Technology is changing the face of the world, and now faces are changing technology too. Facial recognition technology,
However, facial recognition technology has also started to pose some difficult questions. Experts have been giving
Scientists and engineers
2 . In habitats across the planet, animals periodically drop everything to walk, fly or swim to a new place. Wildlife such as whales and geese learn migration paths by following their parents. Others, including small songbirds, gain the distance and direction of their migration within their genetic code. And some animals use a combination of genetics and culture to guide their migration.
Another group of migrators does not quite fit either model, and researchers have only recently started to figure out how they find their way. Take the Cory’s shearwater, an oceangoing sea bird that migrates over the Atlantic every year. The young do not migrate with their parents, so culture cannot explain their journeys. And the exact paths vary wildly from individual to individual, making genetics equally unlikely.
Cory’s shearwaters are long-lived, rarely producing young successfully before age nine. This leaves an opening for learning and practice to develop their migration patterns. Researchers call this the “exploration-refinement”, and until now it has been hypothetical (假设的) because of difficulties in tracking migratory animals’ movements.
But a team of researchers has done that by attaching small geolocators to more than 150 of the birds aged four to nine. They found that younger birds traveled longer distances, for longer periods, and had more diverse paths than older birds. “We finally have evidence of the ‘exploration-refinement’ for migratory birds,” says Letizia Campioni, who led the study. Younger Cory’s shearwaters are able to fly just as fast as the adults—but they do not, suggesting that the young do more exploring, which gradually fades as they mature and settle into a preferred course.
Although it may seem less efficient than other strategies, “exploration refinement could be beneficial to birds and other organisms in a rapidly changing world due to unpredictable man-made changes,” says Barbara Frei. “It might be safer to repeat a behavior that was recently successful than to rely on patterns that were perfected long ago but might no longer be safe.”
1. Why does the author mention different migration models in Paragraph 1?| A．To give an example. | B．To lead in the topic. |
| C．To make a comparison. | D．To support an idea. |
| A．The opening for learning and practice. |
| B．The unique living habit of Cory’s shearwaters. |
| C．The way Cory’s shearwaters form their migration patterns. |
| D．The process scientists track Cory’s shearwaters’ movements. |
| A．They lower the speed for exploration. | B．They move in a predictable manner. |
| C．They travel as much as adult birds. | D．They look for a course with their parents. |
| A．Fixed Tracks: Safer Migration Model |
| B．Migration Models: Important Ways to Deal With Changes |
| C．A Combination of Strategies: A Wise Choice for Migration |
| D．Exploration Refinement: Migration Model With Better Adaptability |
1. 介绍你最喜爱的诗人和他/她的诗歌。
2. 他/她对你的影响或启示。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear Mike,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
4 . Every year I’d read over 2,000 college applications from students all over the world. It is quite
The most surprising
The security guard wrote that he supported this student’s admission because of his
It gave us a
Next year there might be a flood of security guard recommendations due to this essay. But if it means students will start paying as much
| A．decent | B．difficult | C．ridiculous | D．desperate |
| A．However | B．Otherwise | C．Besides | D．Therefore |
| A．capacity | B．quality | C．dignity | D．liberty |
| A．signal | B．image | C．appearance | D．indication |
| A．stood up | B．stood out | C．given up | D．given out |
| A．guard | B．teacher | C．principal | D．consultant |
| A．roughly | B．permanently | C．typically | D．respectively |
| A．wisdom | B．bravery | C．encouragement | D．consideration |
| A．names | B．wages | C．locations | D．careers |
| A．bothered | B．answered | C．visited | D．thanked |
| A．staff | B．students | C．peers | D．monitors |
| A．demanding | B．amusing | C．refreshing | D．puzzling |
| A．passion | B．licence | C．guarantee | D．window |
| A．money | B．notice | C．attention | D．curiosity |
| A．policy | B．trend | C．arrangement | D．occupation |
5 . “I never know what to say around other people. Whenever I am in a group of people, I feel like everyone knows what to say and I have no idea. When I do try to join in or answer a question, I get anxious. My heart starts thumping. This happens at parties or meetings with parent groups, but I feel judged—as if I were being interviewed for a job. I don’t enjoy these experiences, so I routinely avoid them. People think I am a loner. Maybe I am?”
