18-year-old Paul often visited his 80-year-old grandma Edith. He’d start his day early and leave for his grandma’s house first in the morning.
Because his family was poor, Paul walked nearly six miles daily to see Edith, bringing her breakfast and chatting with her. Edith lived alone and didn’t want to move out of her beloved house to live with Paul’s family.
She was touched by Paul’s care for her. And she decided she’d pass her house and heirloom(传家宝)jewelry down to him when she died.
Sixty-year-old Stephen was Edith’s neighbour. Whenever he saw Paul came, he’d sit silently near his motorbike in his yard and listen to them chatting joyfully. It often reminded him of his only grandchild, who was lost in an accident with his parents on his birthday. After that, Stephen lived alone. He felt an unusual affection for Paul.
One day, on his way to Edith’s house, Paul saw Stephen struggling to move his motorbike. He rushed to help him. “Thank you,son,” Stephen said. “Do you live nearby? I often see you here.”
After Paul explained, Stephen was shocked that Paul would walk so far daily. Then Stephen took out the keys to the motorbike, which he had planned to give to his grandchild as a birthday gift. “Here! I was planning to sell it. Now, I decide to give it to you for free,” Stephen said. Paul refused, but he insisted.
Paul gratefully took the keys and further chatted with Stephen. He learned Stephen lived a poor life and made a living by driving tourists around using his own car. The car was old. He guessed it would be useless in a year or two.
After chatting, Paul went to visit his grandmother. When he left, he waved at Stephen as he rode past his house. The following day, Paul reached Edith’s house earlier by motorbike. He was shocked when finding his grandma lying on the floor in a dead faint. He immediately called an ambulance.
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。
“If you had arrived five minutes late, you could have lost her,” the doctor told Paul.
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Days later, Paul bought Stephen a new car by selling the jewelry from his late grandma.
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When Someone Believes in You
When Marco was a boy, he tried everything to get his father’s love and attention. He worked hard to earn excellent marks; he tried to be obedient (顺从的), he chose inspiring friends and always tried to behave well.
Sensitive and shy, he always wore turtleneck shirts. He hid behind his hair, which he wore long around his face and ears. To make it worse, Marco was naturally shorter than the other kids. And because his good marks had allowed him to skip second grade — he was younger than everyone else. This added nothing to his already low self-confidence.
When Marco was eight his parents divorced, and Marco was sent to a boarding school. Six years later, he and his young sister Sandra moved in with their dad and his new wife in St-Léonard, a French Canadian and Italian neighbourhood on the east side of Montreal. Between his work and his new young wife, it felt to Marco that his father had little time for him and Sandra. Except for his demands around housework after school, there was no communication. It seemed to Marco the only time his dad ever spoke to him was to be demanding or critical. But his dad really did love him and wanted the best for him. It was his own insecurity that made him react to anything that might threaten his son’s future.
Marco sank further into his low self-respect and was overwhelmed with feeling unappreciated, inadequate, depressed and confused. He felt desperately alone and lonely. He began to fear coming home from school every day.
One day, his aunt called him. To Marco, this seemed like a miracle. Aunt Ginette usually only called once a year, on his birthday. She said she had just seen some young teenagers participate in a public speaking contest called Gala Personnalité sponsored by Club Optimiste — and she thought about him. She thought he should give it a try. She told him she firmly believed he could perform on stage like the other kids, since she had seen him do skits (小品) for the family at Christmas.
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。
Him? On stage? In a public speaking contest?
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Four months later, the big night arrived.
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“Why are we bringing groceries for Mrs. Killinger?” Bobby asked his mother, Anna, as they walked back from the supermarket with a few extra bags for their elderly neighbor. He enjoyed helping his mother with these tasks, but they had never bought anything for any neighbor before.
“Honey, Mrs. Killinger is now having trouble walking around, so I offered to bring some things from the market,” Anna explained as they climbed up the wooden steps to Mrs. Killinger’s house and rang the doorbell.
“Ok, but she could get a wheelchair and move around,” the boy commented as if it was the most straightforward solution in the world.
“You know, Bobby. Mrs. Killinger doesn’t have the money to buy one right now.
They can get expensive.” Anna explained, and Bobby pursed his lips in thought.
Mrs.Killinger answered the door, smiled, and invited them for some coffee and cookies. Bobby noticed how slowly she moved, and an idea formed in his mind. He told the older woman and his mother all about it, and they grinned at him indulgently (宽容地笑).Neither of them thought Bobby would do it.
That’s why Anna was surprised the following day when Bobby had made several ads. “Mom, can you add your phone number here, so people can call me with work?”
