1 . Working with ARIA Research, a startup developing vision for the blind, Phoebe Peng is using technologically advanced human echolocation (回声定位) that enables blind users to perceive their surroundings in precise detail.
The process uses event cameras which, unlike normal cameras that take complete images of a scene, track changes in an image over time, making them ideal for the observation of small objects like table tennis balls. The images are then processed into sound using a specialised algorithm (算法). This is then communicated back to the player via a lot of loudspeakers, ultimately with the aim of allowing players to track the ball and movements using sounds.
According to Peng, table tennis makes a perfect test case for the kind of technology being developed by ARIA Research. “Table tennis has been played for decades as a more accessible version of tennis. The sport is beginner-friendly while maintaining a rich level of competitive play. However, like many sports, it remains difficult for people who suffer vision loss or have low vision,” said Ms Peng, who will soon complete a Bachelor of Engineering in Software Engineering.
“The small size of the ball and table, along with the movement of the ball in 3D space, are things that make table tennis difficult to play for those with low vision and complete blindness,” said Peng, who is completing the work for her degree. “Making this sport more accessible while also exploring the potential of event cameras were my two biggest motivators,” she said.
In one study, using two perfectly positioned cameras, Ms Peng was able to identify and track a ball in three dimensions in real time. She then fed that data into an algorithm controlling the loudspeakers standing along the sides of the table, which created a sound field matching the position of the ball.
While the results are promising, more experimentation will be needed before the system will be ready for actual play. “There are limitations on how accurately people can perceive sound localisation. What type of sound should be used? Should the sound be continuous? This is what we’ll be tackling in the next stage of development,” said Ms Peng.
1. How are event cameras different from normal ones?| A．They can have sounds located. |
| B．They are linked with loudspeakers. |
| C．They constantly follow image changes. |
| D．They take complete images of a scene. |
| A．Its unique feature. | B．Its fierce competition. |
| C．Its technical complexity. | D．Its beginner-friendliness. |
| A．Its inspiring results. | B．Its promising future. |
| C．Its practical applications. | D．Its technological challenge. |
| A．Technology Opens up Blind Table Tennis |
| B．Blind People Work Wonders in Table Tennis |
| C．Event Camera Reshapes Future for the Disabled |
| D．Algorithm Helps Translate Imagination to Sound |
1. 问题描述；
2. 相应建议。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，使内容充实，行文连贯。
Dear Mr. Wang,
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Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
注意： 1. 续写词数应为150左右； 2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
She was the prettiest puppy we had ever seen, and the whole family immediately fell in love with her. We named her Onyx because of her black, shiny black coat. She spent her first vacation with us when she was only ten weeks old and had her first bath and swim in the St. Lawrence River. We had no clue that this amazing little ball of fur would end up being our hero.
As she grew older, Onyx became more and more involved in our family activities. On hot summer days, Onyx enjoyed floating on the river with us in her own rubber tube (橡皮圈). Amazingly standing on the top of the tube, she smiled while showing off her perfect balance. Resting her front legs and paws over the edge of the rubber tube, she kept her eyes shut as she floated until she’d had enough of the warm sun on her black coat.
One day, our eighteen-year-old daughter, Margie, announced she was going to swim across the bay. No one in the family was free to go swimming with her. The unwritten rules, regardless of swimming ability, was to have a companion in the water with you, especially when swimming the width of the bay. I was not a good swimmer, so I said to Margie, “Take Onyx with you.” Having heard her name, Onyx woke up from a nap and was ready for action. Margie signed the dog to follow her. Onyx ran to the water next to her. They entered the freezing river together and swam side by side across the bay.
I watched from the bank as they reached the sandbar (沙洲) on the far shore. They rested a few minutes before diving into the water for the return trip. I felt uneasy for some reason and continued to watch the pair swim side by side.
Suddenly I heard Margie calling out, “I have a cram (痉挛) in the leg! ”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Seeing the pair approaching the riverbank, I breathed a sigh of relief.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________More than 20 hours earlier, my friend Emma and I had stood at the entrance to the cave. We laughed and joked as I climbed down the steep mouth and she followed. Six of us had gone on that camping trip, but after a full day of exploring caves, the others had gone back to the campsite to eat. Emma and I decided to explore one more cave.
