1 . A new app aims to help parents interpret what their baby wants based on the sound of their cry. The free app ChatterBaby, which was released last month, analyzes the acoustic (声学的) features of a baby’s cry, to help parents understand whether their child might be hungry, fussy or in pain. While critics say caregivers should not rely too much on their smartphone, others say it’s a helpful tool for new or tired parents.
Ariana Anderson, a mother of four, developed the app. She originally designed the technology to help deaf parents better understand why their baby was upset, but soon realized it could be a helpful tool for all new parents.
To build a database, Anderson and her team uploaded 2,000 audio samples of infant(婴儿) cries. She used cries recorded during ear piercings and vaccinations to distinguish pain cries. And to create a baseline for the other two categories, a group of moms had to agree on whether the cry was either hungry or fussy.
Anderson’s team continues to collect data and hopes to make the app more accurate by asking parents to get specific about what certain sounds mean.
Pediatrician Eric Ball pointed out that evaluating cries can never be an exact science. “I think that all of the apps and technology that new parents are using now can be helpful but need to be taken seriously,” Ball said ,“ I do worry that some parents will get stuck in big data and turn their parenting into basically a spreadsheet(电子表格) which I think will take away the love and caring that parents are supposed to be providing for the children. ”
But Anderson said the aim of the app is to have parents interpret the results, not to provide a yes or no answer. The Bells, a couple using this app, say it’s a win-win. They believe they are not only helping their baby now but potentially others in the future.
1. How does the app judge what babies want?| A．By collecting data. |
| B．By recording all the sounds. |
| C．By analyzing the sound of their cries. |
| D．By asking parents about specific messages. |
| A．All new parents. | B．Deaf parents. |
| C．Ariana Anderson. | D．Crying babies. |
| A．Parents should use the app wisely. |
| B．The app can create an accurate result. |
| C．Parents and babies are addicted to the app. |
| D．The app makes babies lose love and caring. |
| A．Parents should not rely too much on their smartphones. |
| B．A new app helps parents figure out why their babies are crying. |
| C．Parents can deal with babies’ hunger with the help of a new app. |
| D．A new app called ChatterBaby can prevent babies from crying. |
2 . How To Channel Your Anger When You’re IN IT
We all experience momentary bursts of anger every now and then
Acknowledge that you’re angry.
When you’re angry, you notice it in your body.
The standard advice here is to take deep breaths, in and out. When you’re really in anger though, and the breathing, counting or similar techniques aren’t working, it pays to take cues from your physiological sensations. Ask yourself what your anger wants to do.
Give yourself a time out.
How do you do the exercise above when you're in the middle of a face-to-face conversation? Call a personal timeout.
Change the subject of the conversation.
Let’s say you’ve taken the advice above, but you’re still feeling heated. If you or your partner/co-worker/friend still feel hotheaded, changing the topic of conversation can also be a good way to cope with anger in the moment.
By cooler heads prevail, we don’t mean this. Take what you’ve learned here and cool it, hothead!
| A．Follow your body’s cues, safely and slowly |
| B．Ask yourself what emotion is behind the anger |
| C．You experience it physically far more than you do cognitively |
| D．There are things you can do in the moment to calm yourself, though |
| E．Focusing on something else helps change your mood and how you will respond |
| F．I would like you to be supportive of me and only give me your input when I ask for it |
| G．Walking away gives you time to calm down and collect your thoughts before responding |
3 . Modem architecture has brought many amazing buildings to the world. Here are some of the strangest buildings in the world.
Habitat 67, Montreal, Canada
Habitat 67 is a very interesting arrangement of cubes, which looks like the building blocks that children play with. It is pretty interesting how it was designed. In its material sense, the cube is a symbol of stability. It looks so original and at the same time comfortable for living. It was created as a main attraction for Expo 67, one of the world’s largest universal expositions (博览会) where housing was one of the main themes.
The Basket Building, Ohio, United States
The Longaberger Basket Company building in Newark, Ohio might just be a strangest office building in the world. The 180,000-square-foot building, a copy of the company’s famous market basket, cost $ 30 million and took two years to complete. Many experts tried to persuade Dave Longaberger to change his plans, but he wanted an exact copy of the real thing.
The Crooked House, Sopot, Poland
Finished in 2003, the Crooked House has an extraordinary and amazing structure. Its design was based on the pictures of polish artist Jan Marcin Szancer and Swedish painter Per Dahlberg. It looks as if it had been taken from a cartoon: The building lines are not straight, but they are balanced, so the house is not ugly at all, just strange! The interesting part is how builders managed to create this genius idea, but the house is a fact and everyone admires their creativity.
