1 . “Blame My Brain” by Nicola Morgan, reviewed by Rosalie Warren

As someone who constantly blames my brain for all sorts of things (not my fault — my brain did it!), I was _______ by the title of Nicola Morgan’s book and only slightly disappointed to learn that it was _______ teenagers. Since I have many days when I feel that I am barely out of my teens (though the mirror, sadly, does not bear this out), I decided that the book might still be relevant to me, and indeed to my relationships with my no-longer-teenage children.

The subtitle is “The amazing teenage brain revealed” and amazing is, I soon _______, exactly what the teenage brain is. I learned that one of the things that _______ to the brain in our early teenage years is a flurry of growth of the dendrites (connections between neurons), followed a few years later by a major pruning session where many of the relatively unused connections are culled and the remaining ones are strengthened and coated with a fatty myelin layer ready for adult life. Not _______, all this activity is not without its downside for the person “within”, and it goes along way towards _______ why teenagers can be so difficult to live with and to cope with themselves.

There are also brain-based explanations of why teenagers need so much sleep, why they don’t tidy their rooms, why they come _______ when the rest of the world is going to sleep and why some of them, at least, are risk-takers. There’s stuff about alcohol and drugs and why such things are not good for the brain, but all of it is written in a very _______ and understanding way that I think teenagers will warm to.

Nicola Morgan is not a neurologist or a _______ scientist, but she clearly had done a great deal of research and ________ experts including Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and Professor Susan Greenfield, among many other eminent names in the field. Morgan has a gift for simplifying and explaining ________ subject matter with a light but precise touch, and she is careful to ________ between established facts and theories and speculations of her own and other people’s.

There’s plenty of humour and a good few well-deserved digs at the stupidity of parents and other well-meaning but misguided adults, which teenagers will ________. There are diagrams, tests, photos relating to questions like What emotions can you recognize? Do you ________ other emotions with anger? What kind of thinker are you? Which mental tasks do you find comparatively easy or difficult? There’s also sound advice for addiction, self-harm, depression and other ________ illnesses, and some pointers towards recognizing when you may need to seek help.

The illustrations by Andy Baker are great, too. And oh yes — there’s some interesting discussion on the differences between girls’ brains and boys’, if there are any. You’ll have to read it to find out...

1.

A．attracted

B．interested

C．invested

D．introduced

2.

A．intended to

B．aimed at

C．targeted by

D．appealed to

3.

A．defended

B．dismissed

C．discovered

D．differed

4.

A．happens

B．projects

C．evolves

D．limits

5.

A．surprisingly

B．immediately

C．unfortunately

D．regularly

6.

A．expressing

B．explaining

C．declaring

D．exposing

7.

A．living

B．lively

C．alive

D．alone

8.

A．sympathetic

B．pessimistic

C．positive

D．negative

9.

A．laborious

B．humorous

C．productive

D．professional

10.

A．consulted

B．conducted

C．converted

D．suggested

11.

A．complicated

B．simplified

C．contrary

D．demanding

12.

A．denounce

B．distinguish

C．determine

D．depend

13.

A．appreciate

B．hate

C．respect

D．reflect

14.

A．confuse

B．combine

C．unite

D．associate

15.

A．mind

B．physical

C．mental

D．emotional

2 . It started with a bit of casual discomfort on the head, but after a week it had spread to the back of my neck, enough to lead me to my laptop. Annoying as it was, I was ________ to take up my doctor’s time with such a silly complaint and then have a wasted journey only to be informed that it would clear up by itself and that ________ would be of no use at all.

As soon as I’d tapped in ‘online self-diagnosis’, the search engine provided me with over 11.5 million results. And during the time normally spent in the clinic’s waiting room reading the Women’s Weekly, I was able to find a site that would provide a free ________ in the comfort of my chair, and with no need for an appointment,

I answered all the questions until I eventually reached a description exactly matching my ________. As I clicked on ‘More Information’, I was hit with what I’d never anticipated. The worst case scenario was complete hair loss. I couldn’t have been more ________.

