengthen control over its society and key sectors of its economy, including tech, education and property, after years of runaway growth.

The restrictions, which apply to any devices including phones, are a body blow to a global gaming industry that caters to tens of millions of young players in the world’s most profitable market.

They limit under - 18s to     3     (play) for one hour a day - 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. - on only Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, according to the Xinhua sate news agency. They can also play for an hour, at the same time, on public holidays.

The rules from the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) regulator coincide with a broader clampdown(压制)by Beijing     4     China’s tech giants, such as Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings.

The campaign     5     (prevent) what state media has described as the “savage growth” of some companies has wiped tens of billions of dollars off shares traded at home and abroad.

Gaming companies will be barred from providing services to minors in any form outside the stipulated(规定)hours and     6     ensure they have put real-name verification systems in place, said the regulator,     7     oversees the country’s video games market.

The new rules swiftly became one of the most discussed topics on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter. Some users expressed support for the measures     8     others said they were surprised at how drastic(严厉的)the rules were.

“This is so fierce that I’m utterly speechless,” said one comment that received over 700 likes.     9     expressed doubt that the restrictions could be enforced. “They will just use their parent’s logins, how can they control it?” asked one.

The NPPA regulator told Xinhua it     10     (increase) the frequency and intensity of inspections for online gaming companies to ensure they were putting in place time limits and anti-addiction systems. It also said that parents and teachers played key roles in curbing gaming addiction.

3 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea of the passage and how it is illustrated. Use your own words as far as possible.

China’s Film Industry Finally Joins the Space Race

China was a latecomer to space exploration, and in the movies, it has been a latecomer to science fiction, too. But that is about to change.

The country’s first blockbuster set in space. “The Wandering Earth,” opens Tuesday amid grandiose expectations that it will represent the dawning of a new era in Chinese film making.

“The Wandering Earth,” shown in 3-D, takes place in a distant future in which the sun is about to expand into a red giant and devour the Earth. Therefore, earth’s governments rally and come up with a novel solution: they speckle the planet with 10,000 gigantic jets, and blast it out of its orbit and off on a hundred-generation journey to a new home 4.2 light-years away. However, a malfunction of the Earth Engine system leaves the planet caught in Jupiter’s gravity, and gradually being pulled toward destruction. A frantic group of workers have to scramble to reactivate the jets and correct the Earth’s course.

So far, the reviews have been positive. “Filmmakers in China see science fiction as a holy grail,” said Raymond, an independent critic, who noted that Hollywood had set the technological standards, and thus audience expectations, very high.

“The Wandering Earth” is adapted from works by Liu CiXin, the writer who has led a renaissance in science fiction here, becoming the first Chinese winner of the Hugo Award for the genre in 2015. His novels are sprawling epics and deeply researched. That makes them plausible fantasies about humanity’s encounters with a dangerous universe.

The openings also come as China reached a milestone in space: the landing of a probe on the far side of the moon in January. Although decades behind Russia and the United States, China has now put astronauts in orbit and has ambitious plans to join — or even lead — a new age of space exploration.

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4 . Extreme sorrow claws my mind. I am a statistic. When I first got here. I felt very much lonely. I found no sympathy. I saw only thousands of others whose bodies were as badly mangled as mine. I was given a number and placed in a category, which was called “traffic death”.

The day I died was an ordinary school day. How I wish I had taken the bus! But I was too cool for the bus. I remember how I wheedled (哄骗) the car out of Mom. “Special favor,” I pleaded. “All the kids drive.” After school, I rushed to the parking lot, excited at the thought of driving a car and being my own boss.

It doesn’t matter how the accident happened, I was going too fast taking crazy chances. But I was enjoying my freedom and having fun. The last thing I remember was passing an old lady who seemed to be going awfully slow. I heard a crash and felt a terrific shake. Glass and steel flew everywhere. My whole body seemed to be turning inside out. I heard myself scream.

Suddenly, I awakened. It was very quiet. I saw a police officer and a doctor. I was saturated with blood. Pieces of jagged glass were sticking out all over. Strange that I couldn’t feel anything. Hey, don’t pull that sheet over my head. I can’t be dead. I’m only 17. I’m supposed to have a wonderful life ahead of me. I haven’t lived yet. I can’t be dead!

Later I was placed in a drawer. My folks came to identify me. Why did they see me like this? Why did I have to look at Moms eyes when she faced the most terrible ordeal of her life? Dad suddenly looked very old. He told the man in charge, “Yes — he is our son.”

Please — somebody — wake me up! Get me out of here. I can’t bear to see Mom and Dad in such pain. My grandparents are so weak from grief they can barely walk. My brother and sister move like robots.