La Pedrera, Spain
It is situated in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The story of the house is pretty interesting. The house was designed by Antoni Gaudi and built for a married couple. It is an extraordinary but stylish building considered to be highly unconventional-there is not even one straight line!
1. Which of the buildings above is associated with a toy?| A．Habitat 67. | B．The Basket Building. |
| C．The Crooked House. | D．La Pedrera. |
| A．It was built for exhibition. |
| B．It was designed following the pictures. |
| C．It was constructed according to its original design. |
| D．It might be the strangest office building in the world. |
| A．They both look very ugly. |
| B．They are built by Antoni Gaudi |
| C．Their design patterns are common. |
| D．Their construction lines are bent. |
4 . Detroit Hives is a non-profit organization that buys vacant lots in the city to transform into bee farms. Timothy Paul and Nicole Lindsey started the non-profit last year, focused on improving the Motor City’s “left behind” communities and educating people on bees.
Timothy got interested in honey and honeybees because of a cough he couldn’t shake. He was sick for months, until a store owner in nearby Ferndale recommended he try some local honey. Soon Timothy’s cough was gone. And he and Nicole found that abandoned urban sites often became illegal dumping grounds, contributing to an overgrowth of allergens (过敏原) — not to mention the mess. The couple began to think about how to settle that issue by producing local honey on vacant sites, and Detroit Hives was born.
To become certified beekeepers, Timothy and Nicole took two courses. They bought their first vacant lot for $340, with the aid of the Detroit Land Bank Authority community partnership program. From there, they built three hives and vegetable garden plots. Thousands of bees now buzz (嗡嗡) on the lot. “The neighbors say they wish we were there decades of years ago. That area had always been a place where people dumped garbage, so when we came here, we gave that area a sense of purpose. The neighbors keep an eye on the area to make sure that people don’t dump any more,” Lindsey said.
Currently, Detroit Hives has partnered with local Detroit Soup and a homeless shelter to provide local, raw honey and they also sell their sweet product. In addition, Detroit Hives spreads awareness about bees through public tours of the farm. The couple also speak at schools in the area. They aim to expand beyond their first farm this year.
1. What does the author intend to tell us in Paragraph 2?| A．The method of curing cough. |
| B．The inspiration for Detroit Hives. |
| C．The terrible environment in Detroit. |
| D．The medical value of local honey. |
| A．It enriched the variety of vegetables. |
| B．It disturbed the neighbors’ normal life. |
| C．It improved the environment in the area. |
| D．It enabled neighbors to live in harmony. |
| A．To appeal to more customers. |
| B．To help expand their first farm. |
| C．To promote their honey product. |
| D．To help people learn more about bees. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Faithful. |
| C．Creative. | D．Demanding. |
5 . Linda worked as a waitress at the Route 130 diner in Dover, New Hampshire. One Thursday morning around 5:30 am, she was
This simple act of kindness meant so much to the
To return the young lady’s kindness, upon his arrival home, Hulling posted a Facebook update
However, it was not until afterwards that they realized Linda was
The total donations reached $60,000 and went beyond Linda’s wildest dreams. She had never
| A．calling | B．praising | C．serving | D．anticipating |
| A．in private | B．in public | C．by design | D．by coincidence |
| A．day | B．night | C．morning | D．afternoon |
| A．Touched | B．Shocked | C．Excited | D．Embarrassed |
| A．uniform | B．money | C．check | D．breakfast |
| A．replied | B．wrote | C．indicated | D．read |
| A．concern | B．courage | C．confidence | D．curiosity |
| A．worried | B．ambitious | C．modest | D．exhausted |
| A．showed up | B．sat up | C．teared up | D．stayed up |
| A．apartment | B．station | C．restaurant | D．warehouse |
| A．urging | B．forcing | C．helping | D．reminding |
| A．collected | B．examined | C．removed | D．shared |
| A．really | B．normally | C．suddenly | D．hardly |
| A．fire | B．help | C．diner | D．message |
| A．count | B．donate | C．change | D．raise |
| A．note | B．picture | C．link | D．click |
| A．poured in | B．spread out | C．declined | D．doubled |
| A．promised | B．expected | C．doubted | D．accepted |
| A．rapid | B．generous | C．proper | D．conventional |
| A．grateful | B．eager | C．ready | D．greedy |
6 . As they reach school age, about 90 percent of children will have experienced a condition in which fluid (液体) fills the middle ear, muffling (使模糊) sound and sometimes causing infection. The fluid usually clears on its own, but if not, it can lead to a painful ear infection called acute otitis (中耳炎) media. In some cases the fluid can persist for more than a year, causing hearing loss during this period, and slowing down their development of language and social skills.
