1 . Ekaterina Sky is a wildlife conservation (保护)artist. She began her art journey at the School of Fine Arts in Yaroslavl, Russia. There, she completed a fine arts program, which gave her the background she needed to become a conservation artist. She also received a scholarship to the Art School of Museum of Tel-Aviv. There, she expanded upon her knowledge and skills, learning to create her own unique style. She combined her love for animals and art to create the works we see today.
Ekaterina painted pictures at wildlife reserves and rescue centers, in high schools and in visitors’centers. She painted a piece for the Burning Man festival, choosing to paint primates(灵长类动物的)eyes since they are closely related to humans. This piece gave her the confidence to start a world tour, as she had never painted a picture that size before.
Ekaterina went on a tour to different countries worldwide, painting pictures of various endangered species. She hoped that her paintings would encourage viewers to look deeply into their own lifestyles and question how they might harm animals. She said, “We all can make a difference if we look at ourselves as a small piece of a greater whole.”
With each picture, she made the audience look directly into the animals’ eyes. She painted pictures to encourage people to show more compassion and care to animals and raise awareness of the importance of efforts in wildlife conservation. “As I believe, we connect through our eyes, which are windows into our soul, and I believe that when we get to meet someone’s soul, we don’t have a heart to hurt them,” she said.
1. What does paragraph 1 mainly tell us about Ekaterina Sky?| A．Her art works. | B．Her unique drawing skills. |
| C．Her love for animals. | D．Her road to a conservation artist. |
| A．The painting gave her confidence. | B．Primates are closely related to humans. |
| C．She’d like to make more money. | D．She wanted to expand on her skills. |
| A．Pity. | B．Blame. | C．Motivation. | D．Gratefulness. |
| A．Reducing garbage thrown by tourists. | B．Introducing various animals worldwide. |
| C．Drawing attention to endangered animals. | D．Advertising the school she graduated from. |
2 . It’s well-known that facial recognition is widely used in shopping, home security, and law enforcement and millions of us use it to open our smartphones. But privacy advocates are raising alarms about the growing use of facial recognition technology.
The American administration recently proposed a rule to use facial recognition to identify and photograph all people entering and leaving the United States, including American citizens. That idea was scrapped after big objections from lawmakers and activists, but the administration is moving ahead with more limited use of the technology in a number of airports and other ports of entry say it makes the public safer and so far, they’ve had very few complaints from travelers.
However, a growing number of, both in and out of the government, say any type of facial recognition is just like illegal surveillance (监视). They say it exchanges too much freedom for too little security. Many note that once the government has a database of Americans with their photographs, there’s no telling what it could be used for. Beyond the privacy concerns, security experts are also worried that a huge government database could be a major target for a data breach (数据泄露). Some say it could give hackers access to data from millions of Americans.
Mike Howell, a former consultant of the Department of Homeland Security, suggests a possible solution: simply erase the information after it used. “The big question for,” says Howell, “is how the government largely will protect the data. We want the data we collect to keep us safe from threats, not to, you know, make unsafe. “Finally, the administration may have the final say on the future of facial recognition, with more regulations being advised to keep it in check.”
1. What does the underlined word “scrapped” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Abandoned. | B．Expressed. |
| C．Considered. | D．Updated. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Concerned. |
| C．Flexible. | D．Tolerant. |
| A．Exchange much security for some freedom. |
| B．Protect the privacy related to facial recognition. |
| C．Introduce some laws to stop data breaches. |
| D．Stop using facial recognition in shopping. |
| A．Facial recognition is actually a double-edged sword. |
| B．The American administration is advised to use facial recognition. |
| C．It is urgent for the government to stop using facial recognition. |
| D．There are alarms about growing use of facial recognition. |
