1 . Microsoft won’t renew the contracts (合同) for dozens of news production contractors working at its MSN website and plans to use AI (人工智能) to replace them.
The roughly 50 employees were informed that their services would no longer be needed beyond June 30, but a team of full-time journalists will remain.
The Microsoft spokesman said in a statement, “Like all companies, we analyze and make judgments on our activities and services on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment (投资) in some places and, from time to time. rearrangement in others. These decisions are not the result of the current pandemic.”
MSN will use AI to replace the production work its journalists had been doing. That work includes using an automated system to identify trending news stories from dozens of publishing partners and to help improve the content by rewriting headlines or adding better accompanying photographs or slide shows.
“I spend all my time reading about how automation and AI are going to take all our jobs - now it’s taken mine,” one of the terminated (被终止的) contractors said. “But with fewer human beings to monitor the technology, AI may not be fully familiar with strict editorial guidelines and could end up letting through inappropriate stories.”
MSN has undergone a number of changes since its launch as Microsoft Network in 1995. Once it offered original content and links to news, weather, and sports. In 2013, it reduced original news content and began cutting employees. By 2014, it launched a redesigned version that partner red with other news sites-paying them to redistribute their content. Today, the news service relies entirely on those partnerships with no original news content of its own. Selecting and editing stories rather than actually generating them made it easier for MSN to increasingly rely on an automated editing system.
1. What will happen in Microsoft?| A．More people are being employed to develop AI. |
| B．Robots are being used to write news reports for MSN. |
| C．Some workers are being fired and replaced by AI. |
| D．It is signing new contracts with some workers at MSN. |
| A．They will invest more in AI. |
| B．They frequently examine their business. |
| C．They have been badly influenced by the pandemic. |
| D．They provide the best services for Internet users. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Favorable. | C．Uncaring. | D．Contradictory. |
| A．Its partners help it select and edit news stories. |
| B．Other news websites pay it to use its content. |
| C．Original content is encouraged on its website. |
| D．All its news is produced by other news sites. |
The torch relay for the Hangzhou Asian Games
The torch journeyed through 11 cities in Zhejiang province,
In line with the games’ spirit of being “green, smart, economical, and ethical,” the planning for the Hangzhou Asian Games torch relay route
Furthermore,
1.养成课堂好习惯的意义；
2.分享你的课堂好习惯；
3.呼吁同学们行动起来。
注意：
1.词数80词左右，可适当增加内容；
2.开头结尾已给出，不计入词数；
3.请在答题卡相应位置作答。
Form Good Class Habits
Dear fellow students,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
4 . My daughter loved dancing until she didn’t find it attractive. After an
My first reaction was to advise her to “finish what you start”.
After a few days’ consideration, she decided dance wasn’t for her - a choice I
As adults, we are used to
| A．routine | B．passionate | C．depressing | D．independent |
| A．defeat | B．make | C．try | D．skip |
| A．After all | B．In case | C．In addition | D．By contrast |
| A．addict | B．expose | C．drag | D．commit |
| A．sufficiency | B．sense | C．energy | D．desire |
| A．interest | B．help | C．manner | D．element |
| A．seemingly | B．partly | C．equally | D．hardly |
| A．insisting on | B．making up for | C．fixing up | D．letting go of |
| A．required | B．suspected | C．ignored | D．supported |
| A．spotting | B．clearing | C．challenging | D．crossing |
| A．yet | B．once | C．still | D．even |
| A．experiencing | B．stressing | C．monitoring | D．judging |
| A．informal | B．unfair | C．external | D．proper |
| A．abandon | B．attach | C．treasure | D．permit |
| A．roughly | B．slightly | C．merely | D．nearly |
5 . Remember Lion King? Many of us walked out of that animation movie being in awe of (钦佩) the storyline, the songs, the colours and the animation. However, how many of us would have given thought to the work done by the animators?
One of the greatest soft skills an animator can have will be the ability to work together in a team.
The team of animators usually use computer software and work with artists to create the magic and make the characters “come to life.” A successful production accurately captures (捕捉) the characters’ wide range of expressions, among other aspects.
Animation work usually differs from pre-production to production stages. Some animators are involved in developing and visualizing (可视化)the storyline. Some animators are involved in keeping the characters’ personalities and core (核心的) positions constant throughout the production.