“Oh, honey. This is very sweet. But I don’t know if it’ll be enough to raise the money she needs to buy a wheelchair,” Anna explained. She loved that her son had such a big heart, but he didn’t want him to be heartbroken if no one called or he couldn’t raise the money.
“Well，at least，I can say that I tried to help，” Bobby chirped (欢快地说)with his bright smile and eager eyes. Anna nodded and added her phone number to the ads. In his ad, Bobby offered his “services” which included helping with shopping, mowing lawns, keeping company, and walking dogs. He also left the price of his services, which made Anna smile. He honestly just wanted to help.
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。
Anna helped him put up the ads around the neighborhood.
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Two weeks later, Bobby still hadn’t raise the amount of money he wanted.
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4 . In a new study, Iowa Psychologist Ed Wasserman gave the pigeons complex categorization tests that high-level thinking would not aid in solving. Instead, the pigeons, by trial and error, eventually were able to memorize enough situations in the test. This basic process of making associations — considered a lower-level thinking technique — is the same between the test-taking pigeons and the latest AI advances.
The researchers sought to figure out two types of learning: one declarative learning, is based on exercising reason according to a set of rules or strategies — a so-called higher level of learning owned mostly by people. The other, associative learning, centers on recognizing and making connections between objects or patterns, such as “sky-blue” and “water-wet. ”
Wasserman’s team designed a difficult test to find out whether the pigeons use declarative or associative learning. Each test pigeon was shown a stimulus (刺激)and had to decide, by pecking (啄) a button on the right or on the left, to which category that stimulus belonged. What made the test so demanding was that no rules or logic would help finish the task. They have to memorize the individual stimuli or regions from where the stimuli occur. Over hundreds of tests, the four test pigeons eventually upped their score from 50% to an average of 68% right.
“The pigeons are like AI masters” Wasserman says. “Both of them employ associative learning, and yet that base-level thinking is what allowed the pigeons to ultimately score successfully.” If people were to take the same test, they’d score poorly and would probably give up because they rely so heavily on rules or strategies. Those rules would get in the way of learning. The pigeon doesn’t have that high-level thinking process. But it doesn’t get in the way of their learning. In fact, in some ways it facilitates it.
“People are stunned by AI doing amazing things using a learning algorithm (算法) much like the pigeon,” Wasserman says, “yet when people talk about associative learning in humans and animals, it is discounted as inflexible and uncomplicated. ”
1. Which of the following is a typical example of associative learning ?| A．Tom refuses to put hands on hot stoves after burns. |
| B．Dolphins detect obstacles using sound waves. |
| C．Chimpanzees use physical gesture strategies. |
| D．Emily figures out math problems with logic. |
| A．By pecking the stimuli. |
| B．By finding rule or logic. |
| C．By competing with each other. |
| D．By making numerous attempts. |
| A．AI and man use the same learning pattern. |
| B．Associative learning is underestimated. |
| C．People think highly of declarative learning. |
| D．Pigeons finish tasks with AI algorithms. |
| A．Pigeon’s Peck Can Mirror High Tech |
| B．AI Contributes to a New Learning Pattern |
| C．AI Can Enrich Human Learning Experience |
| D．Pigeon’s Learning Largely Extends High Tech |
At the age of 17, I formed a band with three classmates. After we won the first prize at our school’s talent show, we decided to see if we could get some local performances. When we found out we’d gotten booked for a charitable event at a large hospital, we were excited. For two weeks, we practiced hard, getting together every day after school to sharpen our skills and learn enough songs to fill a one-hour show.
On the day of the concert, we showed up early to check out the stage. We set up and did a quick sound check, then went backstage to have a soda and rest. While we were back there, the hospital’s entertainment director came over to talk to us.
“Okay, boys, I just want to fill you in on a couple of important details,” she told us. “A lot of the people in the audience are suffering from severe physical or mental disabilities. Also, many of them are very old. Don’t let that alarm you. They have very few chances to see live entertainment of any kind, so they enjoy any kind of musical talent. Just play your regular show, and you’ll do fine.” With that, she left, going to help the volunteers and staff that were assisting the patients to their seats.
Soon enough, it was showtime. Everything was perfect, and we played probably the best show of our lives. We hardly missed a note on any of our songs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t enjoy our performance. As each song finished, there was a short pause. This was the time when the audience would normally applaud. Now, we were getting nothing. Zero. The deafening silence only made us more determined to win the audience over. We tried harder. Loud songs, soft songs, it made no difference. After forty-five minutes, we decided to end our set early. Why bother finishing when no one was appreciating us anyway? We unplugged (拔去) our instruments and went backstage.
