1 .

News anchors(主播) must have been reluctant to read out the following news: Xin Xiaomeng began working as the world’s first female artificial(人工的) intelligence news anchor at Xinhua News Agency on Sunday, three months after a male robot joined the profession.

Unlike previous news robots though, Xin does not read news like a cold machine; she reads it almost like a human being. The muscles on her face stretch and relax-and her reactions change-as she continues reading. That’s why many news anchors were worried: Will AI replace us in the near future?

To find the answer, we have to analyse the technologies that support Xin at her job. Three key technologies are used to support Xin. First, samples of human voices are collected and synthesized (合成). This is followed by the collection and synthesis of human muscle movement samples. And third the voices and movements are married in a way that when the Al news anchor reads, the micro -electric motors behind her face move to make her expressions seem more human.

Yet we need a thorough knowledge of deep leaning technology to make a robot imitate a person’s voice. The developer needs to collect tens of thousands of pieces of pronunciations, input them Into the machine and match them with the text or the Al to lean and read. The process for imitating facial movements is similar. The developer has to analyse the movements of the 53 muscles in the human face, make a model set from the collected data for the AI news anchor to lean, and imitate the movements of facial muscles via programs

Both the technologies used to make Xin’s performance impressive are mature. The real difficulty lies in the third -the technology to match the pronunciations with facial movements so that Xin expressions vary according to the content of the news report. In fact, Xins expressions don' t always change according to the content. As a result, her expressions look anything but human. Actually. AI is still no match for human qualities.

1. What does the underlined word "reluctant "in the first paragraph mean?

A．Delighted.

B．Unwilling.

C．Confused.

D．Optimistic.

2. What can we infer about previous news robots?

A．They read news without expressions.	B．They looked like a human being
C．They could interview sports stars	D．They could interact with audience.

3. What do we know about the third technology?

A．This technology is very perfect so far

B．This technology is quite popular now

C．This technology remains at the theoretical stage

D．This technology is far from mature.

4. From the last paragraph, we can draw a conclusion that____.

A．human news anchors should learn from AT anchors to save their jobs

B．Al anchors perform much better than human news anchors at present

C．Al news anchors won 't replace human news anchors in the near future

D．Xin Xiaomeng s expressions vary so naturally that they are true to life

2 . There are many programs for high school students today that help lonely teenagers deal with loneliness. However, loneliness is not only an issue for teens but also an important and rarely acknowledged one in the elderly.

In Britain, Tracey Crouch was appointed to be the first Minister of Loneliness in order to address the issues caused by loneliness. This is the first time such a position has been created.

In Britain, there are around 9 million people who say they are lonely frequently. In Germany, a study conducted by Ruhr University Bochum found that 20 percent of people over the age of 85 felt lonely, and 14 percent of those between age 45 and 65 felt socially lonely. In the United States, more than 25 percent of the population lives alone, more than 50 percent are unmarried.

Loneliness is generally associated with heart disease, overweight, and anxiety. Additionally, the stress from loneliness can cause your cells to change on a molecular(分子)level that reduces its abilities to defend your body against diseases. In fact, doctors believe having feelings of loneliness is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes per day in regard to its effect on health!

In Britain, the new Minister of Loneliness will help introduce government policies on the issue and fund a charity—an organization for helping people in need, to devote their efforts towards aiding loneliness. There are charities that link lonely seniors to high school students in order to give them a line of communication whenever they feel lonely!

The possibilities for the new Minister of Loneliness are endless. For example, she can provide education services to household businesses so that they can identify lonely customers if they see one. Loneliness fits into the category of being a social issue that must be monitored by the entire community in order to help those in need. Therefore, government involvement in medical services and care for seniors and others is vital for happy seniors.

1. How does the author develop Paragraph 3?

A．By listing some statistics.

B．By giving examples of lonely people.

C．By pointing out similarities and differences.

D．By comparing different cultures in different countries.

2. What does the underlined word “equivalent” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Relevant.	B．Similar.
C．Opposite.	D．Superior.

3. What will the Minister of Loneliness do?

A．Do housework for lonely people.

B．Develop friendships with the elderly.

C．Help fund charities to aid lonely people.

D．Communicate with anxious school students.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．UK becomes the capital of loneliness.	B．Loneliness affects old people’s life worldwide.
C．Many teenagers suffer from loneliness.	D．UK’s Minister of Loneliness settles loneliness.

3 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

A terrible fire began to burn at France’s world-famous Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral (巴黎圣母院)    1    the evening of April 15. Flames could be seen rising through the top of the monument.     2    (it) tall, narrow top later fell down. It took 15 hours for 400 French firefighters     3    (put) out the fire.     4    (fortunate), the main stone structure, including the two bell towers, has been saved, but there is little information on the condition of the cathedral’s glass windows and paintings.