Do animators go to a school to learn animation first? Ideally, yes. It is highly recommended that animator-lovers get a college degree first. If you are interested in becoming an animator, do not stop there. Bravely approach production houses for internship (实习) opportunities.
| A．Animation is never a solo effort. |
| B．These expressions are not created overnight. |
| C．The team will also need to be good communicators. |
| D．It takes weeks to create a ten-second animation production. |
| E．Animators at the production stage bring the characters to life. |
| F．An animator with a suitable qualification and experiences is always in demand. |
| G．Animators are the most sensitive creators when it comes to life and human nature. |
6 . Louis Pasteur once said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” That’s the truth behind the following inventions — the scientists were prepared and were able to see the magic in a mistake.
MauveIn 1856, William Perkin was trying to come up with an artificial medicine, but his experiments produced a thick mess. But the more Perkin looked at it, the more he saw a beautiful color in his mess. Turns out he had made mauve, the first-ever synthetic dye (合成染料), which was far better than any natural dyes: the color was brighter, clearer, and didn’t fade or wash out.
SuperglueThis super-sticky substance was discovered by accident — twice! Chemist Harry Coover had been attempting to make clear plastic gun sights, and in 1942 one method he tested produced an extremely quick bonding adhesive (黏合剂). It was useless for his gun sights, though, and he forgot about it until almost ten years later, when he came across it again while developing heat-resistant parts for airplanes. This time he realised its potential, and the product was put on the market.
PlasticIn 1907, shellac (虫胶) was used in electronics. It was costly, so American chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland tried to produce an alternative. Instead, his experiments produced a material that could take high temperatures. He later developed it into plastic, and it was soon used in the production of almost everything.
TeflonBack in the 1930s, Young DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett was working to make a new kind of CFC for refrigeration. After storing the gas in certain containers, he opened one to discover that it had changed into a white powder that was extremely sticky and had a very high melting point. Three years later, the substance, which was named Teflon, was patented.
1. Which invention came out earliest?| A．Mauve. | B．Superglue. | C．Plastic. | D．Teflon. |
| A．William Perkin. | B．Harry Coover. | C．Leo Hendrik. | D．Roy Plunkett. |
| A．They were made by accident. | B．They could take high temperatures. |
| C．They received no recognition at first. | D．They could be used in medical fields. |
7 . Discoveries at the famous Sanxingdui ruins in Southwest China show that the region’s ancient Shu Kingdom Civilization shared similarities with the Maya.
The Sanxingdui ruins belonged to the Shu Kingdom that existed at least 4,800 years ago and lasted more than 2,000 years, while the Mayan civilization built its city-states around 200 AD．
The bronze-made remains of trees unearthed at the ruins of the Shu Kingdom resemble the sacred ceiba tree, which symbolized the union of heaven, earth and the underworld in the Mayan civilization. “They are very important similarities,” says Santos, a Mexican archaeologist (考古学家) stressing that “the representations of trees in both cultures provide a symbolism that is very similar”.
The findings at the Sanxingdui ruins, considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, also show a new aspect of Bronze Age culture, indicating the ancient civilization already had technologies that were thought to have been developed much later.
While the time span between the Shu kingdom and the Mayan culture is great, the findings highlight the closeness between the two civilizations. They developed in areas with comparable climates and reflected their worldview through related symbols. “In the end, man is still man, independent of time and space. What we have is that, at this latitude (纬度), both the Shu people and the Mayans looked at the same sky and had the same stars on the horizon,” the expert says.
One notable feature of the recent discoveries at Sanxingdui was the cross-subject work and technology applied by teams of Chinese archaeologists, which allowed the unearthing of artifacts as fragile as silk remains, which other types of less careful digging methods would not have been able to register.
Cooperation between Chinese and Mexican archaeologists could benefit projects in the Mayan world, where the rainy climate and humidity are problematic for the conservation of ruins.
“Every time our cultural knowledge increases, regardless of whether we speak one language or another, what it shows us is that we continue to be sister cultures and, therefore, the exchange of such knowledge is fundamental,” says Santos.
