One of the great delights of Xi’an is to explore its nightlife and entertainment. It gives the visitor a
A good place to start is the Bell Tower as it stands in the historical center of the city
If you want to enjoy a more traditional Chinese evening, then the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show is
Outside the Box
The Harvestfest contest was falling on Friday and everyone in school was talking about it. All the students would show up in their self-made costumes and a winner would be chosen by the principal.
“Do you have your costume for the Harvestfest contest?” Alice asked. “I’m going as a chocolate bar. My mom and I have been working on it all week.”
“Yeah, I have a costume,” said Jordan Eastman, popping up the two front wheels of his wheelchair as he waited for his dad to pick him up. “But it’s boring.”
“Why? What is it?” Alice asked.
“MaxMag the superhero, but Danny, Tom and Izzy are all going as MaxMag too.” Jordan shook his head. “That’s too many to stand a chance at winning the contest.” He waved to his dad, who had just pulled up in front of the school.
Jordan rolled his wheelchair toward his dad, and Alice walked with him to the minivan.
“Maybe you should go as something else.”
“The contest is Friday night.” Jordan sighed. “It’s too late to change costumes.”
“Jordan, you have to think outside the box. Look around your house and see what you have. There’s hidden potential in everyday items.” She took a sip of her drink, and told Jordan that her chocolate-bar costume was made from old fabric her mom had lying around and recycled plastics.
On his way home, Jordan was quiet. He kept thinking about Alice’s words: Think outside the box. There’s hidden potential in everyday items. When he got home, he found his mum handling with some wooden pieces. She was putting a new desk together. On top of the desk was the huge empty cardboard box the pieces had come in. Mom smiled at Jordan, pointing at the desk, “What do you think?”
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。
Jordan’s eyes fell on the box and he smiled, “It’s perfect . … with my wheelchair.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Soon it was Friday night, and Jordan couldn’t wait to show his costume.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3 . Apps play tricks on you to turn an activity into a habit. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to encourage healthy behaviors such as exercising or playing word games.
Do a cost-benefit analysis.
Build in “cheat days”. They are like days off from a strict diet.
A.Use digital timers. |
B.Schedule a limited amount of time for your habit |
C.It’s hard to be mindful of why we do what we do. |
D.Limiting tech overuse can’t be only your responsibility. |
E.But even a good habit can cross the line into unavoidable overuse. |
F.Actually, doing your favorite activity without a goal can be relaxing. |
G.However, don’t be so motivated by rewards that you ignore signs your body needs a rest. |
4 . Without cracking a single textbook, without spending a day in medical school, the co-author of a preprint study correctly answered enough questions that it would have passed the real US Medical Licensing Examination. But the test-taker wasn’t a member of Mensa or a medical specialist; it was the artificial intelligence ChatGPT. The tool, which was created to answer user questions in a conversational manner, has generated so much buzz that doctors and scientists are trying to determine what its limitations are and what it could do for health and medicine.
The medical licensing exam is generally considered one of the toughest of any profession because it not only tests basic science, medical knowledge, but also assesses clinical reasoning, ethics (道德观念), critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
The AI passed all the parts of the exam without any specialized training, showing a high level of insight in its explanations. This greatly impressed Dr. Victor Tseng, a medical director of the California-based group and a co-author of the study. “Googling the answer is very difficult,” he explained. “Because there’re a lot of red herrings on the Internet. It might take hours to get an accurate answer.” But ChatGPT was able to do it within five seconds.
The results of the medical licensing exam study were even written up with the help of ChatGPT. However, the journal Nature created guidelines that said no such program could be credited as an author because “any authorship carries with it accountability for the work, and AI tools cannot take such responsibility.” Actually, AI is only as good as the information it’s fed, and with so much inaccurate information available online about things like Covid-19 vaccines, it could use that to generate inaccurate results.
Tseng said he ultimately thinks ChatGPT can enhance medical practice, but won’t replace doctors. Tseng’s group will continue to test it to learn why it creates certain errors and what other ethical factors need to be put in place before using it for real.
“AI is here. The doors are open,” Tseng said. “I firmly believe that it will actually make me and make us as physicians and providers better.”
1. What can ChatGPT possibly do according to paragraph 1?A.Study in medical school. | B.Start an online conversation. |
C.Conduct a study independently. | D.Pass a challenging examination. |
A.Appealing topics. | B.Efficient helpers. | C.Hidden resources. | D.Distracting facts. |
A.it has invented all the data based on inaccurate information |
B.it doesn’t actively create and is not responsible for the work |
C.it doesn’t have a bank account and can’t receive payment |
D.it has failed to demonstrate problem-solving skills |
A.Interested yet doubtful. | B.Disinterested and calm. |
C.Confident yet cautious. | D.Critical and disappointed. |
5 . One night many years ago when I was on the bridge of a ship that passed one of our large cities on a quiet night, I saw its lights reflected in the sky and heard the rumblings of the city's noises. As I looked to my other side, I could see nothing but open space of darkness and endless water. I realized how small I was and that my own problems of life did not seem great.