Individuals experiencing this type of social discomfort are often polite and considerate. They do not interrupt others and they say please and thank you when it is appropriate to do so. They often avoid eye contact, because it makes them feel judged. They feel like others can see how uncomfortable they are. Individuals experiencing these symptoms are often very intelligent, but their anxiety prevents them from being able to demonstrate this in front of others.
Fitting into most groups of people requires conformity (从众). You need to be interested in the topics that others in the group are interested in and think and talk about them the way they do. Becoming an essential part of these groups requires that you sacrifice some of your individuality in order to adapt your perspectives, values, and styles to fit in.
Some individuals are chameleon-like in that they naturally pick up the patterns of relating to different groups and change themselves accordingly. They accommodate themselves to the group. They leave their individuality behind. For some people, this is automatic and they don’t even register that they are changing themselves to fit into groups. However, if you are one of those people who feels disconnected in most social group settings, it may be because your personality refuses conformity. You have difficulty liking what other people like and you stop changing the way you think in order to feel part of a group. Perhaps it’s better for you to stay true to yourself. Maybe you are better off?
1. What is the function of paragraph 1?| A．To introduce hard experience of social anxiety. |
| B．To explain why some people avoid eye contact. |
| C．To compare different types of social groups. |
| D．To recommend ways to go for job interviews. |
| A．They are mindful of proper social manners. |
| B．They are eager to stop others judging them. |
| C．They tend to observe what others are doing. |
| D．They try to demonstrate their intelligence. |
| A．By improving the communication skills. |
| B．By sharing interest and adapting to others. |
| C．By showing respect and kindness to others. |
| D．By practicing active listening and speaking |
| A．We should abandon our personality to fit in. |
| B．Not changing ourselves is also a good choice. |
| C．Refusing help will turn you away from friends. |
| D．Following suit is a requirement in the society. |
6 . My brother and I were driving home together and started talking. Because of this
As we
My brother helped him change the flat. We started getting to know the young man who was from a dangerous neighborhood nearby. He said that this has been a
What I loved most was watching my brother throughout this
| A．journey | B．experience | C．distraction | D．relationship |
| A．Apparently | B．Ultimately | C．Potentially | D．Unfortunately |
| A．try | B．pay | C．drop | D．wait |
| A．enormous | B．shocking | C．obvious | D．needless |
| A．drove | B．looked | C．talked | D．walked |
| A．moved on | B．pulled over | C．pushed back | D．turned up |
| A．advice | B．money | C．assistance | D．accommodation |
| A．bad | B．busy | C．full | D．short |
| A．stuck | B．frozen | C．suspected | D．interrupted |
| A．told | B．joined | C．thanked | D．reminded |
| A．used | B．linked | C．allowed | D．supposed |
| A．learn | B．serve | C．work | D．visit |
| A．day | B．inquiry | C．process | D．finding |
| A．surprise | B．curiosity | C．excitement | D．annoyance |
| A．area | B．road | C．bridge | D．frontier |
7 . Despite heavy illegal hunting of rhinos, South Africa’s Kruger National Park is still a natural paradise. One of the largest remaining lion populations in Africa lives there. Yet there is something the local animals fear even more than the big cats.
Liana Zanette of Western University in Ontario and her colleagues were able to show that animals react most strongly to human voices and flee in response. For their experiment, the team placed camera traps and loudspeakers at water holes in the national park, which allowed the researchers to influence and record the behavior of a total of 19 mammal species. They played the animals sounds of normal conversations of humans in four South African languages, dogs barking, gunshots and lion sounds.
The study group found that animals were twice as likely to flee and yacated an area faster when they heard human voices than when they heard lions or gunshots. This was true for 95 percent of the animal species observed, including giraffes, leopards, hyenas, zebras, kudu, warthogs, impalas and rhinos. Only elephants were significantly more likely to run from lions than from humans.
The same was true of the time that animals spent at water holes: they usually stayed longer when lion sounds were played to them than when human voices were heard. Wild dogs, leopards and buffalo were the only animals who stayed at water holes longer when they heard humans, and the difference was not statistically significant for these species. “There is a notion that animals get used to humans when they are not being hunted. But we’ve shown that’s not the case,” Clinchy says. “Fear of humans is deeply rooted and common, so we need to seriously address it for conservation reasons.”
The team is now investigating whether its customized sound systems can be used to help endangered species, such as the southern white rhino, away from known poaching(偷猎) areas in South Africa. Initial tests of keeping rhinos away from such areas through the use of human voices have been successful.
