A.Regretful. | B.Confident |
C.Indifferent. | D.Sympathetic. |
2 . The US Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) recently asked scientists, lawyers, social scientists and other experts to consider some of these ethical dimension. To give two examples: on privacy, as we let more listening devices into our homes, how do we prevent the data they collect falling into the wrong hands through hacking (黑客) or simply being sold between companies without us receiving any money? Another example: mixed reality, including virtual reality, will become pervasive in the next few years. As we move from headsets to what the IEEE committee describes as “more delicate sensory enhancements” we will use technology to live in an illusory world in many aspects of our lives. How do we balance the rights of the individual, control over our virtual identity, and the need to live and interact on a face-to-face basis while being empowered to live rich lives in mixed reality?
There is, of course, always a tension between innovation and regulation. But it can often seem that giant steps are taken in technology with minimal public discussion. Take the self-driving car: although it may be safer than human drivers and is likely to save more than a million lives a year worldwide, it will also take jobs from drivers, traffic police, sign-makers, car-repair companies, carmakers and more. Is this a bargain we want to make? In taking that decision, have we given thought to a car that knows everywhere we go, decides routes, perhaps, based on paid advertisement from shops along the way—and listens and sees everything we do on board? What will happen to that data and can it be kept safe?
Additionally, while some worry about the uncommon “trolley problem” of whom the car should choose to hit in a strange accident—an old lady or a mother and baby—perhaps the more frequent issue will be how we find out what the algorithm (运算程序) was thinking at the time of an accident, because AIs (Artificial Intelligence) are self-learning and devise their own strategies.
Similar concerns are emerging over the internet of things. Robot vacuum-cleaners already plot cleaning cycles using computer-aided vision that, for some models, is relayed to their manufacturers. As more things at home become connected, they will be hackable and the data they collect saleable.
It’s time for some messy, democratic discussions about the future of AI.
1. Two examples in paragraph 1 are used to________.A.shed some light on hacking in our modern life |
B.lead the reader to think of ethical issues brought by hi-tech |
C.lead in the following example concerning the self-driving car |
D.list the existing problems that caught the attention of experts |
A.intelligent | B.powerful | C.widespread | D.skillful |
A.innovation should be accompanied by guidelines to relieve tension |
B.more giant innovative steps will lead to fewer public discussion |
C.disadvantages of the self-driving car will outweigh its advantages |
D.artificial intelligence fails to have a promising and bright future |
A.expose some underlying problems in high-technology |
B.call on professionals to enforce law and order |
C.illustrate AI’s abilities in self-devising and self-learning strategies |
D.display our inter-connected computer-aided life in future |
3 . You know it’s fun to take in the wine country sights. But have you thought about trying the heights?
Whether you’re zooming down a zip line or floating through the air in a hot-air balloon, there are quite a few ways to experience the high life in wine country.
Here are three options ranging from thrill to chill.
1. Up, up in the air: Multicolored hot-air balloons dotting a blue sky are a signature of wine country and you can be part of the picture-postcard scene. Several companies offer balloon flights, including Napa Valley Aloft, which launches from the V Marketplace in Yountville and has two alternate launching places if it’s foggy. Be aware this is a bird’s-eye view for early birds. Flights launch just after dawn when winds are calmest and temperatures lowest. Prices start at $220 for a ride in a gondola that holds up to 14 people followed by an optional $20 Champagne breakfast. Booking in advance recommended, especially in the high seasons of summer and fall.
2. Zip-n-sip: In Paso Robles, the grape-growing area along California’s Central Coast that was featured in the popular 2004 buddy movie, ”Sideways,“ Margarita Adventures has zip lines that will have you whizzing over forests, canyons and vineyards. The tour concludes with optional tastings at neighboring Ancient Peaks Winery. Tickets are $109 on weekdays, $119 on weekends and holidays, $89 for youth under 18 at all times. Details at http://www.margarita-adventures.com.
3. Glide in a gondola: For a brief but lovely time aloft, ride the aerial tram at Sterling Vineyards in Calistoga. You get a smooth ride up a tree-studded hill and are greeted at the top with a glass of wine as you begin a self-guided tour of galleries and overlooks. Finish with a wine and food pairing on the South Terrace which has sweeping views of the Napa Valley. Open Monday-Friday 10:30 a.m.—5 p.m., weekends 10 a.m.—5 p.m. Admission starts at $29, with additional fees for food pairings, and tickets can be booked through http://www.SterlingVineyards.com.
