2 . At Ynez Library, we are champions of curiosity. At its core, our mission for nearly four centuries has been to advance the learning, research, and pursuit of truth. Our efforts are motivated and powered by working collaboratively, embracing diverse perspectives, championing access, aiming for the extraordinary, and always leading with curiosity.

There are plenty of opportunities for visitors to experience our collections. Ynez ID holders may bring up to four guests into the library. For more details, click on the following icons (图标).

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Many of our libraries are home to rare and unique materials, which are available to all researchers.

• Our special collections are open to all without a fee, by appointment.

• Please contact the holding library to learn more about accessing their special collection items in person.

• Different libraries have different holdings, so you may want to start by using our search tools to find materials relevant to your research.

3 . Users of Google Gemini, the tech giant’s artificial-intelligence model, recently noticed that asking it to create images of Vikings, or German soldiers from 1943 produced surprising results: hardly any of the people depicted were white. Other image-generation tools have been criticized because they tend to show white men when asked for images of entrepreneurs or doctors. Google wanted Gemini to avoid this trap; instead, it fell into another one, depicting George Washington as black. Now attention has moved on to the chatbot’s text responses, which turned out to be just as surprising.

Gemini happily provided arguments in favor of positive action in higher education, but refused to provide arguments against. It declined to write a job ad for a fossil-fuel lobby group (游说团体), because fossil fuels are bad and lobby groups prioritize “the interests of corporations over public well-being”. Asked if Hamas is a terrorist organization, it replied that the conflict in Gaza is “complex”; asked if Elon Musk’s tweeting of memes had done more harm than Hitler, it said it was “difficult to say”. You do not have to be a critic to perceive its progressive bias.

Inadequate testing may be partly to blame. Google lags behind OpenAI, maker of the better-known ChatGPT. As it races to catch up, Google may have cut corners. Other chatbots have also had controversial launches. Releasing chatbots and letting users uncover odd behaviors, which can be swiftly addressed, lets firms move faster, provided they are prepared to weather (经受住) the potential risks and bad publicity, observes Eth an Mollick, a professor at Wharton Business School.

But Gemini has clearly been deliberately adjusted, or “fine-tuned”, to produce these responses. This raises questions about Google’s culture. Is the firm so financially secure, with vast profits from internet advertising, that it feels free to try its hand at social engineering? Do some employees think it has not just an opportunity, but a responsibility, to use its reach and power to promote a particular agenda? All eyes are now on Google’s boss, Sundar Pichai. He says Gemini is being fixed. But does Google need fixing too?

6 . We watch our salt and fat intake to protect our hearts. We exercise and take calcium to protect our bones. We use sunscreen to protect our skin. But what can we do to protect our eyes, all year round? A lot.     1     .

Invest in quality sunglasses

To shield your eyes, wear sunglasses certified to block out 99 to 100 per cent of UVA and UVB light.     2     . “In fact, if the lenses are dark but not UV-protected, that’s worse for your eyes, because when you’re looking through dark lenses your pupils dilate, which lets more UV light inside to do damage,” says Dr Esen Akpek, a professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Wear safety glasses when needed

You don’t have to be doing construction work or factory work to need protective eyewear.     3     . It’s estimated that up to 90 per cent of sports-related eye injuries are actually preventable with proper eye protection. “I see people who’ve been gardening, leaned forward and got poked in the eye by a branch,” says Dr Davinder Grover, an ophthalmologist at Glaucoma Associates of Texas.

Invest in an air purifier

    4     . Outdoor cold and wind can be drying, too, while pollution and allergens can cause irritation. In addition to lubricating eye drops, “air purifiers and humidifiers are our friends,” says Akpek.

See an eye specialist regularly

Routine checkup helps maintain good eye health, so please don’t forget to see an eye specialist for a checkup regularly, if possible.     5     .

7 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式.

For thousands of years, Chinese people     1     (value) the large family with three, four, or even five generations living under the same roof. In this way of life, the older generation can enjoy a happy and easy late life with their children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren growing up beside them and keeping them     2     being lonely. However, as society advances and people enjoy a     3     (comfortable) life, the big families begin to break up. Along with the growth of so-called “empty nestles”, which means the young birds have flown away and only     4     old are left alone, young parents are living with their own nuclear families. It goes without saying     5     the collapse of big families and the popularity of smaller ones are the result of our times.

It is a time when people think highly of individual freedom     6     happiness. Young people like to have a space all alone to themselves, which helps avoid conflicts     7     (cause) by different living habits from their parents. It’s also a time when problems of old age and childcare have been socialized gradually. Senior citizens can live together and     8     (take) good care of by specialized nurses.

Therefore, there is every reason to believe that this trend of families in reduced size is     9     (agree) to our times. To create a brighter future, we should do our best to build our society into one in     10     every member lives healthily and harmoniously.

8 . Forty years ago, Mrs. Austen was my first-grade teacher, an old lady with salt-and-pepper hair, firm but kind, patient and _________ . She let us bake gingerbread men in the school cafeteria —a delightful _________ that amazed me. And whenever we read the “Jack and Janet” books, she wouldn’t let the other kids _________ my classmate Jack or me.

But I came to truly _________ Mrs. Austen when a dress-up day was _________ . On that day, we were encouraged to wear clothes in the _________ of the mid-1800s. My mother, a superb tailor, made a pioneer-style dress for me. I was so proud _________ it as I walked to school that day. When I got there, however, I was the only one in my class who had dressed up, feeling kind of _________ . Mrs. Austen oohed and aahed over my _________ and then went to her office. It didn’t take long before she __________ in a frontier-style dress! She explained that she had asked her husband to bring the costume.

We moved away two years later, and I still __________ that I never told Mrs. Austen how __________ I was to her, a teacher who went out of her way, and even __________ her husband’s help, to keep a little girl from feeling __________ . I had many wonderful teachers throughout the years, but Mrs. Austen has always held a(n) __________ place in my heart.

9 . It is October again. It has been a year since my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer; a year since she started her good, brave fight. It has been a year marked with so many milestones, so many shared smiles and secret fears.

Usually, children, with eyes that see all and minds that are still free to wonder, are extraordinarily accepting the changes in routine, the shift in seasons. This week, however, when I took my two younger boys with me for a visit to Mom’s without telling her in advance, Sean ran into her bedroom to greet her, then quickly returned to the living room to talk to me. “Mom,” my four-year-old whispered, careful not to be overheard or offending, “Grandma has no hair.”

Mom came through her surgery that removed the tumor (肿瘤) in her lung with faith and grace. She also came through thin and tired. And the side effect was total hair loss. It should grow back eventually, but my mother decided to have a wig (假发) to cover her head. She wears it mostly for the comfort of others. When she is alone, she usually leaves her head uncovered, finding the wig uncomfortable when unnecessary.

“Grandma has no hair,” Sean said, because we had caught her by surprise.

“I know, Sean. Isn’t it funny?” I asked him as my mom joined us in the living room. We explained to him that Grandma had to take medicine that made her hair go away, but it would come back.

“Would you like to touch my head, Sean?” my mother asked as my son stared at her, his blue eyes filled with questions and curiosity. It is surprising to see your mother—or anyone you love—without hair, but surprisingly it’s something that you can get used to quickly. We are, after all, not really these bodies—these are just the shells that transport who we are, and no matter what the physical changes, those connected by love seem to be able to recognize their own.