I headed off to the doctor for what I thought would be a blood test but which turned out to be a valuable lesson in not ________ everything you read on the internet. It took him less than a minute to guess at and locate head lice (虱子). I was relieved to know that I would be ________ my hair, and horrified to know that it was being occupied.

I learnt my lesson, but for some the worry caused by ________ every ache has led to a new form of hypochondria (疑病症). Named ‘cyberchondria’ by the print media back in 2000, this particular condition has ________ greatly. Although most people’s main point of call is still the doctor’s surgery, it’s estimated that ________ worries are now the second most researched topic on the web. This is truly a serious concern when about 25%of the medical information online is thought to be ________.

Once upon a time, hypochondria required time and effort: you had to go to the library to research your diseases and ________ go through the books. Now it’s just a matter of a few clicks of a mouse. But while your doctor will make a diagnosis ________ your age, appearance and medical history, a search engine will rely simply on algorithms (算法). These come up with results graded according to popularity or numbers of key words. So the most highly ranked hits might actually be for very genuine disease, which are nonetheless extremely ________. One minute you think you’ve come down with the flu, the next you’re under attack from sub-tropical, flesh-eating bacteria. Time spent going to the doctor’s for ________ of mind suddenly seems fair enough.

1.

A．reluctant

B．surprised

C．able

D．sure

2.

A．knowledge

B．association

C．evidence

D．medication

3.

A．sample

B．assessment

C．subscription

D．upgrade

4.

A．standards

B．arguments

C．definitions

D．symptoms

5.

A．fortunate

B．touched

C．alarmed

D．different

6.

A．believing

B．explaining

C．questioning

D．covering

7.

A．keeping

B．losing

C．drying

D．washing

8.

A．taking off

B．putting on

C．breaking away

D．looking up

9.

A．dropped

B．differed

C．increased

D．helped

10.

A．safety

B．health

C．access

D．money

11.

A．available

B．accurate

C．misleading

D．complex

12.

A．occasionally

B．automatically

C．painstakingly

D．literally

13.

A．bringing to light

B．taking into consideration

C．putting into practice

D．setting on top

14.

A．rare

B．hard

C．large

D．simple

15.

A．state

B．change

C．freedom

D．peace

3 . The Great PowerPoint Panic of 2003.

Sixteen minutes before touchdown on the morning of February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia (“哥伦比亚”号航天飞机)______ into the cloudless East Texas sky. All seven astronauts aboard were killed. As the shattered shuttle flew toward Earth in pieces, it looked to its live TV viewers like a swarm of shooting stars.

The immediate ______ of the disaster, a report from a NASA Accident Investigation Board determined that August, was a piece of insulating foam (绝缘泡沫胶) that had broken loose and damaged the shuttle’s left wing soon after liftoff. But the report also   ______ out a less direct, more surprising cause. Engineers had known about - and inappropriately______ - the wing damage long before Columbia’s attempted reentry, but the flaws in their analysis were ______ in a series of overstuffed computer-presentation slides that were shown to NASA officials.

By the start of 2003, the phrase “death by PowerPoint” had well and truly entered the ______ vocabulary. Edward Tufte was the first to have taken it literally: That spring, the Yale statistician published a booklet entitled The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint, whose core argument was that the medium of communication influences the substance of communication. While PowerPoint, as a medium, did not ______ create unclear, lazy presentations, it certainly ______ and sometimes even masked them — with potentially deadly consequences. This is exactly what Tufte saw in the Columbia engineers’ slides.

Wired ran an excerpt (节选) from Tufte’s booklet in September 2003 under the headline “PowerPoint Is Evil.” A few months later, The New York Times Magazine included his assessment — summarized as “PowerPoint Makes You Dumb” — in its ______ of the year’s most important ideas. “Perhaps PowerPoint is uniquely suited to our modern age of confusion,” the entry read.

