1 . A few months ago, a friend gifted me a robot sweeper that’s programmed to move around a room and clean as it goes.
When the box arrived, I was afraid the device would detect me and suck up (汲取) data along with the dog hair and dust. But the instructions were easy, and I finally decided not to care.
I powered up the sweeper, watched it leave its docking station to work, and quickly fell in love with my newly shiny floors. I kept shooting its working videos. “I think you’re giving more attention to it than to us,” joked my son.
One day, I returned home and discovered that our front door had blown open and the robot rolled into the yard, trying to clean the flower beds. Even when its brushes were blocked with leaves, bugs and mud, its little wheels bravely kept turning.
The robot acted properly as it was programmed to clean “dirty” things. In a kitchen, dirt can be garden debris (碎片) such as leaves and mud. In a garden, this kind of dirt does not need to be removed. The context is important. The problem for robots is that reading this context is difficult.
This accident inspired me to think more about AI (artificial intelligence). As far as I am concerned, AI is simply well trained and reproduces what it has learned. And it is undeniable that robots are increasingly being given powerful intelligence. Some experts even predict that we will soon see not only AI-enabled robots designed to solve problems according to their instructions, but also those with the ability to judge how they should respond when they are in a different setting.
Maybe this will happen in the near future.
1. What was the author’s concern about the robot sweeper at first?A.Its after-sales service. | B.Its working efficiency. |
C.The privacy of her family. | D.The readability of its instructions. |
A.Enthusiastic. | B.Regretful. | C.Uncertain. | D.Cautious. |
A.Its program went wrong. | B.It lacked critical thinking. |
C.Its wheels were badly designed. | D.It failed to work on rough surfaces. |
A.The accident. | B.Some experts’ thinking. |
C.Its appeal to the author. | D.The author’s opinion. |
2 . Public Speaking Courses
Complete Public Speaking Masterclass for Every Occasion (Udemy)
If you’re struggling to put yourself out in front of audiences, then joining this Udemy course will be a good decision. In this course, you will be instructed to feel calm and comfortable on stage in front of any number of people while speaking and conveying your message. The comprehensive guide by TJ Walker will help you impress your audience and influence them.
Dynamic Public Speaking Certification (证明) by University of Washington (Coursera)
Available on Coursera, this online course is perfect for people who want to be excellent dynamic speakers. You will be taught by Dr. Matt McGarrity - a principal lecturer at UW Department of Communication. Designed for beginners, it will help you gain many skills, for instance, public speaking, speech, presentation, and communication.
How to Become a World-class Speaker (Mindvalley)
This Mindvalley course is aimed at training people who have no experience of public speaking and just start to set foot in this area. It has already assisted a lot of people in becoming skillful at speaking and spreading their voice. Lisa Nicholas, your communication coach, is regarded as one of the best speechmakers in the world. Within less than two days, you will get insights into how she masters this art.
Effective Communication: Writing, Design, and Presentation (University of Colorado Boulder)
With the help of this course, you can get better at business communication, including presenting your ideas to your coworkers, handling client (客户) calls, and so on. You’ll also learn how to write effective business emails, along with reports and draft presentations. This course is very popular among people who want to quickly fit in with the workplace.
1. How can the Udemy course benefit learners?A.Allowing them to study at their own pace. |
B.Teaching them how to make good life decisions. |
C.Helping them overcome the fear of public speaking. |
D.Enabling them to hold comprehensive lectures with TJ Walker. |
A.They both last for one month. |
B.They are targeted at beginners. |
C.They are offered by the same university. |
D.They train people to be smart speech listeners. |
A.Dynamic Public Speaking Certification. |
B.How to Become a World-class Speaker. |
C.Complete Public Speaking Masterclass for Every Occasion. |
D.Effective Communication: Writing, Design, and Presentation. |
3 . If you spend more than a couple of days in the country of Georgia, you are very likely to be invited to a Georgian feast even by complete strangers. The multi-hour, multi-course feast is one of the most important events in Georgian culture.
A popular Georgian story shows the importance of the feast in Georgian culture. When God created the world, He held a meeting to give the different regions of the world to different cultures. But the Georgians arrived late at the meeting. After they apologized and explained that they’d been holding a feast with a stranger the night before and slept later than they’d meant to, God was so touched and impressed by their honesty that He gave the Georgians the best land of all: the part of earth He was saving for himself.
In order to survive the feasts without offending (冒犯) the hosts, it’s important for you to know a few things about it in advance.
A Georgian feast will likely have a seemingly unlimited number of dishes. So avoid fully cleaning your plate unless you want more servings. Don’t fill up on khachapuri-Georgian cheese bread. There are numerous regional varieties of cheese bread, but khachapuri is the most delicious of all. The cheese bread is usually a heavy lunch on its own, but at feasts it’s often considered a side dish or an appetent. Don’t make the mistake of having more than a few bites—only to discover that the main meal is still coming.