1. What is a similarity between the Shu Kingdom and Maya civilization?| A．Their starting time. | B．Their historical origins. |
| C．Their cultural symbols. | D．Their ceremony traditions. |
| A．silk was a common clothing material then |
| B．some technologies were developed much earlier |
| C．the Bronze Age started earlier than previously assumed |
| D．the Shu Kingdom and the Mayan world had close contact |
| A．Damp weather. | B．Positioning of ruins. |
| C．High latitude. | D．Language barriers. |
| A．Our cultural knowledge is increasing. |
| B．The benefits of speaking a different language. |
| C．The increasing sisterhood in culture between China and Mexico. |
| D．The importance of the exchange of cultural knowledge. |
One windy day in March, Kitty Miller was on her way to school when she glanced into a store window and saw a great pile of lovely red apples. “Oh,” She exclaimed (惊呼). “How lovely! If only Mamma could have one!” Immediately, the store owner recognized the familiar girl and asked her to pick one. Kitty just shook her head and ran away shyly.
Kitty’s mother was extremely poor. She had been a dressmaker ever since Kitty’s father died, and had to work hard to earn a living for herself and Kitty. Unfortunately, she had recently become very sick and had to lie in bed all day long. When Kitty was away at school, the house was incredibly cold and cheerless. She missed her little angel — that is what she called Kitty. Kitty took great care of her mother. She cooked her food, mostly soup. They could not afford fresh fruit. Kitty would even sing to her mother at night.
When Kitty reached the school that day, her thoughts were full of her sick mother and the lovely red apples. She was usually an excellent student, but that day she made so many mistakes that the teacher looked at her in surprise. The little girl could only sit at her desk, with her book before her, and dream of those red apples.
When school was dismissed, Kitty started slowly homeward. She had walked only a short distance when she saw a man in front of her drop his wallet. Running quickly forward, she picked it up. The wallet felt quite heavy in Kitty’s little hand.
“There must be a good deal of money in it,” thought Kitty. “How I wish I could keep it, so that I would then be able to purchase a red apple for Mamma, and so many other things she needs.”
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。
Kitty knew this would not be right, so she hurried after the man.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The store owner saw the familiar girl rushing in, one dollar in hand.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________9 . To most people, giraffes are merely adorable, long-necked animals that rank near the top of a zoo visit. But to cardiovascular (心血管的) scientists, there’s even more to love. Giraffes, as it turns out, have solved a problem that kills millions of people every year: high blood pressure.
Giraffes have sky-high blood pressure because of their sky-high heads that, in adults, rise about six meters above the ground—a long, long way for their hearts to pump blood upwards against gravity. To have a blood pressure of 110/70 in the brain—normal for a large animal—giraffes need a blood pressure of about 220/180 in the heart. It doesn’t vex the giraffes, but pressure like that would cause all sorts of problems for people, from heart failure to kidney failure to abnormal ankles and legs.
When biologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz examined giraffes’ hearts, she found that their left ventricles (心室) did get thicker, but without fibrosis (纤维化), which is a health problem associated with heart disease and would occur in people. She also found that giraffes have variants of five genes related to fibrosis. In keeping with the findings, other researchers who examined giraffe genes found several giraffe-specific gene variants related to cardiovascular development and steady blood pressure. And in 2021, another research group reported giraffe-specific variants of genes involved in fibrosis.
And the giraffe has another trick to avoid heart failure: The ventricular filling period of the heartbeat is extended, Natterson-Horowitz found. This allows the heart to pump more blood with each beat, allowing giraffes to run hard despite their thicker heart muscle.
Natterson-Horowitz is now turning her attention to another problem giraffes seem to have solved: high blood pressure during pregnancy. For people, this can lead to severe illnesses. Yet giraffes seem to do just well. Natterson-Horowitz and her team are hoping to find out if they have unique adaptations that allow this.
1. What does the underlined word “vex” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Frighten. | B．Interest. | C．Warn. | D．Disturb. |
| A．They have high blood pressure. |
| B．They have slower heartbeats. |
| C．They have specific gene variants. |
| D．They have thicker left ventricles. |
| A．What causes giraffes’ gene variants. |
| B．What makes pregnant giraffes well. |
| C．Why pregnant women suffer from illnesses. |
| D．Why giraffes have unique adaptations. |
| A．Cardiovascular Secrets of Giraffes |
| B．Studies on Heart Fibrosis of Giraffes |
| C．Health Effects of Giraffes’ Long Necks |
| D．Reasons for Man’s High Blood Pressure |
