1 . The maker of ChatGPT recently announced its next move into generative artificial intelligence. San Francisco-based OpenAI’s new text-to-video generator, called Sora, is a tool that instantly makes short videos based on written commands, called prompts.
Sora is not the first of its kind. Google, Meta and Runway ML are among the other companies to have developed similar technology. But the high quality of videos displayed by OpenAI — some released after CEO Sam Altman asked social media users to send in ideas for written prompts-surprised observers.
A photographer from New Hampshire posted one suggestion, or prompt, on X. The prompt gave details about a kind of food to be cooked, gnocchi (意大利团子), as well as the setting — an old Italian country kitchen. The prompt said: “An instructional cooking session for homemade gnocchi, hosted by a grandmother — a social media influencer, set in a rustic (土气的) Tuscan country kitchen.” Altman answered a short time later with a realistic video that showed what the prompt described.
The tool is not yet publicly available. OpenAI has given limited information about how it was built. The company also has not stated what imagery and video sources were used to train Sora. At the same time, the video results led to fears about the possible ethical and societal effects.
The New York Times and some writers have taken legal actions against OpenAI for its use of copyrighted works of writing to train ChatGPT. And OpenAI pays a fee to The Associated Press, the source of this report, to license its text news archive (档案) . OpenAI said in a blog post that it is communicating with artists, policymakers and others before releasing the new tool to the public.
The company added that it is working with “red teamers” — people who try to find problems and give helpful suggestions — to develop Sora. “We are working with red teamers-express in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias — who will be adversarially testing the model,” the company said. “We’re also building tools to help detect misleading content such as a detection classifier that can tell when a video was generated by Sora.”
1. What makes Sora impressive?| A．Its extraordinary video quality. | B．Its ethical and societal influence. |
| C．Its artificial intelligence history. | D．Its written commands and prompts. |
| A．Some disagreements over Sora have arisen. |
| B．Sora is the first text-to-video generator in history. |
| C．OpenAI CEO Altman wrote a prompt as an example. |
| D．All the details about how Sora was built have been shared. |
| A．The company’s current challenge. |
| B．The company’s advanced technology. |
| C．The company’s problems in management. |
| D．The company’s efforts for Sora’s improvement. |
| A．Neutral. | B．Optimistic. | C．Pessimistic. | D．Cautious. |
South Koreans have enjoyed their first close-up look of new baby giant pandas at a name-revealing ceremony that is also
What to name the twin sisters was widely discussed among netizens after they were born on July 7 in theme park Everland. The names were
The baby pandas,
Everland said it would monitor the twins’ health
3 . Plants are vital to human survival, even when there’s no sunlight. But keeping your houseplants alive in window-less rooms or in shadowy corners can be a challenge. Luckily, there are ways to help your plants stay energetic, even when their sunny source of energy is limited.
Grow lights provide an easy and accessible energy increase in dim or black spaces. These specialized beams (光线) have different features, colors, and prices. LEDs, for instance, are the cheapest and most energy-efficient option.
While most devices stick to a warm white light, plants respond differently to various illuminating colors. Scientist Levine has made two creative experiments. Under gravity, red light worked well for the slim flowering plants Arabidopsis (拟南芥). But in the weightless environment, they stretched into funny shapes until he started adding blue lights. He eventually found a middle ground and put the plants in green light.
If electricity is a limiting factor, you can try to reflect light with mirrors. Even brightening up your space with white decorations, like a light-colored tablecloth, will cast a little glow over your plants. While it’s not comparable to using a grow light or the sun, it could offer plants extra power.
Some plants, including tomatoes, need more light than those like Arabidopsis; new seedling s need less light than fully-grow n plants. As you choose your seeds and seedlings, research their native ranges to learn how much sunshine they’d naturally get.
Plants are finally adaptable. They can stretch their stems toward available light sources or produce extra chlorophyll (叶绿素), which absorbs available cold light. Even though they may not be getting all the light that they would like for optimum (最适宜的) growth, they’ll still grow. With only a little extra help, you and your plants can overcome the darkness.