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。
A moment later, the entertainment director ran back to us.
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Returning to the stage, we played our final three songs.
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Every night as the whole family fell asleep, Catalina would slide from home to the Cerro Tololo observatory (天文台). Papa was the mechanic (修理工) of the observatory, but during the day Papa would not allow her to get closer to the telescopes there. Only at night, Catalina was allowed in with the permission of the night staff.
Catalina loved helping to service the grand telescopes, the eyes that looked out into the universe. She wanted badly to be an astronomer someday. Adults never took her dream seriously. Even her father laughed, “Maybe you’ll be hired to clean the offices.”
One day in library, Catalina was reading a plant journal when she stopped at the picture of an unusual white flower. “It’s called wild carrot. “ A Spanish astronomer, who she saw several times in the observatory, stood behind her. “Pretty, isn’t it? I’ve always liked that flower, because it looks like a galaxy.”
“A spiral galaxy (漩涡星系),” she whispered. Blond eyebrows climbed the scientist’s forehead. “Indeed. And what is your name, young lady?” he asked.
”I’m Catalina Solis.”
“Eduardo Solis’s daughter? The mechanic?”
“Yes.” She gave a look at him. “I want to be an astronomer when I grow up.”
He laughed kindly, no longer meeting her eyes, and patted her on the shoulder. “Yes, of course, my dear. Work hard in school, and it could happen.”
One evening, Catalina eye scanned the top of the observatory as usual. Suddenly she noticed the angle of the one-meter telescope was unusual. The telescope was pointed down, lower than she had ever seen it. Catalina learned from I Papa how dangerous it would be. If left like it was, the telescope would move past its limit and be damaged. So without hesitation she got inside the observatory.
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 saw the Spanish scientist buried in work there.
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The scientist’s words meant a lot to her.
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7 . In August, Jason M. Allen’s piece “Theatre D’opéra Spatial” — which he created with Al image generator Midjourney — won first place in the emerging artist division’s “digital arts photography” category at the Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Competition. The definition for the category states that digital art refers to works that use “digital technology as part of the creative process”.
Allen’s award-winning image has led to debates about what, exactly, it means to be an artist and whether AI can truly make art. “It felt bad for the exact same reason we don’t let robots participate in the Olympics,” one Twitter user wrote. “This is the literal definition of ‘pressed a few buttons to make a digital art piece’,” another tweeted.
Yet while Allen didn’t use a paintbrush, there was plenty of work involved, he said. First, he played around with phrasing that led Midjourney to generate images of women in elegant dresses and space helmets, in an attempt to mix Victorian-style costuming with space themes. Over time, with many slight changes to his written prompt (提示符), he created 900 different versions of what led to his final image. Then he improved its resolution through Gigapixel AI and finally had the images printed.
Allen is glad the debate over whether AI can be used to make art is attracting so much attention. “Rather than hating on the technology, we need to recognize that it’s a powerful tool and use it for good so we can all move forward,” Allen said.
Cal Duran, one of the judges for the competition, said that while Allen’s piece included a mention of AI, he didn’t realize that when judging it. Still, he sticks by his decision to award it first place. “I think the AI technology may give more opportunities to people who may not find themselves artists in the conventional way,” he said.
1. Why has Jason’s work led to debates?| A．It was a copy of a photograph. |
| B．He challenged the older artists. |
| C．It was created with the help of AI. |
| D．He broke the rule of the competition. |
| A．Cooperative. |
| B．Energy-consuming. |
| C．Straightforward. |
| D．Imagination-lacking. |
| A．It is a double-edged sword. |
| B．It attracts conventional artists. |
| C．It strikes art judges as no surprise. |
| D．It may open a new world to artists. |
| A．A trend to be AI artists. |
| B．An AI-generated art contest. |
| C．Responses to a winning AI artwork. |
| D．Curiosity about an image generator. |
It was February 21, the International Mother Language Day, a day to celebrate language and cultural diversity. At the end of the day, Mr. Brown gave us an assignment: “All of you are to make a presentation about your native language.” Max, whose family came from France and I, who was born in China, were chosen to be the first two presenters. However, both of us were at a loss, wondering what should be talked about. Needless to say, there were many questions about what he meant. What should be talked about? How many sentences are needed? What format? Do we need to write down everything?
On the way home from school. Max and I scratched (抓) our heads, trying to figure out the meaning of Mr. Brown’s assignment. At first, we thought he was just giving an assignment to get us back into the habit of homework. We also wondered if it had more to do with how we presented to our classmates. Eventually, we both decided we would impress Mr. Brown and the class with some unique answers.
