3 . How to show others you care

The idea that kindness can boost happiness is hardly new. Studies have shown that prosocial behavior — basically, voluntarily helping others — can help lower people’s daily stress levels, and that simple acts of connection, like texting a friend, mean more than many of us realize.     1    

“I have found that kindness can be a really hard sell,” said Tara Cousineau, a clinical psychologist, “People desire kindness yet often feel troubled by the thought of being kind.”     2     They may question whether their gesture or gift will be misinterpreted, or whether it will make the recipient feel pressured to pay it back.

    3     Jennifer Oldham, who lost her 9-year-old daughter Hallie in July, recently created a Facebook group — Keeping Kindness for Hallie — that encourages participants to engage in random acts of kindness. People have bought groceries and donated school supplies in Hallie’s honor. “It will help your own heart, maybe even more than the recipients,” said Ms. Oldham.

If you are not already in the habit of performing random kind acts, or if it does not come naturally to you, start by thinking about what you like to do. It’s not about you being like, ‘Oh man, now I have to learn how to bake cookies in order to be nice’. It’s about:     4     And how can you turn that into an offering for other people?

A．What skills and talents do you already have?

B．Stress can also keep people from being kind to others.

C．Why are recipients less likely to appreciate a random act of kindness?

D．But an act of kindness is unlikely to fail, and in some instances it can create even more kindness.

E．People who perform a random act of kindness tend to underestimate how much the recipient will appreciate it.

F．But researchers who study kindness and friendship say they hope the new findings strengthen the scientific case for making these types of gestures more often.

4 . In 2020, OpenAI, a research lab in San Francisco, revealed a system called GPT-3. It is what artificial intelligence researchers call a neural(神经系统的) network, after the web of neurons in the human brain. A neural network is really a mathematical system that learns skills by locating patterns in vast amounts of digital data. By analyzing thousands of cat photos, for instance, it can learn to recognize a cat. “We call it ‘artificial intelligence,’ but a better name might be ‘finding statistical patterns from large data sets’,” said Dr. Gopnik, the Berkeley professor.

More recently, researchers at places like Google and OpenAI began building neural networks that learned from enormous amounts of prose, including digital books and Wikipedia articles by the thousands. GPT-3 is an example. As it analyzed all that digital text, it built what you might call a mathematical map of human language — more than 175 billion data points that describe how we piece words together. Using this map, it can perform many different tasks, like penning speeches, writing computer programs and having a conversation.

But there are limitations. If you ask GPT-3 for 10 speeches in the voice of Mark Twain, it might give you five that sound remarkably like the famous writer — and five others that come nowhere close. Computer programmers use the technology to create small snippets(一小段) of code they can slip into larger programs, but more often than not they have to edit and adjust whatever it gives them.

Still, Dr. Gopnik described this kind of system as intelligent. “It is not intelligent in the way humans are. It is like an unfamiliar form of intelligence,” he said. “But it still counts.”

Dr. Gopnik and many others in the field are confident that they are on a path to building a machine that can do anything the human brain can do. This confidence shines through when they discuss current technologies. He admits that some A.I. researchers “struggle to differentiate between reality and science fiction.” But he believes these researchers still serve a valuable role. “They help us dream of the full range of the possible,” he said.

Perhaps they do. But for the rest of us, these dreams can get in the way of the issues that deserve our attention.

1. Which of the following statements correctly describes GPT-3?

A．It is meant to monitor human’s neuron webs.

B．It stores limitless data in its mathematical system.

C．It can identify images and employ human language.

D．It studies pictures and digital books to invent patterns.

2. In paragraph 3, the example of computer programmers is used to __________.

A．illustrate GPT-3 is far from perfect

B．warn programmers against technology

C．show the process of slipping code into program

D．explain why GPT-3 fails to find Mark Twain’s speeches

3. What does Dr. Gopnik think of the mathematical system of GPT-3?

A．He finds it valuable because it maximizes the current technologies.

B．He doubts its worth though it is remarkably similar to a human brain.

C．He thinks highly of it because it plays a valuable role in A.I. research.

D．He believes it will interrupt our thinking though it differs from science fiction.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards A.I.?

A．Enthusiastic.

B．Opposed.

C．Supportive.

D．Unconcerned.