1. What is the purpose of using grow lights?| A．To change the color of the plants. | B．To provide an energy boost in dim spaces. |
| C．To create a decorative effect in the room. | D．To help plants grow in weightless environments. |
| A．Plants grew best under red lights without gravity. |
| B．Blue lights caused plants to grow funny shapes. |
| C．Green lights were the best choice for plants without gravity. |
| D．Plants preferred warm white lights in all situations. |
| A．By putting the metal in the soil. | B．By adding more fertilizer to their soil. |
| C．By decorating some reflective objects. | D．By pouring some chemical liquid. |
| A．Plant scientists and researchers. |
| B．Indoor decorators and designers. |
| C．Farmers planning to grow crops in low-light conditions. |
| D．Individuals looking to improve their indoor gardening skills. |
| A．take up | B．clear up | C．hold up | D．spring up |
5 . “You’re so smart!” This encouraging response to children’s math performance is commonly heard. Recently, a new study, conducted by the University of Georgia, found that encouraging children with responses related to their personal characteristics or inborn abilities might weaken their math achievement over time.
Parents who make comments connecting their children’s performance with personal qualities like IQ are using what’s referred to as person responses. In contrast, parents who connect their children’s actions, such as efforts or strategy use, to their performance are using process responses.
For the study, researchers asked more than 500 parents to report on how they responded to their children’s math performance and their math beliefs and goals. Children were divided into two groups across a year to measure their math achievement.
The results show that parents who view math ability as changeable are more likely to give process responses focused on their children’s strategy use and efforts rather than their IQ or other personal qualities. In contrast, parents who believe math ability is unchangeable and that math failure can’t be constructive give more person responses. Parents with high expectations for their children give both responses. While responses focused on strategy and efforts are not related to any achievement results, children who receive more responses about their personal qualities — especially, related to failure — are more likely to avoid harder math problems, show higher levels of math anxiety, and score lower on math achievement tests.
Because person responses mean poor math change in children over time, researchers suggest parents limit this type of responses at home. Another recommendation for parents is to think about their own beliefs and goals for their kids and examine how these might lead them to respond in person or process ways. Simply telling parents to avoid talking about math ability may not be enough. Focusing less on how children perform and more on their strategy and enjoyment of math might be a more effective way to encourage children.
1. Which of the following is an example of process response?| A．What works well for your study? | B．Running is in your DNA. |
| C．You are a lucky dog. | D．Why are you such a math talent? |
| A．Parents prefer to give more process responses. |
| B．Person responses can discourage children from learning math. |
| C．Process responses help with children’s math achievement. |
| D．Children are more likely to be affected by math anxiety. |
| A．Ignore children’s math problems. | B．Protect their own beliefs. |
| C．Stress children’s performance. | D．Limit person responses. |
| A．The Strategy Children Use to Learn Math Helps |
| B．Responses to improve Children’s Math Performance |
| C．The Way Parents Talk to Children on Math Matters |
| D．Suggestions for Parents to Teach Their Children Math |
6 . You hate me. You don’t even know me and you hate me. Before we’ve even spoken, you hate me. At least that’s how it feels on my end of the call as a female collections officer at a call center.
I dread the moment when I have to log on to our phone system first thing in the morning because I never know who is going to be on the other end of that call.
Sometimes it’s an easy task. The caller is pleasant and has accepted personal responsibility for their debts, and we get through the phone call with ease. Then there are the ones who call in looking for a fight, or looking for someone to blame. Through the luck of the phone system, that person is me.
I’ve had people who shout at me, call me horrible names, accuse me personally of taking their money and threaten me. Why? I think it’s because I am invisible. I think I would be treated with the same level of disrespect if we were face to face. Fortunately for me, I have had years of experience in customer service, so I’m fairly rich in not letting the negative encounters bother me.
The biggest and most effective skill when it comes to the job is empathy (同理心). I can appreciate the situation which the caller is in because I’ve been there. That’s why I’m good at my job — I understand what you’re going through, and I’m here to help.
Some days though, no matter how much I try to leave the stress behind when I hang up the phone, it stays with me. I may do some deep breathing, go for a quick walk or simply stick my head outside for a burst of fresh air. I do this so I don’t carry that negativity on to my next call. That next call may be a person having the worst day of their life, but I don’t want to ever be the one who makes it worse. We are all humans just trying to get by in life, which makes you and me equal. So please, the next time we talk, remember that.