1. What can we know about South Africa’s Kruger National Park?| A．Rhinos are effectively protected in the park. |
| B．Lions are the biggest threat for local animals. |
| C．Human voices cause fear in the local wildlife. |
| D．It is a natural paradise without illegal hunting. |
| A．Occupied. | B．Left. | C．Encountered. | D．Filled. |
| A．Elephants are more afraid of humans than lions. |
| B．Giraffes react most strongly to lions or gunshots. |
| C．Rhinos were more likely to run from lions than gunshots |
| D．Wild dogs stayed at water holes longer when hearing humans |
| A．Human Voices: a surprising deep-rooted fear in wildlife |
| B．Lions: the primary source of threat for the local animals |
| C．Lion Sounds: the potential use for wildlife protection |
| D．Humans: the impact on decreasing rhino population |
8 . People usually consider voluntary work as a completely selfless act, but voluntary work has its place in everyone’s lives, and my personal experiences have confirmed my belief in this.
Volunteer work has reminded me to cherish and appreciate little things in life. When I volunteered to teach life skills to students with cerebral palsy (脑瘫), I found that they were very grateful to the teachers and assistants by saying “thank you” and smiling.
Doing voluntary work has given my life more meaning.
| A．I felt that they had taught me a lesson on gratitude. |
| B．It is easy to be obsessed with material wants in society. |
| C．I am now able to go through life with more love and compassion. |
| D．Volunteer work has provided me with opportunities to make friends. |
| E．With the determination, the decisions I make are now more meaningful. |
| F．Moreover, I realized they are often unreasonably judged by other people. |
| G．Voluntary work has helped me better understand the lives of the less fortunate. |
The lion dance is a
Two dancers dress up as the lion. One dancer holds the large head of the brightly colored costume and the other dancer is the body. The dancers have to be very fit as they perform lots of moves. They dance to music
People will often hang the head of a lettuce (生菜) from ceilings or doorways. The lion will go in search
10 . The giant panda’s special black-and-white fur makes it one of the most recognizable animals on the planet. But why does it have this unique coloring? To hide from natural enemies, both in the snow and in the shadows, study lead author Tim Caro, a professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Biology at the University of California, Davis, said in a new statement. Moreover, the large black circles around a panda’s eyes may help other pandas recognize it, the researchers said.
Understanding why the giant panda has such noticeable color has been a long-term problem to solve. To find out the answer, Caro and his colleagues looked at photos of pandas and 195 other carnivore(食肉动物) species, including 39 subspecies of bear. Then, they recorded the coloring on each area of those animals’ bodies, and compared them with areas of the panda’s body. “Compared with the previous studies, the breakthrough in this study was treating each part of the body as an independent area,” Caro said.
The research team tried to figure out the purpose of the dark-colored furry areas. After going through many comparisons, the researchers determined that the white parts of the giant panda help it hide in the snow. In contrast, its black arms and legs help it hide in the shadows, they said. The panda’s white-and-black coloring didn’t appear to be related to temperature regulation. Nor did they find evidence that the dark circles around a panda’s eyes helped to make them look cuter.
“This really was a great effort by our team, finding and scoring thousands of images and scoring more than 10 areas per picture from over 20 possible colors,” study co-author Ted Stankowich, an assistant professor of biology at California State University, Long Beach, said in the statement. “Sometimes it takes hundreds of hours of hard work to answer the simplest question: Why is the panda black and white?”
1. What does the new study focus on?| A．How pandas hide from natural enemies successfully. |
| B．Why pandas have unique black-and-white coloring. |
| C．Whether the black circles around a panda’s eyes are useful. ” |
| D．What makes pandas so cute and eye-catching. |
| A．Researching more carnivore species. | B．Using the method of comparison. |
| C．Treating each part of the body separately. | D．Recording the number of photos. |
| A．The giant panda gets used to living in the snow. |
| B．The white-and-black fur can help pandas hide. |
| C．The coloring of pandas is related to temperature. |
| D．The function of the dark-colored areas is unknown. |
| A．Keeping your curiosity can make a difference. |
| B．Hundreds of hours of hard work is annoying. |
| C．Scientists dislike doing research on simple issues. |
| D．It needs efforts to find the why behind what you see. |