5 . PRIVACY POLICY

The Bundaberg Privacy Policy explains how we collect, store and use your personally identifiable information. Our Privacy Policy will be continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices and our customers’ changing needs. Accordingly, this Privacy Policy is subject to change over time without notification being made to users, and therefore we encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy to become aware of any changes that may have occurred.

➢ Collection of Personal Information

We will collect personally identifiable information from you when you knowingly provide it to us. The types of personal information we may collect, includes, but is not limited to your full name, address, email address and phone number.

In terms of your personal information, we only collect information about individuals that is necessary for us to carry on our business functions. What information we collect depends upon the nature of our dealing with you. Importantly, in some circumstances if you do not provide the information that we request, you may not be able to engage with us. For example, if you refuse to provide some personal information as may be requested on the Bundaberg website, you may not be able to use all features or services of the website.

➢ Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

We may use your personal information for the following purposes:

⚫ Billing purposes;
⚫ To enable us to develop our products and business, or to customize services to better meet your needs and preferences;
⚫ Statistical purposes.
        We will contact you by electronic or other means to get your agreement first for any purpose other than those above, including but not limited to:
⚫ Future promotional and marketing purposes;
⚫ To inform you of special offers, promotions and competitions;
⚫ Any other customer support purposes.

Your personal information may be used by sub-contractors of Bundaberg for our business activities only; however, your information will not be disclosed to any other third party without your agreement, unless required to do so by law.

1. In order to be kept informed of the privacy information, you’d better __________.

A．examine the Privacy Policy regularly

B．check the official notification weekly

C．express your changing needs privately

D．evaluate the business practices critically

2. Which of the statements is TRUE about Bundaberg’s collecting users’ personal information?

A．You have no knowledge of what personal information is collected.

B．Your personal information can promote Bundaberg’s business functions.

C．All the customers are required to provide identical personal information.

D．You may not get some services without providing requested personal information.

3. Bundaberg will use your personal information for the purpose of __________ without getting your agreement first.

A．attracting new sub-contractors

B．advertising its services

C．sending bills to you

D．letting you know about special offers

6 . Colleges today often operate as machines for putting too many opportunities before already advantaged people. Our educational system focuses too much on helping students take the next step. But it does not give them adequate _______ in thinking about the substance of the lives toward which they are advancing. Many institutions today have _______ that it is an essential part of education to teach the young the art of choosing, and to train them to use _______ to decide which efforts deserve the investment of their lives.

We spent many years teaching on a college campus, trying to help students struggling with their confusion. Eventually, we sought to address this problem _______, by designing a course intended to introduce the young to the art of choosing. The course begins with Plato’s “Gorgias” — a messy dialogue that turns on a(n) _______ over whether the pursuit of virtue or of pleasure is the way to a good life. The dialogue ends _______; no one is satisfied. But with remarkable regularity, it _______ the kind of thinking that students need to better understand the choices that shape their lives.

Students’ first reaction to the “Gorgias” is disbelief, sometimes even horror. It is the dialogue’s _______ that alarms them: the idea that we can seriously argue about what represents the human good. Everything in their education has led them to believe that such arguments cannot bear fruit.

Most students are _______ to discover this art of choosing. Learning to reason about happiness is as delightful as discovering that one’s voice can be made to sing. Why, then, do institutions ________ teach it? In some cases, intelligence members are encouraged to ________ specialized research rather than thinking about the good life. In others, they share the belief that feeling is a more ________ guide to happiness than the mind.

Colleges should self-consciously prioritize initiating students into a culture of ________ reflection on how to live. Doing so will hold them ________ performing their proper work: helping young people learn to give reasons for the choices that shape their lives and to ________ about the ends they pursue.

1.

A．assistance

B．protection

C．recognition

D．treatment

2.

A．forgotten

B．promised

C．repeated

D．responded

3.

A．determination

B．imagination

C．memory

D．reason

4.

A．controversially

B．effortlessly

C．resistantly

D．systematically

5.

A．argument

B．lecture

C．performance

D．session

6.

A．automatically

B．inconclusively

C．indirectly

D．unnecessarily

7.

A．abuses

B．awakens

C．demonstrates

D．echoes

8.

A．assumption

B．pattern

C．progress

D．variation

9.