I have spent twenty—five years on boats. Now I am a docking pilot. My job is to bring in the large luxury liners and stay with them until they are safely anchored in their berths. Sometimes this requires two tugs(拖船), sometimes many more, depending on the tide, the weather, and the draft of the vessel.
Most of you no doubt have seen these tugs pushing and pulling at the big liners. What they are doing doesn't seem to make much sense at first, but presently the big boat is alongside her landing stage, her ropes made fast, and the job is done.
These tugs, whether one or ten, move about in accord with whistle signals I send them from the bridge of the big liner. These signals make up a language that is just as dependable as the spoken word; or even more so, because our docking signals are rarely misunderstood. The captain of each tug does his work according to the signals he receives. He never asks questions. He takes everything on faith, and it always works out.
I fell very important the first time I ever docked a big liner, thinking that I was in control of a great ship worth millions of dollars and the owners were depending on me to bring her safely to her berth. After I had docked several of the large liners, I realized I was not important, but simply the quarterback who called the signals.
Working around tugboats has had its effect on what I believe. The great transatlantic liners depend on the help of the little tugs to bring them safely to port, and it is with one's success.
1. According to paragraph 3, originally, the job of a tugboat was .A.important | B.humble |
C.tough | D.complex |
A.To give a detailed description. | B.To display the characteristics. |
C.To make a comparison. | D.To help reveal the theme. |
A.diligence | B.mutual assistance |
C.learning | D.individual excellence |
A.Tugboats and the Pilot | B.The Significance of Teamwork |
C.The Workings of Tugboats | D.Philosophy from Tugboats |
6 . Batman may not have any superpowers, but his inspiration certainly does.
More than 1,400 bat species live around the world, except in Antarctica and a few remote islands. Over their 50 million years of evolution, bats have developed clever solutions to life’s challenges, from a built-in sonar (声呐) system for finding food to fast, flexible wings that produce the fastest level-flight speed of any animal on Earth.
“There is still a lot to learn, but it is clear that bats really do have superpowers,” says Rodrigo Medellín, an ecologist. “Bats are showing us how to live a better life, for instance, by serving as models for healthy living and long lives.”
As a general rule in biology, smaller animals have shorter lives than larger ones. But bats are rule breakers: they’re the longest-lived mammals (哺乳动物) relative to their body size. Recently, scientists looked inside bats’ cells for the secrets to their exceptionally long lives. They focused on telomeres (端粒), which are the protective structures found at the ends of chromosomes (染色体). In most animals, telomeres tend to get shorter with age. But the telomeres of the longest-lived group of bats, Myotis, do not appear to shrink (收缩) with age. Understanding why bats live so long may help humans live longer one day.
In addition to living longer, bats remain healthy throughout their lives, with very low risk of developing cancer. Furthermore, bats can carry deadly viruses without getting sick. So further research into their unique immune (免疫的) systems may actually give insight into how people can live with viruses and not get sick.
Beyond their own abilities, bats also support many other parts of their ecosystems. Three out of every four bat species eat insects. Many are pests that cause damage to important agricultural crops, such as cotton. Scientists estimate that insect-eating bats may save U.S. farmers about 1 billion per year. In addition, many bat species help improve plant health and diversity.
“Bats are unsung heroes of biodiversity,” says Medellín. “It’s about time we appreciated them.”
1. What can be learned about bats from the text?A.They fly the fastest of all land animals. |
B.They are at low risk of falling sick with a virus. |
C.They live mainly on the islands of Antarctica. |
D.They are the longest-lived animals given their size. |
A.Animals’ telomeres rarely shrink with age. |
B.Myotis’s telomeres do not shorten as they age. |
C.Smaller animals usually live shorter lives than larger ones. |
D.More research into bat telomeres could help people live more healthily. |
A.To show what bats feed on. |
B.To call on people to protect bats. |
C.To explain how bats benefit the farmers. |
D.To highlight the importance of bats to the ecosystem. |
A.Bats Offer Clues to Treating Diseases |
B.How Bats Deal with Life’s Challenges |
C.Scientists Unlock the Secrets to Long Lives |
D.Why Bats Are Superheroes of the Animal World |
1. 对她的成就表示祝贺;
2. 作为同龄人她对你的影响和启迪;
3. 表达祝愿。
注意:
1. 写作词数应为80左右;
2. 请按以下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________