The next day, Max started his presentation by asking the class a question: “Is café an English word?” Some of the students nodded while a few shook their heads. Max continued with a smile and told the class that “cafe” actually came from French. “As one of the most spoken languages in the whole world, French has a charm of its own!” Max said. He instructed the class as if he were a university professor: “It is said that about 45% of the modern English words came from French. ” After writing some common French words on the blackboard, he began to teach the class how to pronounce them. Everyone, including Mr. Brown, applauded when he was done, I clapped along, excited and nervous about my following presentation.
注意：1. 写作词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I was ready to do some fun activities with the class.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mr. Brown was totally pleased with our presentations.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________9 . A United Airlines flight from Chicago to Washington D.C. made a bit of aviation (航空) history last December, completing a 600-mile trip that the airline hopes will prove the first leg of a journey to a greener future.
In a first, one of the two engines on the 737 Max 8 was powered entirely by fuel made from used cooking oil and waste fat from beef, pork and chicken. Refined (提炼) at a Southern California plant, the fuel produces about 80% less emissions (排放) than conventional aviation fuel. Biofuel had been mixed with conventional fuel in the past, but United Airlines said it had never been used by itself in the engine of a commercial flight.
The Chicago carrier made the flight to show the progress it has made toward its goal of getting rid of greenhouse gas emissions by2050. It’s a goal shared by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
For now, the biggest challenge is producing enough low-emission, sustainable aviation fuel that can be used in existing commercial planes without adjustment to power the world’s airlines. The world’s refineries now produce about 26.4 million gallons of low-emission, sustainable aviation fuel a year. That is only a tiny part of the 18.3 billion gallons of fuel burned by U.S. carriers alone in 2019.
“There is no question there is a challenge,” Gene Gebolys, chief executive of World Energy, a Boston biofuel energy company, said. “It’s all about scale (规模).”
World Energy’s Paramount, California, facility now has the capacity to refine cooking oil and animal fat into 15 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel a year. The company is investing $1.5 billion to modernize the facility and enable it to produce up to 370 million gallons a year.
“Standing where we are right now, it is going to be an extremely ambitious goal to get to net zero by 2050,” Gebolys said. “Do I think it’s possible? Absolutely.”
1. What is the experiment of United Airlines?| A．Using fuel from fat and oil alone in engines. |
| B．Refining cooking oil and waste fat. |
| C．Mixing biofuel energy with conventional fuel. |
| D．Developing biofuel-powered carriers. |
| A．The stability of the refined cooking oil. | B．The lack of raw materials. |
| C．The limited production capacity. | D．The energy consumption in production. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Intolerant. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Energy Company Discovers a New Green Fuel |
| B．Global Airlines Promise a Low-emission Future |
| C．Is Biofuel Energy Ready for Mass Production? |
| D．Could Cooking Oil Help Airlines Reach Zero Emissions? |
The Perfect Gift
Colin walked through the mall with his head down. He couldn’t bear to look at another window display of great Christmas gifts he couldn’t afford. There were only a few days left until Christmas, and Colin still didn’t t have a present for his parents. He had only managed to save four dollars and seventeen cents. He counted the money in his pocket and sighed heavily.
“You look upset today, Colin. What is the matter?” Colin’s older sister Whitney asked.
Colin explained his problem to his sister.
“Why don’t you make them something?” Whitney suggested.
“Making presents is for babies,” Colin said. “Mom and Dad won’t like baby stuff.”
“Hey, that is not true. When I was your age, I wrote Mom and Dad a poem for Christmas. They loved it so much that they had it framed (给……做框),” Whitney said.
Colin knew that was true. The poem was hanging in the living room right above the fireplace. Mom and Dad often stood at the fireplace and read the poem to him. But Colin wasn’t good at writing poems, so that didn’t really help him.
“It doesn’t have to be a poem,” Whitney said, “It could be anything that makes them think of you whenever they look at it. That’s why homemade gifts are special — because they make you think of the person who made it.”
“But I don’t know how to make anything Mom and Dad would actually want!” Colin said, kicking a tiny stone across the parking lot.
Whitney opened the car door. “Yes, you do! You’re always drawing those funny little comics. Why don’ t you do a family portrait(全家福) as a comic? Mom and Dad would love it.”
”Maybe," Colin said. He thought about the idea the whole way home. He even pictured how he would draw everyone.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1: For the next two days, Colin drew one picture after another.
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Paragraph 2: After all the other presents were opened, Colin handed his gift to his parents.
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