A．grateful

B．quick

C．reluctant

D．shocked

10.

A．commonly

B．effectively

C．rarely

D．strictly

11.

A．direct

B．emphasize

C．review

D．sponsor

12.

A．detailed

B．formal

C．qualified

D．reliable

13.

A．logical

B．moral

C．spiritual

D．theoretical

14.

A．eager for

B．patient with

C．responsible for

D．skilled at

15.

A．complain

B．experiment

C．question

D．reflect

7 . 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.

One Medical

On Thursday, Amazon announced its first major acquisition (收购) under Mr. Jassy’s occupation as C.E.O., spending $3.9 billion for One Medical, a chain of primary care clinics around the country. The deal is a sign of Amazon’s health care ambitions. As the company has     1     from one business to another — including books, CDs, electronics, dog food and clothes — it has had to look in less obvious spots to find opportunities that can provide meaningful     2    .

Health care has been     3     to Amazon executives who believe it is an extremely large market, filled with inefficiencies and generally lacking the kind of     4     approach that Amazon tries to take with its businesses. “We think health care is high on the list of experiences that need     5    ,” Neil Lindsay, the senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, said in a statement announcing the deal. He also listed some of the     6     of modern health care: booking appointments, sitting in waiting rooms, even finding a parking spot.

Amazon wants to be the “front door” through which customers     7     health care. That One Medical sees about five times as many virtual visits as     8     appointments most likely made it attractive to Amazon. The company also has something Amazon values     9    : data. One Medical built its own electronic medical records system, and it has 15 years’ worth of medical and health-system data. While individual patient records are generally protected under federal health privacy laws, the big data skill that has     10     Amazon’s success can be powerful in health care — for predicting costs, targeting interventions and developing products and treatments.

8 . Directions: Read the following passage. 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.

Teamwork Doubles the Strength

Teamwork is really important for any class or team to achieve its goals and objectives. Let me give you three reasons why teamwork is advantageous.

As individuals, we possess diverse talents, strengths, weaknesses and experiences. A team is like a blanket that weaves what each of us possesses, resulting in an end product that is diverse yet similar. As team members exchange thoughts and experiences, there can be more efficiency and effectiveness at problem-solving. This pooling of talents can also lead to greater innovation and success.

Take Leicester City, for example. It won the Premier League in 2016, to the disbelief of many soccer fans. Leicester City, previously regarded as the underdog in the League, displayed surprisingly impressive teamwork that led to its unbelievable victory in soccer history.

Next, teamwork helps to increase efficiency and productivity as members share the workload. It reduces the stress on each of us and ensures the completion of tasks within the regulated time frame. When work is distributed and each of us in a team specializes in specific tasks, we can expect greater job satisfaction.

And finally, working in a team multiplies learning opportunities. Team members learn from more experienced members who may offer deeper insights and perspectives. Newer members may also contribute new and brave ideas. Besides encouraging the sharing of knowledge and experiences, teamwork also develops soft skills like communication and interpersonal skills. We learn to respect differences in working styles and opinions, and develop trust when working with others.

Some may think that working in isolation is more efficient since more time is taken when cooperating with others. For more talented individuals, working alone means being the star of a project — there’s no need to share the success or glory with others. But, the loss of cooperativity that only team effort can generate may also prevent the team from reaching its fullest potential.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . What is Key to Learning and Creativity?

IQ is often regarded as a crucial driver of success, particularly in fields such as science, innovation and technology.     1     But the truth is that some of the greatest achievements by our species have primarily relied on qualities such as creativity, imagination, curiosity and so on.

Many of these characteristics are embedded in what scientists call “cognitive flexibility” — a skill that enables us to switch between different concepts, or to adapt behaviour to achieve goals in a novel or changing environment.     2     This includes changing strategies for first-rank decision-making. In our ongoing research, we are trying to work out how people can best boost their cognitive flexibility.

Cognitive flexibility provides us with the ability to see that what we are doing is not leading to success and to make the appropriate changes to achieve it. If you normally take the same route to work, but there are now roadworks on your usual route, what do you do? Some people remain inflexible and stick to the original plan, despite the delay.     3    

Cognitive flexibility may have affected how people coped with the pandemic lockdowns, which produced new challenges around work and schooling. Some of us found it easier than others to adapt our routines to do many activities from home.     4     Others, however, struggled and eventually became more inflexible in their thinking. They stuck to the same routine activities, with little flexibility or change.

