1 . A huge crowd has gathered to watch China’s new scientific research ship enter the water for the first time. This ship, equipped with on-board labs and the latest scientific kit, will eventually explore the world’s oceans. But it is also going to help China plunge beneath the waves: it will serve as a launch-pad for submarines that can dive to the deepest parts of the ocean. “Humans know much less about the deep oceans than we know about the surface of the Moon and Mars. That’s why I want to develop the facility for ocean scientists to reach the deep seas,” says Prof. Cui Weicheng.
He is the dean of deep sea science at Shanghai Ocean University but he has also set up a private company called Rainbow Fish, which built the new research ship and is busy developing submersibles. One of its unmanned subs reached a depth of 4,000m (13,000ft) in its most recent trial. But Rainbow Fish’s ultimate goal is manned exploration and it plans to take humans to the very bottom of the ocean the Mariana Trench, in the Pacific, at a depth of nearly 11,000m (36,000ft). He shows me around a life-size model of the submarine and explains that there is room inside for a crew of three, who will be protected by a thick metal sphere.”At the moment, we are in the design stage, so we are testing several extremely high-strength materials for it.” It will have to bear immense pressures from the crushing weight of water above. If there are any weaknesses, the submarine will implode. The deepest ocean is a place few people have ever experienced first-hand. The first dive to the Mariana Trench was carried out in 1960 by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Picard. Their vessel, the Bathyscaphe Trieste, creaked and groaned as it made the descent, taking nearly five hours.
The only other manned expedition was carried out by Hollywood director James Cameron, who took a solo plunge in a bright green submarine in 2012. Rainbow Fish wants its sub to be next. The team insists its venture isn’t about politics and that it is looking to collaborate with American, Russian and European scientists. It is, though, a commercial operation. The company plans to charge people to use its research ship and submarines, and is targeting three groups, says managing director Dr. Wu Xin. “The first is definitely the scientists who are interested in studying deep-sea science and technology. The second group is offshore companies and oil companies. The last one is tourists and adventurers [who] want to go down themselves to have a look at what’s going on there,” he says. This kind of entrepreneurial approach may be a new model for science in China. Deep-sea research is a difficult, high-risk activity — and much of the ocean remains unexplored. But Cui, who hopes to be the first Chinese person to reach the Mariana Trench, believes that China could be the nation to truly open up this final frontier.
1. What function does the new scientific research ship serve?A.As a deep-sea facility for tourist adventures |
B.As a supply ship for scientific explorations. |
C.As a station for observing giant squid. |
D.As a launch-pad for submarines. |
A.Testing high-strength materials for building submarines. |
B.Designing a thick metal sphere for bearing space pressure. |
C.Charting the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. |
D.Making plans for his dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. |
A.Prof. Cui doesn’t rely on government funding. Instead he runs a for-profit business. |
B.Prof. Cui is bold in his submarine design. |
C.Prof. Cui, who started the company, is a professor-turned entrepreneur. |
D.Prof. Cui is the first to offer his ship for tourists. |
A.Deep-sea science and technology | B.Ocean exploration |
C.Race to the deep | D.The rising of Rainbow Fish |
Human memory is notoriously (众所周知地) unreliable. Even people with the sharpest facial recognition skills can only remember so much.
It’s tough to quantify how good a person is
Machines aren’t limited this way. Give the right computer a massive database of faces, and it can process what it sees – then recognize a face it
The thing is, machines still have limitations when it comes to facial recognition. And scientists are only just beginning to understand what those constraints are.
As the databases grew, machine accuracy dipped across the board. Algorithms
Machines also had difficulty adjusting for people who look a lot alike –either doppelgangers (长相极相似的人), whom the machine would have trouble
近期,我校学生会对高中生在家做家务的情况做了一个调查,调查结果如下。
请简要描述调查结果,并谈谈你对高中生是否应该做家务的看法。
![](https://img.xkw.com/dksih/QBM/2021/12/13/2871567059984384/2871843151790080/STEM/3b14f10e74554b6d8bc12b5e03aee8ec.png?resizew=365)
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4 . Neuro-technology has long been a favourite of science-fiction writers. In “Neuromancer”, a wildly inventive book by William Gibson written in 1984, people can use neural(神经的) implants to get into the sensory experiences of others. Iain M. Banks came up with the idea of a neural lace, a mesh (网格) that grows into the brain, in his “Culture” series of novels. “The Terminal Man” by Michael Crichton, published in 1972, imagines the effects of a brain implant on someone who is convinced that machines are taking over from humans.
Where the sci-fi led, philosophers are now starting to follow. In Howard Chizeck’s lab at the University of Washington, researchers are working on an implanted device to administer deep-brain stimulation (DBS) in order to treat a common movement disorder called essential tremor. Traditionally, DBS stimulation is always on, wasting energy and robbing the patient of a sense of control. The lab’s ethicist (伦理学家), Tim Brown, a doctoral student of philosophy, says that some DBS patients suffer a sense of isolation and complain of feeling like a robot.
To change that, the team at the University of Washington is using neuronal activity associated with intentional movements to turn the device on. But the researchers also want to enable patients to use a conscious thought process to override these settings. That is more useful than it might sound: stimulation currents for essential tremor can cause side-effects like distorted (失真的) speech, so someone about to give a presentation, say, might wish to shake rather than make his words unclear. Giving humans more options of this sort will be essential if some of the more advanced visions for brain-computer interfaces are to be realized. Hannah Maslen from the University of Oxford is another ethicist who works on a BCI project. One of her jobs is to think through the distinctions between inner speech and public speech: people need a dependable mechanism for separating what they want to say from what they think.