1. In which column of a magazine can you find the article?A.Geography and People. | B.City Beats. |
C.Food and Entertainment. | D.Travel. |
A.V Marketplace in Yountville is the only spot for the launch of balloon flights. |
B.Viewing birds is also an important part of the flight. |
C.Balloon flights will not start until the sun sets. |
D.Weather plays a critical role in balloon flights. |
A.Booking in advance is highly recommended for all of the three options. |
B.Tickets can be bought through their respective websites. |
C.Tourists can have choices to taste wine in any of the options. |
D.There is a special offer for children in all of the three options. |
A. precisely B. statistical C. gender D. enrolled E. restriction F. spotted G. frank H. execute I. identified J. confidence K. dramatically |
Female Grandmaster—Hou Yifan
Even by the standard of chess geniuses, Hou Yifan stood out. It wasn’t so much the way she played the game
“My parents never told me that as a girl you should do this or that,” she said. “Teachers never shaped my views in that way.” These days her hair falls to her shoulders and black cat’s-eye glasses frame her face. She speaks English quickly and
Chess is not like basketball or soccer. Men and women face one another on equal terms, and no one can tell the
Hou was born in 1994 in Xinghua, a small city near China’s coast. As a child she
She moved to Shandong with her mother and attended chess classes. Two years later, she joined the national team and won the girls under ten championship in 2003. In the next year, she finished boys under ten tournament tied for first.
The Industrial Monopoly and Its Decline
Upon the completion of the Industrial Revolution by 1850 England became the workshop of the world. The population went on increasing rapidly, if not as rapidly as before, reaching 41 million by 1900. Big towns grow bigger. Production and export of both textiles and heavy industries reached new high levels.
After the abolition of the corn law, other forms of protection
It was in the boom that collapsed in 1873 when there was great anxious concern about both markets and materials
Arable and meat producing farmers felt the full weight of foreign competition between 1870 and 1900. In industry,
6 . When your home becomes a tourist attraction
Have you ever looked at a beautiful little news house in London and thought “It must be so amazing to live there?”
Alice Johnston is a longtime resident of Notting Hill, the London neighborhood famous for pastel-painted row houses and for being the setting of the movie of the same name. Johnston, a journalist, has complicated feelings about her Instagram-beloved neighborhood. She lives on Portobello Road, one of the capital’s most famous streets.
Once, she and a friend were walking his French bulldog when a tourist asked if they could “borrow” the pup for a quick photo. The friend and the dog agreed, the Instagrammer posed with the Frenchie in front of a bright blue door and then handed over five pounds as a thank you. In that story, everybody had a good time.
A.And she has witnessed all kinds of crazy behavior committed in the pursuit of the perfect snapshot. |
B.But there can be a darker side to living inside what some people think is a movie set. |
C.“For us it’s a tremendous pleasure to be able to share the house and see so many people happy and excited about it.” |
D.If so, you’re not the only one. |
E.When private homes become tourist attractions, conflicts can occur. |
F.When it comes to living in a much-photographed place, some people try to take the good with the bad. |
A. benefit B. displayed C. documentation D. elegantly E. improbable F. intrusive G. label H. lessen I. massive J. positively K. promotional |
Norway’s new law on edited photos
A new law in Norway makes it illegal for advertisers and social media influencers to share
The law concerns advertisers and people who receive “payment or other
The new law requires disclosures for edits made after the image was taken and before, such as Snapchat and Instagram filters that modify one’s appearance. Examples of edits that people who are being paid for pictures are required to
Body pressure, or “kroppspress” in Norway, is a major topic of conversation in the country, the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs said in its report. “Young people are exposed to a(n)
By prohibiting advertisers and influencers from posting such photos without proper
Some of Norway’s top influencers have already thought
8 . It’s a reader’s rite of passage to walk into a movie theater to see a favorite book come to life and walk out bitterly disappointed. Sometimes, there’s no softening the truth: what you read on the page is so much better than what you watched on the screen. The following are four beloved books that are undoubtedly better than their film adaptations.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Passionate fans of this young adult classic will agree that a true film adaptation of Ella Enchanted does not yet exist. Levine’s 1997 retelling of Cinderella, which earned a prestigious Newbery Honor, was adapted for the screen in 2004, with Anne Hathaway in the starring role. But the movie took significant liberties with Levine’s original plot, adding characters and excluding beloved scenes. The moods of the film and the book feel disparate. As David Rooney wrote in Variety, “The filmmakers also pushed the tone into a far more jokey comic realm, which dilutes the romantic-magical chemistry of the book, downplaying its central idea of a ‘Cinderella’ overhaul.”