Notre-Dame     5    (date) back to the 12th century. French writer Victor Hugo used it as the setting of his famous story, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,    6    was first published in 1831. Sitting in the center of Paris, along the Seine River, Notre-Dame is one of the world’s most famous tourist     7    (site). About 12 million people visit it each year.

One man said, “Notre-Dame     8    (destroy) but the soul of France was not.” French President Emmanuel Macron promised that Notre-Dame would be rebuilt and asked for worldwide help repairing it. Many countries offered assistance, because Notre-Dame is part of the     9     (culture) heritage of mankind and     10    symbol for Europe.

4 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Like other big cities, Paris has also a traffic problem: lots of cars, traffic jams and traffic pollution. So since 2007, the city     1    (start) a plan to improve the situation.

Under a project, people can take a bicycle, use it as long as they want, and then leave it at the same or another bicycle station. The first half-hour is free,     2     if you don’t return it after 30 minutes, you have to pay. It’s only $1 or $29 a year. The bicycles are as heavy as 25 kilograms, and they’re all grey and have baskets. There’re a large number of     3    (they) in the city, and the bicycle stations are more than the subway stations!

Paris isn’t the first city to operate a project like this. One Parisian said, “These bicycles are only suitable for short     4    (journey). If people want to travel across the city, they won’t use a bicycle — they’ll still use their cars.”

A city spokesman said, “The bicycle project won’t solve all our traffic problems, but it might work in     5    (reduce) air pollution. Traffic, together with factory fumes,     6    (be) a big problem. Everyone knows about global warming and dramatic climate changes — we know this is partly because rainforests are     7    (gradual) disappearing. And it’s also because there’s so much pollution. There aren’t any simple answers     8     traffic problems and pollution in cities, but the bicycles might help people lead     9     healthier life. Unless we do something now, there’ll be more traffic jams and temperatures will continue to rise, so the problems in our environment will get even     10    (bad).”

5 . English is a language that many people around the world ___________ not speak perfectly but ___________ at least understand.

A．may; can	B．would; might
C．will; must	D．could; might

6 . 假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文 中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改.
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号（A )，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线（\)划掉。
修改:在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。.

When I was in the 6th grade, my parents bought me a cell phone. I was really exciting to receive the phone. The next weekend, my family went on camping in the East Lake Park. We enjoy boating on the lake. I used our new phone to play some of my favorite song. I thought it would be brilliant idea to put my phone in a plastic bag to protecting it from water. After getting back, I took the phone in, only to find the bag full of water. I didn’t know what to save my phone and I tried laying it out to dry. Unfortunately, it started to rain. What an awfully experience!

7 . 假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线( \ )划掉。
修改：在错的词下一横线，并在该词下面写修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2. 只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。

Dear Mr. Chen,

I will graduate in about a month. I have a lot of to say. During the past three years, you have given me so many help and encouragement, but I have done a lot of things what make you angry.

When I was in Grade Two, I didn’t study hardly. I spent too much time in play basketball.

As a result, I got bad grades. You tried your best to help me on my English, my study habits and my life. Every time I did everything wrong, you always said, “It doesn’t matter.” At that time, I was too young and foolish understand you. Now I can see all of these thing. I think that I should say sorry to me. I am very sorry, sir!

Best wishes to you and your family!

Yours,

Steve

8 . In 1949, I just returned home from the war. On every American highway you could see soldiers in uniform hitchhiking (搭便车) home to their families, as was the ___at that time in America.

___, the excitement of this reunion with my family soon disappeared. My mother became very ill and had to be in hospital. The doctors told me she ___a blood transfusion (输血)   ___or she wouldn’t live through the night. The problem was that Mother’s blood type was AB-, a very ___type even today, but even harder to get then because there were no blood ___ or air flights to ship blood. All the family members had their ___tested, but none was a   ___. So the doctors gave the family no hope. My mother was ___.

I left the hospital ___to gather up all the family members, ___everyone would get a chance to tell Mother good-bye. ___down the highway, I passed a soldier in uniform hitch-hiking home to his family. Deep in sadness, I had no willingness at that moment to do a good deed. Yet it was almost as if something outside myself pulled me to a ___, and I waited as the stranger climbed into the car.

I was too upset to ___ask the soldier his name, but he noticed my tears right away and asked why. I told this total stranger ___.

It got very ___in the car. Then this soldier reached his hand out to me, in which rested the dog tags (身份识别证) from around his neck. The blood type on the tags was AB-. The soldier   ___me to turn the car ___and get him to the hospital.

My mother ___until 1996, and to this day no one in our family knows the soldier’s name. But I have often wondered, was he a soldier or a(n) ___in uniform?

1.

A．concern

B．custom

C．view

D．disadvantage

2.

A．Surprisingly

B．Obviously

C．Sadly

D．Disappointedly

3.

A．wanted

B．asked

C．needed

D．desired

4.