Please don’t bury me! I’m not dead! I promise if you give me just one more chance, God. I’ll be the most careful driver in the whole world. All I want is one more chance. Please, God, I’m only 17.

1. Why did the writer become a statistic?

A．Because he was majoring in statistics (统计学) in the school.

B．Because he felt very lonely at that moment.

C．Because he was dead due to a traffic accident.

D．Because he made a fatal mistake in statistics.

2. Where did the traffic accident take place?

A．On the way to the school.	B．On the way home.
C．Near a police station.	D．Near an old lady’s house.

3. What was the cause of the accident?

A．I was driving too fast.

B．I was too young to drive.

C．I wanted to avoid knocking down an old lady.

D．I was not familiar with the road condition.

4. Which of the following could be the best title of the passage?

A．How careless a young driver is!	B．Dead at 17.
C．An avoidable tragedy.	D．Safe drive on the road.

5 . Directions: Read the following three passages. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Vertical farming isn’t actually a very new concept. The idea has existed since at least the 1950s. However, it was only recently that we began to seriously explore the idea, and put it forward as a solution to the world food crisis.

So what has vertical farming got going for it? At present, over 80 per cent of the world’s land that is suitable for farming is already being used. In order to grow enough food to feed the nine billion people that will be living on our planet in the middle of the 21 century, we’ll need TEN million more square kilometres of land - that’s an area 20 per cent bigger than Brazil!

The building used for vertical farming won’t take up much space because they are tail - they’re skyscrapers. They can be built in the middle of cities, where all the people are. The food would be on people’s doorsteps, almost literally, so transport costs are minimal. That’s great for helping to combat global warming and climate change.

Another advantage is that all food could be grown organically. The crops would need less water than traditional ones because all the water is recycled. All the nutrients are recycled too. The only thing that actually leaves the building is the produce, the food.

Vertical farming would create jobs too. Imagine the small businesses that would spring up around these farms - for packaging, distribution, catering, and so on - they would employ thousands of people.

Where is it likely to happen? Who will benefit most from it? First and foremost, countries that don’t have agriculture: cold countries, like Greenland and Iceland, and hot, desert countries, like Saudi Arabia. You would have sealed buildings in these places with an artificial climate - artificially warm in Iceland, artificially cool in a hot country.

The social benefits are amazing and everybody gets good, healthy food. People have reacted really well to this idea - I think the idea is about to develop into reality.

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6 . Fake news is “killing people’s minds,” Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, has said. The technology entrepreneur said companies like Apple need to create tools that will help to stop the spread of lies, without limiting freedom of speech. Cook also said governments should lead information campaigns to stop fake news.     1     During these campaigns, supporters of each side used fake news to try to win the election.

“At the moment, unfortunately, some of the people that are winning are the people that try to get the most clicks, not tell the most truth,” said Cook. “It’s killing people’s minds.     2     We must try to do this without limiting freedom of speech and freedom of the press but we must also help the reader.”

    3     But many people believe Donald Trump’s campaign benefitted more from fake news reports. And the U. S. presidents’ team insisted that a huge crowd attended his inauguration(就职典礼), when the evidence showed only a small audience was there. Trump’s spokesman, Sean Spicer, insisted that the event attracted “the largest audience ever to watch an inauguration” and Trump said he believed the crowd went “all the way back to the Washington Monument.”

Images from the inauguration showed the crowd was quite small and did not get close to the Washington Monument. Senior aide Kellyanne Conwa later described the Trump administration’s lies as “alternative facts.” Hillary Clinton claimed that there was “no evidence” her emails were hacked but the FBI director, James Comey, said it was likely they were hacked.

A study by economists at Stanford University and New York University published two months after November’s U. S. presidential election found that just before the election, fake anti-Clinton stories were shared 30 million times on Facebook and pro-Clinton stories were shared eight million times. It said: The average American saw and remembered 0.92 pro-Trump fake news stories and 0.23 pro-Clinton fake news stories.     4    

A．All the technology companies need to create some tools that help to reduce the amount of fake news.

B．Just over half of those who remembered seeing fake news stories believed them.

C．Cook still demanded action to decrease the influence of fake news.

D．Fake news in politics was particularly common during recent election campaigns.

E．There were fake news reports on both sides of the recent U. S. election battle.

F．But the study showed that fake news reports on social media were not very powerful in changing the result of the election.

7 . Devotees of Stump-town Coffee, a high-end roastery with fewer than 10 total locations in four select cities, pride themselves on avoiding mainstream coffee chains. What they are probably unaware of, however, as they sip their mochas and cold brews, is that their favorite spot of individuality may soon be just another chain in the Phoenix airport. What they might suspect even less is that they will have a different shopping experience in the coffee shop.