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
This 1850 work of historical fiction about the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1640s has inspired a number of adaptations to film, page and stage, but the most bizarre of these may be the 1995 film starring Demi Moore, Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall. It was labeled “trashy and nonsensical” by Caryn James in the NewYork Times, and is frequently disparaged for changing much of the source material, including the ending. Receiving a shockingly low score of 13% on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie took home the award for the Worst Remake or Sequel at the 1995 Golden Raspberry Awards.
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
The Golden Compass, published in 1995, is the first novel in the beloved young-adult fantasy series, His Dark Materials, a magical story set in a parallel universe. This first part of the trilogy follows a young girl named Lyra as she embarks on a rescue mission to the Arctic. The widely panned 2007 film took five years to complete, slowed down by disagreements over the script and the direction. The studio bought the rights to the trilogy in 2002 and commissioned Tom Stoppard to write the screenplay. Chris Weitz was hired to direct. But Stoppard’s script was rejected and Weitz was fired. In his place, the studio hired Anand Tucker to direct, though Tucker resigned in 2006. Then Weitz returned to write the screenplay and direct the project. The result was a disappointing (and extremely expensive) movie that cut or changed many elements of the novel.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
This bestselling novel from 2002 tells the story of a teenage girl who is raped and murdered and watches her family grieve from heaven. The 2009 film adaptation boasts terrific performances by Saoirse Ronan and Stanley Tucci as the girl and her attacker, but has little else to offer. The fine balance of sentiment and violence that Sebold strikes in the novel is lost in the movie. The film “strikes clashing tones, veering from lightheartedness to heavy-handedness,” Claudia Puig wrote in USA Today, adding that the device of main character narrating from heaven “works on the page but comes off artificial and emotionless on-screen.”
1. All the reviews mention the actors or actresses starring the film adaptations except ______.A.Ella Enchanted | B.The Scarlet Letter |
C.The Golden Compass | D.The Lovely Bones |
A.Disappointing changes to the original story. |
B.Being not so ground-breaking as the book. |
C.Taking too much time and money for filming. |
D.Being not so vividly expressive as the book. |
A.it is always the truth that books are better than film adaptations |
B.an all-star cast results in the excellence of film adaptations |
C.changes to original plots can’t influence film adaptations positively |
D.words can be more powerful than images in expressiveness |
9 . A hundred years ago it was assumed and scientifically “proved” by economists that the laws of society made it necessary to have a vast army of poor and jobless people in order to keep the economy going. Today, hardly anybody would dare to
This may sound like a fantastic proposal, but so, I think, our insurance system would have sounded to people a hundred years ago. The main objection to such a scheme would be that if each person were
However, the suspicions against a system of
But such a system would not only be the beginning of real freedom of contract between employers and employees, its principal
A.challenge | B.voice | C.question | D.disapprove |
A.excluded | B.separated | C.spared | D.rescued |
A.in terms of | B.in case of | C.in light of | D.in spite of |
A.fees | B.citizens | C.solutions | D.conditions |
A.without | B.with | C.by | D.as |
A.therefore | B.however | C.moreover | D.hence |
A.shaping | B.displaying | C.discouraging | D.encouraging |
A.entitled | B.accustomed | C.adapted | D.forbidden |
A.conclusion | B.deception | C.assumption | D.truth |
A.Actually | B.Importantly | C.Surprisingly | D.Unfortunately |
A.limited | B.limitless | C.guaranteed | D.confirmed |
A.transfer | B.flow | C.lack | D.ownership |
A.boring | B.interesting | C.tiring | D.chilling |
A.reverse | B.restore | C.revise | D.reject |
A.advantage | B.weakness | C.problem | D.setback |
A. stillness B. refuge C. thundering D. withered E. oppressive F. unattended G. gripped H. creaked I. approaching J. somewhere K. hastily |
On the morning of the first of September, Scarlett awoke with suffocating sense of dread upon her, a dread she had taken to her pillow the night before. She thought, dulled with sleep: ‘What was it that I was worrying about when I went to bed last night? Oh, yes the fighting. There was a battle,
The air was
The
As she stood, looking out of the window, there came to her ears a far-off sound, faint and sullen as the first distant thunder of a(n)
‘Rain,’ she thought in the first moment, and her country-bred mind added, ‘We certainly need it.’ But, in a split instant: ‘Rain? No! Not rain! Cannon!’
Her heart racing she leaned from the window, her ear cocked to the far-off roaring, trying to discover from which direction it came. But the dim