When you drink, follow the lead of the toastmaster, who presents a scries of toasts throughout the evening. Traditionally, drinkers would dry their glass (or, if keeping with tradition, drain their deer’s horn) with every toast. This isn’t always done now. Just remember the important rule: say “cheers” after every toast.
Consider bringing a small gift, such as sweets or flowers, as a gesture of thanks. Avoid bringing more fond, however, which might imply that you don’t think there will be enough on offer.
1. What can be most probably inferred from the story?A.Georgia is short of natural resources |
B.Most of the Georgians are lazy and wasteful. |
C.The Georgian people are very honest and friendly. |
D.It is important to go to a meeting on time in Georgia. |
A.It is not a main dish at feasts at all. |
B.Georgians usually have it for breakfast. |
C.It is one of the unique Georgian drinks. |
D.Many regional varieties are based on it. |
A.Drink all the wine every time. |
B.Take some small gifts with them. |
C.Clean the plate after each serving. |
D.Bring some special food to the feast. |
A.Amazing Food History in Georgia |
B.Basic Rules of Being a Good Host |
C.Bad Manners to Be Avoided at the Table |
D.Things to Be Learned About Georgian Feasts |
Xu Xiake was born in 1587.
China has more famous explorers. There was: Zhang Qian, who traveled into Central Asia during the second century BC, opening a trade road that became
“On the surface, Xu’s travels can neither be classified as great affairs of state
Scholar Julian Ward agrees, describing the lonely Chinese wanderer like the Middle Kingdom’s version of John Muir: “Deep in love with nature and eager to find freedom
“The few coins
5 . Via Rail
Train Tickets from New York to Washington
Station | Departure | Arrival | Price |
Penn Station—Union Station | 12:20 am | 3:57 am | $19 |
Penn Station Union Station | 4:20 am | 8:33 am | $29 |
Penn Station—Union Station | 6:02 am | 10:14 pm | $60 |
Penn Station—Union Station | 8:00 am | 10:58 am | $70 |
Discount Policies
Seniors (above 60 years old) can benefit from a 20% discount offered by Via Rail, making it a cost-effective choice for their travel needs.
Luggage(行李) Allowance and Restriction
Via Rail allows passengers to bring up to four pieces of luggage. Carry-on items must not exceed (超过) 50 pounds and checked luggage must not weigh more than 50 pounds per item.
Passengers are allowed to bring bicycles and sports equipment on Via Rail trains.
Food and Drink Service
Via Rail provides food and drink service for purchase, offering a variety of dining options to passengers.
Payment
Via Rail accepts various payment methods, including credit cards, Interac Online, and pre-paid credit cards. It is advisable to check the website for the most up-to-date information on accept able payment methods.
Facilities for Passengers with Special Needs
Via Rail is committed to providing accessibility for all passengers. The trains are equipped with accessible restrooms, seating areas, and boarding assistance for passengers with mobility issues. Additionally, staff members are trained to assist passengers with disabilities to ensure a comfortable travel experience.
E-ticketing
Via Rail offers the option to use the e-ticketing system, allowing passengers to present their ticket on a mobile device without the need for printing.
1. Which train takes the least time?A.The 12:20 am one. | B.The 4:20 am one. | C.The 6:02 am one. | D.The 8:00 am one. |
A.$60. | B.$96. | C.$112. | D.$120. |
A.It serves food and drink for free. | B.It is developing a new e-ticketing system. |
C.It doesn’t allow sports equipment on board. | D.It provides convenient access to the disabled. |
Xixi, located less than five kilometers from the West Lake in the west of Hangzhou, is China’s first national wetland park. The area covers about 10 square kilometers and it
Wetlands themselves are one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems,
Xixi’s native vegetation,
7 . When my doctor was delivering his speech on statistics and survival rates, those cruel words upset me terribly. He might be telling the truth, but I realized there was a need for a special human
I called my local
As the day approached, I got
Despite the worries, things went
Later, I gave more presentations. I won such great
A.touch | B.interest | C.condition | D.behavior |
A.hesitated | B.decided | C.demanded | D.remembered |
A.hospital | B.authority | C.library | D.charity |
A.recommendation | B.comment | C.announcement | D.reply |
A.explain | B.present | C.teach | D.pass |
A.curious | B.calm | C.unsettled | D.unsatisfied |
A.showed up | B.set off | C.reached out | D.turned around |
A.smoothly | B.constantly | C.randomly | D.secretly |
A.translating | B.predicting | C.recalling | D.imagining |
A.anger | B.agreement | C.confusion | D.anxiety |
A.alive | B.empty | C.athletic | D.weak |
A.lecturer | B.patient | C.audience | D.participant |
A.sympathy | B.fortune | C.recognition | D.inspiration |
A.in place of | B.at the mercy of | C.in spite of | D.on behalf of |
A.difference | B.preparation | C.judgement | D.profit |
8 . Nowadays, the demand on charities is greater than ever.