Stump-town, the iconic small-scale brand, was recently acquired by Peet’s, a chain with a couple hundred locations. Peet’s has been in the news for taking over Intelligentsia, another well-loved and self-consciously indie coffee brand. Stump-town’s sale to Peet’s exemplifies an economic phenomenon not limited to the world of craft coffee. Stump-town joins the ranks of a number of popular brands that went from independent to corporate - then Italian San Pellegrino, now owned by the Swiss giant Nestle (along with its main competitor Perrier), the originally Quaker-owned chocolate-bar maker, Cad-bury, acquired by the U. S. corporation formerly known as Kraft, and The Body Shop, the cosmetics brand synonymous with ethical sourcing, bought by the French behemoth L’Oreal, to name a few.

Stump-town’s story is typical of an innovative young venture becoming a victim of its own success. Founded in 1999 by Duane Sorenson in his native Oregon, it turned into a national phenomenon and was at the forefront of the small-scale retailers that positioned coffee - making, and coffee-drinking, as a kind of art form. Stump-town’s business model rested on providing an intensely personal experience. Coffee-drinkers were treated with top-notch beans and unique brews crafted in Stump-town’s “coffee labs,” But these personal touches don’t fit well in the assembly lines of large-scale operations.

The arithmetic of the “bigger is better” paradigm(范例), or what economist call “economies of scale,” is simple enough. The larger the machine, the more lattes it can spew out. Most of all, scale translates into standardization: the conversion of an unpredictable creative process into a precise and highly economical algorithm(算法)of production. All of this means more profits.

But, based on studies of human behavior in places ranging from blood banks to daycare centers, academics now recognize that the calculus is more complex: People act more responsibly in the context of personal relationships that are meaningful to them than in strictly commercial deals, Loyal customers don’t mind going that extra mile to get the perfect cup of coffee.

Smaller institutions have much to offer - not just sentimentally, but also in terms of pure economics. The idea goes back to the 20^th century British economist E. F. Schumacher’s declaration that “Small is beautiful,” a notion fashionable again in the era of institutions “too big to fail.” Since the logic of scale is more attuned to quantity than quality, workers (whose wages are usually driven down), consumers (who enjoy lower prices, but usually get a worse product) and the landscape of the economy (which shows signs of marked decreases in diversity) all suffer from growth that is too rapid. Size is the traditional measurement of a company’s success, but when stability is pursued as passionately as profit, less may truly be more.

1. Which of the following statements about Stump-town Coffee is NOT true?

A．The brand of Stump-town used to highlight individuality.

B．The loyal consumers of Stump-town are aware of its intention for business expansion.

C．It was Stump-town’s own success that drew the attention of a large-scale corporation.

D．Stump-town’s acquisition case reflects a worldwide trend of independent brands going corporate.

2. What does “economies of scale” in the fourth paragraph mean?

A．It means bigger companies ensure a better relationship between the brand and its consumers.

B．It means economic returns increase with the rise of the cost.

C．It means standardized scale is the working model for big companies.

D．It means the precisely calculated process of mass production is the profitable model.

3. What can we infer from the last two paragraphs?

A．Blood banks offered valid proof for the idea “The bigger, the better.”

B．Loyalty of the customers is the central issue in the success of smaller businesses.

C．Smaller businesses make people feel emotional attachment, but they will ultimately fail because of their size.

D．Smaller companies stand a chance to succeed if they can ensure stability.

4. Which of the following is the bet title for the passage?

A．How Badly Hurting Are Those Acquisition Cases?

B．Should Every Business Scale Up?

C．How Long Will Uniformity Go in Globalization?

D．Will Stump-town Coffee Regain Its Identity?

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

A. content B. demands   C. guard     D. depressed   E. prioritized   F. fits G. failure   H. meant   I. competed     J. mere     K. independent

Happiness, as the Brazilian poet Vinicius de Moracs put it, is “like a feather flying in the air. It flies light, but not for very long.”

Humans are not designed to be happy or even     1    . Instead, we are designed primarily to survive and reproduce, like every other creature in the natural world. A state of contentment is discouraged by nature because it would lower your     2     against possible threats to your survival.

Evolution has     3     the development of a big frontal lobe(脑叶)in our brain (which gives us excellent executive and analytical abilities) over a natural ability to be happy. Different geographical locations and circuits in the brain are each associated with certain neurological(神经系统的)and intellectual functions, but happiness, being a(n)     4     idea with no neurological basis, cannot be found in the brain tissue.