A．immediately

B．gradually

C．frequently

D．actually

5.

A．valuable

B．common

C．magical

D．rare

6.

A．banks

B．shops

C．hospitals

D．factories

7.

A．body

B．blood

C．health

D．identity

8.

A．success

B．perfection

C．possibility

D．match

9.

A．crying

B．dying

C．suffering

D．bursting

10.

A．on purpose

B．in peace

C．in relief

D．in tears

11.

A．so that

B．in case

C．as though

D．if only

12.

A．Driving

B．Walking

C．Removing

D．Wondering

13.

A．road

B．stop

C．place

D．route

14.

A．ever

B．even

C．never

D．already

15.

A．anything

B．something

C．everything

D．nothing

16.

A．peaceful

B．calm

C．active

D．quiet

17.

A．commanded

B．allowed

C．told

D．persuaded

18.

A．away

B．in

C．around

D．down

19.

A．lived

B．died

C．recovered

D．disappeared

20.

A．stranger

B．rescuer

C．lover

D．angel

9 . The boy sat on his chair, with his hand above the keyboard. He thought about what to write.

He recalled that the competition deadline was merely a week away. But he still had not even started on his piece. He looked at the brochure again. “ WRITING COMPETITION!” the title read. His mom had encouraged him to enter the writing competition, and now he was taking it on as his personal task for the holidays.

As the boy reflected on his previous writing efforts, he realized how hopeless his task of winning was. Every story he ever wrote was based on other stories. He had little imagination, and unfortunately, imagination was the key to writing.

Suddenly, he had a brainwave. This time, he came up with an original and imaginative story.

The words shot towards him like a storm of leaves. Words were coming easily, flowing through him, faster than he could type. He typed faster than he ever had before. He continued to type, amazed at how easy writing this story was. The boy could not stop writing. He looked at the word count and saw the number “ 248 ” staring right back at him. He was not even halfway yet.

Then he heard the call of his mother saying time for bed. He continued writing the piece, ignoring her. He had to make up for the time he had lost thinking about a topic to write.

Finally, he finished. The word count now read “498”.

“Perfect,” he thought, “just under the word limit.” He knew this was the story that would win.

He went onto Google and searched for the competition. He found the page but there was no “Enter” button.

1. What caused the boy to take part in the writing competition?

A．A new computer.	B．The prize money.
C．His own interest.	D．His mom’s advice.

2. How did the boy finish his earlier writing?

A．His mom helped him.	B．He copied others’ ideas.
C．His friends assisted him.	D．He used his imagination.

3. Why did the boy delay his writing?

A．Because he was terribly lazy.	B．Because he didn’t know what to write.
C．Because he wasn’t confident.	D．Because he read too many stories.

4. Which might be the maximum word limit for each entry?

A．100.	B．250.
C．500.	D．1000.

10 . I know what you’re thinking : pizza （比萨饼）? For breakfast? But the truth is that you can have last night’s leftovers in the a. m. if you want to.
I know lots of women who skip（跳过）breakfast , and they have a ton of different excuses for doing it . Some say they don’t have time.Others think they’re “saving” calories （卡路里）, still others just don’t like breakfast food .
But the bottom line is that eating in the morning is very important when you’re trying to lose weight.
“Eating just about anything from 300 to 400 calories would be better than nothing at all,” says Katherine Brooking , R , D , who developed the super-easy eating plan for this year’s “SELF CHALLENGE”. And even pizza can be healthy if it’s loaded with vegetables, and you stick to one small piece.   
Breakfast is one meal I never miss, and the same goes for most weight loss success stories. Research shows that eating breakfast keeps you from overeating later in the day. Researchers at the University of Southern California found that breakfast skippers have a bigger chance of gaining weight than those who regularly have a morning meal.
So eat something in the morning, anything. I know plenty of friends who end up having no breakfast altogether, and have just coffee or orange juice. I say, try heating up last night’s leftovers-it may sound crazy, but if it works for you, do it! I find if I tell myself, “You can always eat it tomorrow,” I put away the leftovers instead of eating more that night. Try it…you may save yourself some pre-bedtime calories. And watch your body gain the fat-burning effects.
1. The word “leftovers” in Paragraph 1 probably means__________.

A．food remaining after a meal	B．things left undone
C．meals made of vegetables	D．pizza topped with fruit

2. What can we infer from the text?

A．Working women usually have breakfast in a hurry.

B．Many people have wrong ideas about breakfast.

C．There are some easy ways of cooking a meal.

D．Eating vegetables helps save energy.

3. According to the last paragraph, it is important to____________.

A．eat something for breakfast	B．be careful about what you eat
C．heat up food before eating it	D．eat calorie-controlled food

4. The text is written mainly for those_____________.

A．who go to work early	B．who want to lose weight
C．who stay up late	D．who eat before sleep