1. What does the underlined word “dread” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Enjoy. | B．Fear. | C．Expect. | D．Avoid. |
| A．They get angry too easily. | B．They blame her for their debts. |
| C．They do not see her as a real person. | D．They accuse her of taking their money. |
| A．She can offer callers best advice. | B．She is always respected by callers. |
| C．She can put herself in others’ shoes. | D．She isn’t easily influenced by negativity. |
| A．To call for understanding of her job. | B．To explain why she is good at her job. |
| C．To introduce what she is responsible for. | D．To complain about her being treated badly. |
7 . A small study out of Skidmore College examined the advantages of morning vs, evening exercise for both women and men. Paul, professor for health at Skidmore, led the study.
“We had the groups divided into evening and morning groups,” he says. “We found women and men answered differently to different types of exercise depending on the time of the day, which surprised us.”
The study showed that for women who want to lower blood pressure (血压), the risk of heart disease or reduce fat, morning exercise works best. Those women hoping for upper body muscle (肌肉) gains or mood (心情) improvement should consider evening exercise. For the men, the findings were somewhat different: Evening exercise lowers blood pressure, the risk of heart disease, and feelings of tiredness. But similar to women, they burn more fat with morning exercise.
“For many people, the best time to exercise will depend on their chronotype,” says Heisz, author of Move the Body, Heal the Mind.
“Chronotype is your body’s natural habit to sleep at a certain time—it’s what decides whether you’re a night owl or an early bird. For the 25% of the population that considers themselves a night owl, getting both enough sleep and enough exercise can be difficult,” adds Heisz.
He continues, “Sleep—which provides your body the necessary time to recover (恢复) and make gains from exercise—should always be the first choice. When it comes to exercise, regardless of research on the advantages of certain exercises at particular times of the day, your results will not be good if it doesn’t allow enough time for sleep.”
1. What can women get by doing evening exercise according to the study?| A．A fat loss. |
| B．A good mood. |
| C．A lower blood pressure. |
| D．A smaller risk of heart disease. |
| A．Give an example. | B．Tell the difference. |
| C．Do an experiment. | D．Explain a term. |
| A．Enough sleep. | B．Low-fat food. |
| C．Plenty of water. | D．Lots of exercise. |
| A．A Night Owl or An Early Bird |
| B．Why Fitness Plan Being Important |
| C．How to Change Your Exercise Time |
| D．The Best Time of a Day to Exercise |
8 . Food plays an essential role in our lives and rightfully so: The food we eat is related to our culture.
It doesn’t matter where you’re from-you have to eat. Your social culture most likely developed from the need to eat. Once they surpassed hunting and gathering, many early civilizations organized themselves in ways that promoted food distribution and production. That also meant that the animals, land and resources you were near governed what you’d consume and how you’d prepare and cook it.
Food preservation techniques are unique to climates and lifestyles.
Ever wonder why the process to preserve meat is so different around the world?
The main local cuisines illustrate historical eating patterns.
Some societies have cuisines that are entirely based on meat, and others are almost entirely plant-based. India’s cuisine is extremely varied from region to region, with meat and wheat heavy dishes in the far north, to spectacular fish delicacies in the east, to rice-based vegetarian diets in the south.
Food tourism.
| A．Food affects the civilization |
| B．Food is a universal necessity |
| C．And the western part is home to strict vegetarians |
| D．Some people have a trip just for enjoying the food |
| E．It has to do with local resources, needs, and climates |
| F．You can learn much about a particular culture by exploring their food |
| G．Some people have taken the combination of food and culture to a new level |
10 . Anoushé Husain has packed more into her 35 years than most people manage in a lifetime. Born
The moment
Eventually, Husain entered a
| A．missing | B．moving | C．testing | D．exercising |
| A．work | B．sport | C．nature | D．performance |
| A．end | B．order | C．idea | D．agreement |
| A．guarantee | B．energy | C．training | D．difficulty |
| A．formed | B．proved | C．changed | D．discovered |
| A．recorded | B．forgot | C．rewarded | D．collected |
| A．request | B．action | C．feeling | D．opportunity |
| A．studying | B．living | C．walking | D．climbing |
| A．primitive | B．interesting | C．incredible | D．meaningful |
| A．lonely | B．attractive | C．angry | D．satisfied |
| A．debate | B．routine | C．process | D．competition |
| A．Generally | B．Unexpectedly | C．Hopefully | D．Unluckily |
| A．shame | B．wonder | C．surprise | D．pleasure |
| A．company | B．club | C．comment | D．country |
| A．came across | B．depended on | C．took up | D．brought about |