That is only one of many ethical questions that the sci-fi versions of brain-computer interfaces bring up. What protection will BCIs offer against neural hacking? Who owns neural data, including information that is gathered for research purposes now but may be understandable in detail at some point in the future? Where does accountability lie if a user does something wrong? And if brain implants are performed not for treatment but to improve people’s abilities, will that make the world an even more unequal place?
1. What do the three books mentioned in paragraph 1 have in common?A.They are all among what philosophers like best. |
B.They all tell the stories well beyond imagination. |
C.They are all works of the greatest sci-fi writers of the time. |
D.They all deal with people’s losing control of their brains. |
A.improve the accuracy of DBS | B.let patients decide when to turn on DBS |
C.get rid of the side effects of DBS currents | D.separate what we think from what we say |
A.Neuronal activity fails to work without intentional movements. |
B.Brain-computer interfaces do more harm than good. |
C.People suffering from essential tremor will shake. |
D.DBS settings cannot be changed once fixed. |
A.How these questions will be handled. |
B.Why these questions used to be ignored. |
C.Which questions come from science fiction. |
D.Who has first raised these questions. |
6 . Types of Social Groups
Life places us in a complex web of relationships with other people. Our humanness arises out of these relationships in the course of social interaction. Moreover, our humanness must be sustained through social interaction -- and fairly constantly so. When an association continues long enough for two people to become linked together by a relatively stable set of expectations, it is called a relationship.
People are bound within relationships by two types of bonds: expressive ties and instrumental ties. Expressive ties are social links formed when we emotionally invest ourselves in and commit ourselves to other people. Through association with people who are meaningful to us, we achieve a sense of security, love, acceptance, companionship, and personal worth. Instrumental ties are social links focused when we cooperate with other people to achieve some goal.
Occasionally, this may mean working with, instead of against, competitors. More often, we simply cooperate with others to reach some end without endowing the relationship with any larger significance.
Sociologists have built on the distinction between expressive and instrumental ties to distinguish between two types of groups: primary and secondary. A primary group involves two or more people who enjoy a direct, intimate, cohesive relationship with one another. Expressive ties predominate in primary groups: we view the people as ends in themselves and valuable in their own right. A secondary group entails two or more people who are involved in an impersonal relationship and have come together for a specific, practical purpose. Instrumental ties predominate in secondary groups ; we perceive people as means to ends rather than as ends in their own right. sometimes primary group relationships evolve out of secondary group relationships. This happens in many work settings. People on the job often develop close relationships with coworkers as they come to share gripes, jokes, gossip, and satisfactions.
A number of conditions enhance the likelihood that primary groups will arise. First, group size is important. We find it difficult to get to know people personally when they are milling about and dispersed in large groups. In small groups we have a better chance to initiate contact and establish rapport with them. Second, face - to - face contact allows us to size up others. Seeing and talking with one another in close physical proximity makes possible a subtle exchange of ideas and feelings. And third, the probability that we will develop primary group bonds increases as we have frequent and continuous contact. Our ties with people often deepen as we interact with them across time and gradually evolve interlocking habits and interests.
Primary groups are fundamental to us and to society. Sociologists view primary groups as bridges between individuals and the larger society because they transmit, mediate, and interpret a society’s cultural patterns and provide the sense of oneness so critical for social solidarity. Primary groups, then serve both as carriers of social norms and as enforcers of them.
1. According to Paragraph 1, which of the following statements is true of a relationship?A.It is a structure of associations with many people. |
B.It should be studied in the course of social interaction. |
C.It places great demands on people. |
D.It develops gradually over time. |
A.Secondary group relationships begin by being primary group relationships. |
B.A secondary group relationship that is highly visible quickly becomes a primary group relationship. |
C.Sociologists believe that only primary group relationships are important to society. |
D.Even in secondary groups, frequent communication serves to bring people into close relationships. |
A.enlarge | B.evaluate |
C.impress | D.accept |
A.drawing comparisons between theory and practice |
B.presenting two opposing theories |
C.defining important concepts |
D.discussing causes and their effects |
成长道路上难免遇到来自同伴的压力(peer pressure)。同伴压力可能给我们带来积极或消极的影响。请结合自己生活中的一个具体事例, 谈谈你的体会。
注意:请勿透露本人真实姓名和学校名称。
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1.
A.The number of refugees is increasing sharply. |
B.Most refugees cannot get necessary services. |
C.Many refugee children cannot receive education. |
D.More children cannot afford to go to university. |
A.No host nations want to change education systems. |
B.It is impossible to find so many extra teachers. |
C.Parents can’t afford to send their kids to school. |
D.The refugee population grows but there’s not enough money. |
A.The necessity of education. |
B.The prohibition of child labor. |
C.The victims of armed conflicts. |
D.The living conditions of the poor. |
1.
A.They learn singing and dancing. | B.They attend outdoor music festivals. |
C.They work on the farm for charity. | D.They volunteer to work for others. |
A.On the beach. | B.In a park. | C.On a farm. | D.In a stadium. |
A.It is run on a profit-making basis. | B.It has achieved growing success. |
C.Fans can have free lunch there. | D.Only superstars are invited to perform. |
A.having been | B.being | C.is | D.was |