The mud of the cave floor was soft and sticky as we snaked our way through the tunnel. The air was damp and heavy. As the passage twisted through the earth, it became smaller. Then, suddenly, after a tight squeeze, I came into a larger room.
“Once you make it past this narrow spot you can almost stand,” I told Emma, as I stretched out my arms and legs and enjoyed the big space. “Alright, I’m almost th...” Emma’s sentence was cut short. I turned around. “Are you alright?” I asked. All I could see was her face, and her eyes were full of fear. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I’m stuck.”
Emma and I tried everything we could to free her. But it became apparent that we needed help. I took out my cell phone to call my other four friends, but there was no signal. I couldn’t go to seek help because Emma was stuck between me and the cave mouth. That was why we were so relieved when we heard voices behind us. A beam of light shot down the tunnel.
“What’s going on here?” rang a young man’s voice. “We need help,” I shouted. “She’s stuck.” “I’ve got two buddies with me,” he said. “They can go to find a park ranger (公园管理员), but I’ll stay here and see if I can help from this side.”
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
The next several hours were long and arduous (艰难的).
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Almost five hours after we had entered the cave, the rescue team arrived.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . Placed before you are two pots. Each contains 100 balls. You are given a clear description of the first pot’s contents, in which there are 50 red balls and 50 black balls. The economist running the experiment is tight-lipped about the second, saying only that there are 100 balls divided between red and black in some percentage. Then you are offered a choice. Pick a red ball from a pot and you will get a million dollars. Which pot would you like to pull from? Now try again, but select a black ball. Which pot this time? Most people choose the first pot both times, despite such a choice implying that there are both more and fewer red balls than in the second pot.
This fact is known as the Ellsberg paradox after Daniel Ellsberg, who called the behaviour hate uncertainty. It reveals a deeper problem facing the world as it struggles with climate change.
Ignorance of the future carries a cost today: uncertainty makes risks uninsurable, or at the very least expensive. The less insurers know about risks, the more capital they need to protect their balance-sheets against possible losses.
Insurance is a tool of climate adaptation. Indeed, insurance calculators have as big a role to play as activists in the fight against climate change. Without insurance, those whose homes burn in a wildfire or are destroyed by a flood will lose everything. Insurance can also be a motive for corrective action. Higher insurance expenses, which accurately reflect risk, stimulate people to adapt sooner, whether by discouraging building in risky areas or encouraging people to move away from high fire risk land. If prices are wrong, society will be more hurt by a hotter world than otherwise would be the case. Politicians considering financial aid for home insurance on flood plains ought to note.
1. The experiment of the two pots shows that ___________.| A．instinct sometimes works better than reasoning | B．most people prefer predictability to uncertainty |
| C．people are willing to take risks to get a reward | D．it is impossible to always make the right decision |
| A．It raises people’s awareness of climate change. | B．It prevents people from taking risks. |
| C．It motivates people to adapt to risky environment. | D．It helps climate refugees to relocate. |
| A．Opposing | B．Supportive | C．Uncertain | D．Ambiguous |
| A．Prevention is better than remedy | B．Improving forecast can reduce uncertainty |
| C．Uncertainty pushes up the price of insurance | D．Speedy action is urgently needed for climate change |
Jenny was the only child in her family. She had a quarrel (吵架) with her mother that afternoon and she ran out of the house angrily. She couldn’t help weeping sorrowfully when she thought of the scolding from her mother. Having wandered aimlessly in the street for hours, she felt a little hungry and wished for something to eat. She stood beside a stand (货摊) for a while, watching the middle-aged seller busy doing his business. However, with no money in hand, she gave a sigh and had to leave.
The seller behind the stand noticed the young girl and asked, “Hey, girl, you want to have the noodles?”
“Oh, yes, but I don’t have money on me.” she replied.
“That’s nothing. I’ll treat you today,” said the man, “Come in.”
The seller brought her a bowl of noodles, whose smell was so attractive. As she was eating, Jenny cried silently.