Despite the backlash it inspired in the ______, the presentation giant rolls on. The program has more monthly users than ever before, well into the hundreds of millions. During lockdown, people ______ PowerPoint parties on Zoom. Kids now make PowerPoint presentations for their parents when they want to get a puppy. If PowerPoint is evil, then evil ______ the world.

On its face at least, the idea that PowerPoint makes us stupid looks like a textbook case of misguided technological doomsaying. Today’s concerns about social media somehow resemble the PowerPoint critique. Both boil down to a worry that new media technologies ______ form over substance, that they are designed to hold our attention rather than to convey truth, and that they make us stupid.

______, concerns about new media rarely seem to make a difference. If the innovation did change the way we think, we are measuring its effects with an altered mind. Either the critical remarks were wrong, or they were so right that we can no longer tell the   ______.

1.

A．disappeared

B．disintegrated

C．distributed

D．disappointed

2.

A．side

B．cause

C．feature

D．issue

3.

A．collected

B．unified

C．dropped

D．single

4.

A．discounted

B．viewed

C．accessed

D．founded

5.

A．muted

B．absorbed

C．buried

D．sunk

6.

A．technical

B．popular

C．negative

D．special

7.

A．possibly

B．reasonably

C．ordinarily

D．necessarily

8.

A．accommodated

B．combined

C．distinguished

D．enhanced

9.

A．abstract

B．repetition

C．review

D．brief

10.

A．press

B．publication

C．media

D．criticism

11.

A．opened

B．created

C．threw

D．jumped

12.

A．rules

B．harmonizes

C．impacts

D．roars

13.

A．feature

B．encourage

C．value

D．defend

14.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Certainly

D．Surprisingly

15.

A．difference

B．truth

C．time

D．concern

4 . At first, the grains of rice that Ingo Potrykus held in his fingers did not seem at all _________, but inside, these grains were not white, as ordinary rice is, but a very pale yellow — thanks to beta-carotene (胡萝卜素), a building block for vitamin A.

For more than a decade Potrykus had _________ creating a golden rice that could improve the lives of millions of the poorest people in the world, strengthening their eyesight and their _________ disease.

_________ imagining golden rice was one thing and creating one quite another. Year after year, Potrykus and his colleagues ran into one _________ after another until success finally came in the spring of 1999.

At that point, he tackled an even greater challenge. The golden grains _________ pieces of DNA borrowed from bacteria and flowers. It was what some would call Frankenfood, a product of genetic engineering. As such, it _________ a web of hopes and fears.

The debate began the moment genetically engineered crops (GM crops) were first sold in the 1990s, and it has _________ ever since. First to start major protests against biotechnology were European environmentalists and consumer-advocacy groups. They were soon followed by their U.S. counterparts (相对应的人事物).

The hostility is _________. Most of the GM crops __________ so far have been developed to produce a plant that is not harmed by chemicals used to kill weeds (杂草) in the fields. These genetically engineered crops are often sold by the same large, multinational corporations that __________ the weed-killing chemicals that farmers spray on their fields. Consumers have become suspicious (怀疑的).

The benefits did seem small __________ golden rice was developed. It is the first strong example of a GM crop that may __________ not just the farmers who grow it but also the consumers who eat it. In this case, those include at least a million children who die every year because they are weakened by vitamin-A deficiency (缺乏) and an additional 350,000 who go blind.

Many people __________ poverty and hunger look at golden rice and see it as evidence that GM crops can be made to serve the greater public good. They see a critical role for GM crops in feeding the world’s ever-increasing population. As former U.S. President Jimmy Carter put it, “Responsible biotechnology is not the enemy; __________ is.”

1.

A．typical

B．special

C．local

D．white

2.

A．dreamed of

B．come in handy

C．been reminded of

D．broken up

3.

A．attempt at

B．effort to

C．resistance to

D．majority of

4.

A．But

B．And

C．While

D．Since

5.

A．surprise

B．obstacle

C．norm

D．opposition

6.

A．achieved

B．stressed

C．overlooked

D．contained

7.