A．It also supports academic and work skills such as problem solving.

B．In fact, many people have an endless fascination with the IQ scores of famous people.

C．More flexible people adapt to the unexpected event and try every means to find a solution.

D．It is essentially about learning to learn and being able to be flexible about the way you learn.

E．That’s because people who are cognitively flexible are better recognising potential faults in themselves and using strategies to overcome these faults.

F．Such flexible people may also have changed these routines from time to time, trying to find better and more varied ways of going about their day.

10 . At first glance, the image that flashed on the computer screen looked like an ordinary road map. Then John Richardson, acting manager of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), began tapping at his keyboard. With one click he got a close-up view of New York, divided not along town or county lines but along sectors of airspace. With another click on the key he eliminated hundreds of tiny black dots showing the location of low-flying aircraft and private jets. What remained on the screen were larger, winged symbols representing commercial airliners. With a few more key taps he color-coded the jetliners according to their airport destination.

To computer fans at ease with the graphic interpretation of Max Headroom, the FAA demonstration might seem simple. But to air-traffic professionals gathered in the agency’s sixth-floor “ war room, ” it represented a technological breakthrough. Before last week, FAA radar data showing the location of planes flying over the U.S. could be shown only dot on computer screens at one or more of the airline agency’s 20 regional control centers. Now, all that information has been combined and displayed on a single screen, giving the nation’s air-traffic controllers a unique view of overhead traffic patterns as they unfold from coast to coast. Exclaimed Richardson, with pride: “ It’s unbelievable! ”

Last week’s display — more evolutionary than revolutionary — involved the conveying of data on aircraft position, altitude (海拔), speed and identification from each of the regional air-traffic control centers to the FAA’s Washington headquarters. There the information is combined into a manageable whole by an assembly of Apollo work-stations and displayed through custom-designed software on as many as three dozen screens. The objective of the system is to provide centralized management of traffic problems as they may build up at any of the country’s 12,500 airports. Cost of the new computer operation so far: about $2 million. The FAA’s final goal, though, is a multibillion-dollar air-traffic control system so highly automated that it can monitor flights and direct pilots with little or no human disturbance.

Such a system is far in the future, but the new linkup may have arrived just in time. A badly overburdened U.S. air-traffic system has pushed control tower errors to record levels. Midair close calls added 215 in the previous three months of 1987, while errors by overtaxed air controllers jumped 18%. The safety crisis urged the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board to recommend the FAA take “ immediate action ” to reduce air traffic at key airports before the expected summer air-travel crush. FAA officials say that with their new control system they will be able to meet those recommendations without reducing the number of flights entering or leaving the critical barriers. Also supervisors can monitor with greater precision specific sections of airspace that are becoming dangerously overcrowded. Traffic jams can then be relieved or prevented by shifting the altitude of some flights or rerouting others to avoid jammed areas.

1. What can be concluded about the FAA demonstration?

A．It can present a close-up view of the New York Metropolitan area along town or county lines.

B．It makes it easy to highlight the location of low-flying private aircrafts by tiny black dots.

C．It can show the remaining larger, winged symbols that represent commercial airliners.

D．It makes it complicated to color-code the jetliners according to their airport destination.

2. What’s the purpose of the new air-traffic control system?

A．To show the technology breakthrough of airline agencies.

B．To manage air traffic problems in a concentrated way.

C．To inspect the overall situation in 20 regional control centers.

D．To train the operators to control air traffic more efficiently.

3. Why is it high time to operate the new air-traffic control system?

A．The heavily burdened system has driven control tower errors to record levels.

B．Control tower errors increased by over 18% in the first three months of 1987.

C．Midair close calls increased at least 215 in the previous three months of 1987.

D．It’s impossible for supervisors to shift the altitude of some flights or reroute others.

4. Which of the following is TRUE about their new air-traffic control system?

A．It can operate flights and direct pilots with little or no human disturbance.

B．It recommends reducing flights entering or leaving the critical barriers.

C．It enables supervisors to monitor specific sections of airspace more precisely.

D．It avoids most air traffic jams by changing the altitude of all flights at ease.