In fact, experts in this field argue that nature’s     5     to eliminate depression in the evolutionary process is due precisely to the fact that depression as an adaption plays a useful role in times of difficulty, by helping the     6     individual get away from risky and hopeless situations in which he or she cannot win.

Our emotions are mixed and at times contradictory, like everything else in our lives. Research has shown that positive and negative emotions can coexist in the brain relatively     7     of each other. This models show that the right hemisphere processes negative emotions preferentially, whereas positive emotions are dealt with by the left-sided brain.

It’s worth remembering, then, that we are not designed to be consistently happy. Instead, we are designed to survive and reproduce. These are difficult tasks, so we are     8     to struggle, seek safety, fight off threats and avoid pain. The model of competing emotions offered by coexisting pleasure and pain     9     our reality much better than the unachievable bliss(极乐)that the happiness industry is trying to sell us. In fact, pretending that any degree of pain is abnormal will only develop feelings of inadequacy and frustration.

So, if you are unhappy at times, this is not a shortcoming that     10     urgent repair. Far from it. This fluctuation(波动)is, in fact, what makes you human.

9 . 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.

The young applicant is described as confident and courageous. His resume, at 15 pages, is glittering, complete with performance reviews (“full of energy”), a map of his travels (trips to Tokyo and Bali) and a list of books he     1     (read) this year (408 in total). It includes discussion of his adversity quotient and his artistic talents. But the applicant is not a seasonal job seeker. He is a five-year-old boy from southern China     2     (apply) for a spot in first grade at a Shanghai private school.

The resume,     3     was leaked and shared widely online this week, has provoked a mix of fascination, indignation and debate about     4     children in China’s test-crazed education system are being raised as soulless strivers.

Some called for the parents of the boy     5     (arrest). Others wondered whether today’s children would know true happiness,     6     the intense pressure to perform well and land good jobs. Still, some defend the parents,     7     (say) they were trying to promote their child’s best interests in a flawed system.

Yong Zhao, a professor of education at the University of Kansas, said the debate reflected widespread anxiety     8     Chinese parents about getting their children into top schools. In China’s test-dominated system, exam scores determine where students go to college and what careers they     9     pursue.

Xiong Bingqi, deputy head of the 21 century Education Research Institute in Beijing, said China needed to distribute education resources     10     (evenly) and to begin evaluating students on more than just est scores.

“There is a competition to rank every student,” he said, “Under these circumstances, of course parents want their kids to rank in the top. Then it worsens this kind of anxious competition.”

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

A. spatial   B. specifically   C. deprived       D. seniors       E. basis       F. clinical G. maintaining       H. functioning       I. involved       J. contact       K. separate

Working from home and staying inside has become second nature to many people over the last two years. A new study, however, is warning not to get too comfortable with an inactive social life. Researchers from Penn State report     1     an active social life into old age can help adults improve their mental ability on a day-to-day     2    .

The study concludes that when elderly adults (between 70 and 90 years-old) have more frequent and pleasant social interactions, they also display stronger cognitive     3     over the next few days.

Dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease     4    , is a major problem worldwide, with estimates showing it will only get worse. Worryingly, Alzheimer’s related deaths have increased by 16 percent since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Making matters worse is the fact that modern medicine has yet to develop an effective drug for curing Alzheimer’s. With this in mind, study authors say it’s imperative to find other ways to fight mental decline in old age - especially before it reaches the     5     stage.

The team collected data on 312 older adults over the course of 16 days using their smartphones to reach these findings. Each day, participants reported on how many social interactions they’d had so far, who they interacted with, and whether it was a positive or negative experience. The group did this five    6     times throughout the day. Importantly, researchers counted digital or phone-based interactions as social activity in this experiment.

Additionally, after each prompt     7     also had to complete three cognitive tests. One test assessed processing speed and attention, another measured     8     working memory, and the last exam measured intra-item feature memory binding.

Researchers quickly noted that whenever a person had interacted often with close friends on a given day, they usually scored higher on the cognitive tests than others who interacted less frequently with close friends or family.

Interestingly, whenever an older adult hadn’t experienced a certain type of social interaction for some time, they performed much better on cognitive tests on the days they did socialize. For instance, if one participant hadn’t talked to their family in weeks, they usually scored higher on days they finally made     9    .

“Our findings suggest that the lack of positive social interactions in daily life could be a critical risk factor for declining cognitive function later in life,” Prof. Zhaoyang concludes. “Older adults who are relatively more       10     in certain social interaction experiences could potentially benefit the most from interventions that help to ‘boost’ their usual levels of social interactions in daily life.”