“What is it?” asked the man kindly.
“Nothing. Actually, I was just touched by your kindness!” said Jenny as she wiped her tears. “Even a stranger on the street will give me a bowl of noodles, while my mother drove me out of the house. She showed no care for me. She is so merciless compared to a stranger!”
Hearing the words, the seller smiled, “Girl, do you really think so? I only gave you a bowl of noodles and you thanked me a lot. But it is your mother who has raised you since you were a baby. Can you remember the times she cooked for you? Have you expressed your gratitude to her?”
Jenny sat there, speechless and numb with shock: she remembered her mother’s familiar face and weathered hands. “Why didn’t I think of that? A bowl of noodles from a stranger made me feel grateful. Why haven’t I thanked my mum for what she has done for me?”
On the way home. Jenny made up her mind to make an apology to her mother for her rudeness as soon as she arrived home.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Nearing the doorway, Jenny took a deep breath.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At that time, her mother came back and touched her hair gently, which called her mind back.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Last summer vacation, I traveled to Sanya in Hainan, China. When my dad told me one of the items on the journey would be one of the highest water slides (水上滑梯) in Asia, I asked my dad repeatedly whether I could stay at home. But my dad said that I would love it and we should go together.
Three days later, I was standing in front of that water slide in Atlantics Waterpark. The slide was located in a building. When I looked up at the tens of thousands of stairs leading to the peak of the building, I thought to myself, “If I fall from that place, I will definitely die.”
As we started climbing the stairs, I saw three words on the wall: Leap of Faith. I had never heard of these words, and at that time they reminded me of Road to Death. Five meters, ten meters ... I looked down and thought, “I am going to die today.” Fifteen meters, twenty meters ... I thought about the many things I hadn’t done and asked my dad whether I had life insurance. Twenty-five meters, thirty meters ... and we were finally at the top, ready to jump into the slide. I looked at the three people next to me and thought, “These are the last three people I will see in my life.”
Suddenly, the teenage boy ahead of me stopped in front of the slide and turned around, “Look down there. If we fall into the shark tank, we will be eaten by those hungry sharks.” We all paused and looked down at the shark tank above the slide tunnel. Just then, a younger boy next to me said, “Excuse me, if you don’t want to go now, I will go first.” Then he walked past the teenage boy and me and jumped into the slide, disappearing in an instant.
My father said to me jokingly, “Look, that boy is not even half of your height. Come on, Selina. You can do it.” The teenager turned and stared at me too, “Now, you go first.”
Paragraph 1:With a deep breath, I stepped closer to the edge of the slide.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2：
A moment later, my father came down.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was in the afternoon before the end of the Second World War that Antonio Black, who was twelve, caught sight of a beautiful brooch (胸针) in a shop window. The brooch is so beautiful that he was unwilling to leave the store until he had purchased it. But it was too expensive — $5. His family was very poor and his parents struggled to make ends meet. Five dollars would buy almost a week’s food for his family.
Antonio couldn’t ask his father for the money. Everything his father made through fishing went to his mother, Susan. Slim and beautiful, his mother was the center of the home and the glue that held it together. The housework was never-ending, and she struggled to feed and clothe their five children, but she was happy as her family and their well-being were all she cared about.
Nevertheless, he opened the shop’s door and went inside. Standing proudly and straight in his flour-sack (面粉袋改做的) shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, “But I don’t have the money right now. Can you please hold it for me for some time?”
“I’ll try,” the shopkeeper smiled. “People around here don’t usually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while.”
Antonio respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out. He would raise the money and not tell anybody, for he thought Mum would be surprised when she saw that brooch. On hearing the sound of hammering (锤打) from a side street, Antonio suddenly had an idea that he could raise money by selling the used nail bags. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts, using nails bought in bags from a local factory. Sometimes the used bags were thrown away at the construction site, and Antonio knew he could sell them back to the factory for five cents a piece. That day he sold two nail bags and hid the money in a rusty soda tin.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Every day after school, Antonio started his plan.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The day finally came!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________9 . While Huawei’s official website does not call Mate 60 Pro a 5G smartphone, the phone’s wideband capabilities are on par with other 5G smartphones, raising a related question: As a leader in 5G technology, has Huawei managed to develop a 5G smartphone on its own?
