1 . I was born without arms. My parents bought me a full-length
In Year 2011 I swam in the inter-house carnival and a coach encouraged me to join his squad. It
I’m
| A．armchair | B．mirror | C．wheelchair | D．stick |
| A．responsibility | B．identity | C．similarity | D．disability |
| A．experience | B．experiment | C．treatment | D．movement |
| A．hated | B．refused | C．preferred | D．returned |
| A．adjusted | B．adopted | C．contributed | D．applied |
| A．lower | B．smaller | C．finer | D．dearer |
| A．got mad | B．got along | C．got used | D．got rid |
| A．spared | B．separated | C．compared | D．sparked |
| A．which | B．what | C．where | D．that |
| A．even | B．then | C．still | D．ever |
| A．emotion | B．ambition | C．potential | D．recognition |
| A．continuing | B．competing | C．improving | D．completing |
| A．smooth | B．ambiguous | C．upset | D．tough |
| A．walked | B．patted | C．touched | D．hugged |
| A．shocked | B．cried | C．sighed | D．shouted |
| A．earned | B．donated | C．handled | D．raised |
| A．kids | B．people | C．men | D．women |
| A．waste | B．expensive | C．worthwhile | D．empty |
| A．set about | B．set to | C．set off | D．set down |
| A．define | B．identify | C．direct | D．distract |
2 . After waking up, you may feel frustrated that you cannot recall the dreams you had last night. Artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to help.
Previously, there have been AI models that can turn text into images. They can do this by learning from a large amount of data from both tests and images. This time, researchers from Osaka University in Japan have trained an AI system called Stable Diffusion to re-create images based on people’s brain scans, reported Science magazine.
The researchers used an online data set provided by the University of Minnesota, US, which consisted of brain scans from four participants as they each viewed a set of 10,000 photos. The scans were recorded by functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI,功能性磁共振成像).
The AI then learned about the brain activities by analyzing changes in blood flow shown by the FMRI data - when a part of the brain is activated, more blood will flow to it. It then matched the brain activities with the photos. Through this method, AI learned how human brains would react when seeing different photos.
Finally, the researchers tested the AI on additional brain scans from the same participants when they viewed photos of a toy bear, airplane, clock and train. If the person looked at an airplane, for example, the AI would use the brain scan data to create an image of a very blurry (模糊的) airplane. Then, it would turn on the previous “text-to-image” model and improve the quality of the image by feeding itself the keyword “airplane”. The final images were “convincing” with about 80 percent of accuracy, according to the researchers.
The new study created a novel approach that incorporates texts and images to “decipher (解码) the brain”, Ariel Goldstein from Princeton University, US, told Science magazine. In the future, scientists hope that the technology can be used to record imagined thoughts and dreams or allow people to understand how differently other animals perceive reality.
1. What do we know about Stable Diffusion?| A．It can help train people’s minds. | B．It can fully present people’s dreams. |
| C．It was created to draw people’s brains. | D．It can produce pictures from people’s thoughts. |
| A．By analyzing descriptions of human thoughts. |
| B．By studying patterns of blood flow in the brain. |
| C．By recording brain scans from four participants. |
| D．By examining 10,000 photos about human brains. |
| A．By integrating additional brain scans. | B．By adjusting various visual elements. |
| C．By employing a “text-to-image” model. | D．By inputting text from human observers. |
| A．To improve text-to-image models. | B．To create more accurate brain scans. |
| C．To learn how animals view the world. | D．To help people interpret their dreams. |
| A．The Research on AI System | B．The Power of Science Magazine |
| C．The Forms of Dreams | D．The Study for Brain Activities |
I still remember the days when I was a youthful student in an engineering school. I lived a casual life, without caring about the future. I smoked, drank with friends and made girlfriends. Little did I realized that casualness would certainly lead to loss.
Two years had passed and I was staring down a report card that highlighted FAIL in more than half the subjects. I didn’t care, at least not till my dad found out about it. You see, I studied in India and unlike the United States where the students are expected to finance their own education, my dad financed me.
Then came the day when my dad found out my habit of smoking. He lost his temper but he just told me, “son, your allowance is cut in half from this moment on.” It hit me like a roundhouse kick from Bruce Lee. I was jolted (震摇) out of my bones! I couldn’t comprehend how to pay off the debts that I had accumulated in college. I owed everybody money: the grocery store, the bars, the restaurants, and my friends. I was living a life filled with credit.
When I came back to college, I knew if I didn’t change the way I live my life I wouldn’t be able to pay everybody off. So I decided to make some changes, drastic changes. I quitted smoking, cut off from my friends who led me down the wrong road, starting hanging out in libraries and reading my engineering books.
One year later, I went from a miserable failure to a Cum Laude(优等成绩). Life was never the same again. This incident made me know that anything is possible if you take action and do something about it, however small or large. Even today it still motivates me when I feel that I’m about to lose or give up. It reminds me that I can do it!
1. What’s the author’s attitude when he saw his report card? (no more than 10 words)2. At what time did the father cut the author’s allowance in half? (no more than 15 words)
3. Why did the author say he was living a life filled with credit? (no more than 15 words)
4. What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean? (no more than 10 words)
5. What can you learn from the passage? (no more than 15 words)
| A．informed | B．to inform | C．informing | D．inform |
| A．are being sing | B．have been sung | C．were singing | D．had been sung |
| A．Even if | B．Now that | C．So that | D．As long as |
—________
| A．I’m afraid so. | B．Leave me alone. |
| C．It doesn’t hurt to ask. | D．Sure, it is! |
| A．as | B．which | C．whose | D．where |
| A．particular | B．deliberately | C．frequently | D．necessarily |
| A．what | B．that | C．which | D．how |
