2 . AI could help us deconstruct the magic of music

We all know that music is a powerful influencer.     1     Fitness without a warm-blooded song would be boring. But is there a way to quantify these reactions? And if so, could they be reverse-engineered and put to use?

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.

    2     “Once we understand how media can affect our various emotions, then we can try to productively use it for actually supporting or enhancing human experiences,” says Shrikanth Narayanan, a professor at USC and the principal investigator in the lab.

The researchers first searched music streaming sites for songs with very few plays, tagged either “happy” or “sad.”     3     Two reliably caused sadness and one reliably caused happiness. One hundred participants who hadn’t heard the songs before split into two groups, listened to all three pieces, and either took a special scan or wore pulse, heat, and electricity sensors on their skin and rated the intensity of their emotions on a scale of 0 to 10. The researchers then fed the data, along with 74 features for each song, into several machine-learning mathematical steps and examined which features were the strongest predictors of responses. They found, for example, that the brightness of a song (the level of its medium and high frequencies) and the strength of its beat were both among the best predictors of how a song would affect a listener’s heart rate and brain activity.

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.     4     They want to start trying music-based therapies as well.

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 . 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. concerned；B. signals；C. mechanical；D. monitor；E. identification；F. philosophical G. thoughts；H. assume；I. embedded；J. privacy；K. procedures

Would you wear a computer under your skin?

Forget smartphones and smart glasses. One day, we might have smart tattoos, body modifications. The company NewDealDesign came up with an idea for a product called UnderSkin. The device would look like a pair of tattoos on your arms and the side of your thumb, but it would actually be a very thin computer implanted just below your skin. It would draw power from your body’s energy, and you could use it to unlock doors,     1     your health, exchange and store information, or even express your personality. UnderSkin is just an idea — you can’t go out and get one — but the technology exists to make it work. “We     2     it is about five years from being real,” says designer Gadi Amit.

Writer and technology initiator Amal Graffstra already has a chip called a radio-frequency     3     tag implanted in his hand. “I use it to log into my computer. I also use it to share contact details with people,” he says. The chip is about the size of a grain of rice and responds to radio     4     with a unique number for recognition.

If a computerized tattoo or     5     tag isn’t crazy enough for you, what about a brain chip? The company Intel is working on technology that would let you control your devices with your mind. Dean Pomerleau, one of the researchers, explains, “We’re trying to prove you can do interesting things with brain waves…. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your     6    .”

Do you think these chips sound frightening or cool? Some doctors are     7     about people hurting themselves while getting devices implanted. They argue that medical     8     are meant to heal sick people, and not to give healthy people special powers. Others worry about hacking and     9    . Could someone hack in and steal your identity, or even control your mind? On a more     10     level, if you have a computer inside your body, are you still human? Or are you a cyborg, a being that is part human and part machine, or a machine that looks like a human being?

What do you think — would you want a computer under your skin?

4 . 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.

    1     As technology companies move away from traditional password, biometric security, which includes fingerprint, face and voice ID, is becoming increasingly popular.

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.

    2     “Bio-metrics, ideally are good.” John Michener, a biometric expert, told tech website Inverse. “In practice, not so much.”

When introducing the new iPhone's Face ID feature at Apple's Keynote Event in September. Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president, said. “     3    ”.

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.     4    .”

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.

5 . 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

2. According to Professor Jellison, women ________.

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

3. Researchers find when a person tells a lie, ________.

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

4. Which of the following may best betray（出卖）a liar?

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.

9 . 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. threatened       B. enthusiastically       C. charge       D. viewed       E. command       F. satisfy       G. undoubtedly       H. approval       I. favorable       J. treasured       K. considerable

Public image doesn't make money directly. nor is it anything visible. However, excellent public image is such an important thing that it is     1     desired by every company, enterprise, institution, etc. Public image refers to how a company is     2     by its customers, suppliers, and stockholders, by the financial community, by the communities where it operates, and by federal and local governments. Public image is controllable to     3     extent. just as the product, price, place, and promotional efforts are.

A firm's public image plays a vital role in the attraction of the firm and its products to employees, customers, and to such outsiders as stockholders, supplies, creditors (贷款方), government officials, as well as different special groups. With some things it is impossible to     4     all the different publics: for example, a new highly automated plant may meet the     5     of creditors and stockholders. However, it will     6     find resistance from employees who see their jobs     7    . On the other hand, high quality products and service standards should bring almost complete approval, while low quality products and false claims would be widely looked down upon.

A firm's public image, if it is good, should be     8    . It is a valuable strength that usually is built up over a long and satisfying relationship of a firm with publics. If a firm has developed a quality image, this is not easily imitated by competitors. Such as image may enable a firm to     9     higher prices, to win the best distributors and dealers, to attract the best employees, to expect the most favorable creditor relationships and lowest borrowing costs. It should also allow the firm's stock to     10     higher price-earnings ratio (比例) than other firms in the same industry with such a good reputation and public image.

10 . Virtual reality

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

2. What is Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones’ selling point promoted in the passage?

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.

3. If your friend, who favors everything in the styles of the past, plans to make perfect pictures with a new device, you will most probably recommend ________.

A．A smart phone.	B．Fujifilm X70.
C．Olympus PEN-F.	D．Yi M1.