Diagnosis usually requires a visit to a specialist—but researchers have now developed an app that detects this fluid just as accurately, with only a smartphone and a paper funnel (漏斗).
Doctors typically detect the problem by peering into the ear for a visual assessment. Yet, this method has only a 50 percent accuracy rate. “Right now, if you bring your child to a pediatrician, or to any urgent care family doctor, the way they look at whether or not there’s fluid in the middle ear is by looking at the eardrum,” says Sharat Raju, a surgeon in the department of head and neck surgery at the University of Washington.
For a cheaper and more accessible alternative, researchers at the University of Washington turned to smartphones. First the user follows a template to cut and tape a piece of paper into a funnel, which can be placed between a smartphone and the patient’s ear. Next the app plays a chirping sound through the phone’s speaker; the sound waves bounce off the eardrum and hit the phone’s microphone, where they register and are analyzed by the app. An eardrum with fluid behind it will vibrate (振动) differently than if the middle ear is full of air, as it normally is.
To develop the app, the researchers first played chirps for patients with and without fluid in their ears. They recorded the echoes (回音), which indicate the eardrum’s mobility. Then they used a machine learning model to classify the returning sound waves, determining which audio characteristics indicated a normal ear and which suggested the presence of fluid. Once they tested the app on 98 children, ranging from 18 months to 17 years old, at Seattle Children’s Hospital. It correctly detected fluid in 85 percent of cases, and correctly identified fluid-free ears in 82 percent.
The researchers are currently trying to get FDA approval for the app, and have founded a company to commercialize it. They hope to make it available by the end of the year, to help parents track children’s ear health at home.
1. What do we know about the fluid from the first paragraph?| A．It is mostly part of children’s growth. | B．It is unavoidable for any child. |
| C．It is a permanent physical condition. | D．It is beyond any medical means. |
| A．A hospital. | B．A specialist. |
| C．A relative. | D．An app. |
| A．The application of the app. | B．The causes of the kid’s ear problem. |
| C．The purpose of developing the app. | D．The experiment of the smartphone. |
| A．It will upgrade the medical technology. | B．It will hit the market in the near future. |
| C．It will help children do better academically. | D．It will save doctors medical operations. |
7 . Bus Tours in Washington DC
The Blossoms Tour In Washington DC
Duration: 3 hours $56.99
BEST WAY to Experience the Cherry Blossoms! Each year from mid March to mid April, see the beautiful Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC and get great photos because you’ll be led to all the best spots by the best guides. The annual spring bloom in DC is a magical time and this tour promises to provide the very best tour opportunity for you!
The Lights Night Tour in Washington DC
Duration: 3 hours $56.33
Highest-rated Night Tour in DC! The ONLY DC Night Tour where the Tour Guides HOP OFF with you at each stop and tell you about each monument and attracton. HOP aboard the The Lights Night Tour! The best time to take a tour of Washington DC is at night.
The Best Minibus Tour in Washington DC
Duration: 3 hours $ 46.92
See all the key atractions DC has to offer in a 3-hour format. You will learn all about the history and trivia (琐事) that surrounds Washington and visit the major monuments and attractions DC has to offer.
Please Note: Rates for this tour vary by day of the week. When you choose your specific date on the availability calendar, the rates for that date will be displayed.
Best Mount Vernon & Arlington Cemetery Tour from Washington DC
Duration: 6 hours $ 78.96
See Arlington Cemetery, Old Town Alexandria and George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate on this small group bus tour from Washington DC. Your tour guide will accompany you through Mount Vernon, telling you about all of the atractions there and the history of George Washington’s home on the Potomac River.
1. Which date suits The Blossoms Tour most?| A．July 4. | B．August 15. |
| C．March 27. | D．October 8. |
| A．Its price is not fixed. | B．The best time to take it is at night. |
| C．The tour guide accompanies you. | D．You can get great photos of cherry. |
| A．The Blossoms Tour. | B．The Lights Night Tour. |
| C．Tbe Best Minibus Tour. | D．Best Mount Vermon & Arlington Cemetery Tour. |