The answer is not simple. Huawei, as a pioneer in global 5G communication equipment, has played a leading role in the commercialization of 5G technology, with its strong system design and fields such as baseband chips (基带芯片), baseband processors and 5G modems.
However, basebands and modems are not the only aspects that define 5G wireless communication. The stability and high-quality signals of a 5G smartphone also depend on other critical components such as RF transceivers (射频收发器) and RF front ends and antennas (天线) . These components are largely dominated by four US high-tech giants—Qualcomm, Avago Technologies, Ansem and Qorvo—which account for a surprising global market share.
Huawei has faced significant challenges in getting critical components because of the sanctions imposed by the United States which are primarily responsible for the inability of the Chinese company to launch 5G smartphones in the past three years. However, Mate 60 Pro, despite not being labeled a 5G device, exhibits mobile network speeds comparable to Apple’s latest 5G-enabled devices, offering a stable communication experience. This suggests Huawei has, over the past three years, overcome the 5G development and production limits due to the US sanctions by cooperating with domestic partners, and establishing an independent and controllable stable supply chain.
Considering that Huawei has not explicitly marketed this device as a 5G smartphone, it is possible that it is yet to fully overcome some key core technological and componential shortcomings. For the time being, we can consider Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro as 4.99G. But when combined with the satellite communication capabilities of Mate 60 Pro, it is clear Huawei has been trying to find more advanced wireless communication solutions for smartphones and making significant progress in this attempt. This should be recognized as a remarkable endeavor, even a breakthrough.
1. What do the underlined words “on par with” mean in Paragraph 1?| A．as poor as. | B．as good as. | C．worse than. | D．better than. |
| A．Its system design and fields needed to be updated. |
| B．It only focused on the commercialization of 5G technology. |
| C．It was unwilling to cooperate with high-tech giants in America. |
| D．It lacked critical components mainly controlled by US high-tech giants. |
| A．The US sanctions. | B．Critical components. |
| C．Apple’s latest 5G-enabled devices. | D．Progress in Mate 60 Pro. |
| A．Huawei faced with significant challenges |
| B．Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro—a 5G smartphone |
| C．Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro—a remarkable breakthrough |
| D．Huawei leading in global 5G communication equipment |
Okay. I’ll admit it. I can be a complainer. After all, there’s so much in my life that annoys me: my school work, my brother’s dirty shoes, the neighbor’s loud music, rainy days, traffic jams…
Complaining is what I have developed since childhood. My family doesn’t seem to mind. Mom always tries to excuse my behavior as something that I would outgrow, but I do remember some eye-rolling and long-drawn sighs from friends and families when I would voice my negative opinions. In fact, I can clearly recall the exact moment when I first realized my complaining habit deeply hurt people around.
I had a generally pleasant high school life with my usually mild-mannered deskmate Lucy in Senior 2. Sure, there was still plenty to complain about, but she never seemed to mind. Or so I thought. Then, on a hot summer afternoon, we sat in our classroom - no wind, no air conditioning, the sweat messing my hair. Impatiently, I whispered something about the situation under my breath. Probably for the tenth time. Also, I reminded her once again to remove her arms from my table and take her books away, she put up her hand, turned to me and shouted, “Stop! Stop your complaining. It’s driving me crazy.” Her eyes widened. Turning away, she didn’t speak to me for the rest of the day.
Perhaps I’d gone too far, I thought. Maybe I really did complain too much. I took a breath and sat down to think about solutions. I could hide myself in the washing room and scream. No. Other students would probably hear me. Turn to teachers or my family? They probably wouldn’t mind as well. Then it hit me.
I’d been in the habit of keeping a journal. Journaling kept me sort of honest with myself, and I liked it for that reason. Perhaps, I thought, a complaint journal might be the answer I was seeking.
注意:
1. 续写词数应为150 左右；
2. 请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
That night, I sat down in front my desk and gave it a try.
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I made up my mind to apologize to Lucy the next day.
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