Have you heard of the Ice Bucket (桶) Challenge? The social media initiative started in the United States and spread around the world, raising $115 million for the research on ALS (渐冻症) — a disease which Hawking suffered from. You take a video of yourself dumping (倾倒) a bucket of ice water over your head, and then encourage three more people to do the same.
Manju Kalanidhi, a journalist in India, thought it was an amazing way to raise awareness of ALS and raise funds for its research.
“
Manju didn’t have a big army of volunteers, but she did have donations and people who need food.
A.But it didn’t make sense in her country. |
B.In such a novel way, she put them together successfully. |
C.The rate of giving has increased among the wealthiest nations. |
D.I gave a bucket of rice to someone in need and clicked a photo. |
E.Luckily, the world never goes short of kind and creative souls. |
F.This has been making it so easy to motivate people to give back. |
G.The participant donates $100 if they don’t complete the challenge. |
9 . We tend to think of large cities as melting pots — places where people from all sorts of backgrounds can mix and interact. But according to new research, people in big cities tend to primarily interact with other individuals in the same socioeconomic bracket (阶层), but people in small cities and rural areas are much more likely to have diverse interactions.
The researchers used GPS data collected in 2017 from 9.6 million cellphones across 382 metropolitan (大都市的) areas in the United States to determine how often people of different socioeconomic ranks crossed paths during the day — essentially how many times people had the opportunity to interact, even briefly, with someone in a different income bracket. They collected data on almost 1.6 billion path-crossings.
This large amount of extremely precise data allowed the researchers to see what has been missed by similar studies in the past. People living in the 10 most populous metropolitan areas, which include cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, along with their surrounding areas, were significantly less likely to interact with people of different socioeconomic ranks than people in metropolitan areas with fewer than 100,000 residents.
The good news is that there are ways to build cities to promote more socioeconomic mixing. Looking at large cities, the researchers found that those that placed frequently-visited hubs (中心) in between different neighborhoods — instead of in the center of each neighborhood — were less separated.
“These big cities have managed to develop diverse interactions because the hubs that people visit the most — which turn out to be shopping centers, squares, and similar places — are between rich and poor neighborhoods,” said Hamed Nilforoshan, a doctoral researcher at Stanford University. “Those hubs act as bridges, allowing people to see each other and interact.”
1. What might be a conclusion of the new research?A.Urban residents interact more. | B.Large cities act as melting pots. |
C.Urbanization leads to different social ranks. | D.Big cities showcase socioeconomic separation. |
A.By bridging the income brackets. | B.By studying the frequency of interaction. |
C.By comparing residents’ behavior patterns. | D.By collecting data on people’s social ranks. |
A.Position the hubs properly. | B.Construct more shopping centers. |
C.Control the urban expansion. | D.Design unique residential neighborhoods. |
A.Income Bracket: What to Do with It? | B.Diverse Interactions Count in Big Cities |
C.Socioeconomic Separation: How to Fix It? | D.Metropolitan Cities Are Great Melting Pots |
10 . When scientists and the public worry about sea level rise, they mostly focus on when and where communities will be permanently flooded. But there’s another consequence of rising seas that will affect many more people much sooner: getting cut off from roads and other critical infrastructure (基础设施). It’s a threat that society has not paid nearly enough attention to, says Allison Reilly, a civil engineer at the University of Maryland.
In a new paper, Reilly and her colleagues show the width and pace of the isolation (隔离) threat. Inspired by her work on the eastern shore of Maryland, where people already need to adjust their travel and work schedules to account for tides that frequently flood roads, Reilly and her colleagues calculated that, with one meter of sea level rise, twice as many people across the coastal United States will be isolated than will be fully flooded.
Worse still, many places currently considered at low risk of sea level rise suddenly become much riskier when isolation is taken into account, Reilly says. While planners know that low-lying Florida will be severely flooded, Maine, with its high rocky coasts, is generally thought to be at low risk. But Reilly’s work shows many Mainers are in great danger of being cut off by flooding in coastal communities and river valleys.
This far more immediate effect of rising seas needs to become part of the broader planning process. That kind of planning is starting to happen around the Chignecto Isthmus, an interprovincial land bridge in Canada, connecting New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The New Brunswick and Nova Scotia governments are considering a variety of plans to raise or replace the dikes (坝). For Ollerhead, a Nova Scotian, that work can’t start soon enough. “It will take a lot of sea level rise before Nova Scotia becomes an island, but you could have a storm that cuts off the major transportation links for days, weeks, or months,” he says. “It’s nearly impossible to predict when, but it will happen eventually.”
1. What is the threat Allison Reilly mentioned in paragraph 1?A.The rising sea level. | B.Flood-related isolation. |
C.Permanent flooded areas. | D.Irreparable infrastructure. |
A.Conclusions of a new paper. | B.Calculations of collected data. |
C.Situations of Eastern Maryland. | D.Influences on coastal United States. |
A.To clarify a point. | B.To offer a solution. |
C.To present an assumption. | D.To illustrate a reason. |
A.Dismissive. | B.Doubtful. | C.Favorable. | D.Unclear. |