A．was caught in

B．was alive with

C．be conscious of

D．was honored by

8.

A．announced

B．maintained

C．escalated

D．applied

9.

A．brilliant

B．understandable

C．discharged

D．rewarding

10.

A．introduced

B．reminded

C．respected

D．overlooked

11.

A．toss and turn

B．give and take

C．produce and sell

D．demand and supply

12.

A．until

B．after

C．although

D．when

13.

A．feature

B．mark

C．build

D．benefit

14.

A．worried about

B．ashamed of

C．filled with

D．admired for

15.

A．terror

B．misery

C．starvation

D．crisis

5 . Background noise—like the chatter in a coffee shop or the drone of passing traffic—might slow our reading speed, but according to a study of Russian readers, it doesn’t _________ how our brain understands written text.

_________, if you’re wondering whether you should be listening to podcasts or music while working, the study has some interesting points to make. In particular, it examined how we might change our reading style to compensate for auditory noise and visual distractions such as typos or poor formatting.

“Overall, previous studies reported a harmful effect of both auditory and visual noise on reading fluency and _________, though their results varied,” write linguistics researcher Nina Zdorova and colleagues. “So far, none of the studies exploring the influence of noise _________ it in the framework of the language processing theories.”

One of the language processing theories examined was the noisy channel model, which proposes that our brain deals with noise by looking at the meaning of _________ words more and at entire sentences less. We then use a bit of smart guesswork to _________ the overall meaning and relationships between words.

The second theory is the good enough model; that’s when our brains aren’t analyzing every single detail of a text but instead only grabbing enough words for a ‘good enough’ understanding. By focusing less on the precise words, our brains can _________ some cognitive resources to deal with noise.

To see how reading was affected by noise _________ these models, the researchers ran two experiments: one on auditory noise (71 participants) and one on visual noise (70 participants). When it came to the auditory noise test, background chatter from overlapping podcasts caused people to spend longer looking at the key section of sentences before completing their reading. This extra time could _________ the noise, meaning sentence comprehension isn’t affected by it. In the visual noise test, comprehension remained the same while reading speed __________. That’s a bit __________ considering previous studies, but the researchers think people just wanted to finish the task, with the visual noise an uncomfortable distraction.

“In both experiments, we observed that longer total reading time was __________ with an accuracy increase for incorrect sentences,” write the researchers.

There’s a lot going on in this study, but overall it’s a bigger win for the good-enough language processing theory and an indication that auditory and visual noise doesn’t make us __________ any more or less on any particular comprehension method while we’re reading.

With so many variables to measure in terms of what’s being read and what the __________ noise is, further study is required to learn more. __________ potential distractions may not interrupt your reading as much as you think.

1.

A．reinforce

B．estimate

C．affect

D．interpret

2.

A．First of all

B．For example

C．Above all

D．To start with

3.

A．context

B．efficiency

C．comprehension

D．device

4.

A．evaluated

B．identified

C．established

D．employed

5.

A．individual

B．different

C．new

D．unfamiliar

6.

A．confirm

B．imply

C．refer

D．infer

7.

A．exploit

B．spare

C．commit

D．consume

8.

A．on account of

B．regardless of

C．in regard to

D．in contrast to

9.

A．make up for

B．live up to

C．catch up with

D．put up with

10.

A．declined

B．shrank

C．expanded

D．increased

11.

A．embarrassing

B．depressing

C．puzzling

D．annoying

12.

A．associated

B．compared

C．replaced

D．mixed

13.

A．take

B．set

C．rely

D．base

14.

A．accompanying

B．strange

C．deafening

D．distant

15.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Instead

D．Otherwise

6 . Scientific discovery is popularly believed to result from the sheer genius of such intellectual stars as naturalist Charles Darwin and theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. Our view of such unique contributions to science often _________ the person’s prior experience and the efforts of their lesser-known predecessors (前任者).

_________ such greats as Darwin and Einstein—whose remarkable contributions are duly celebrated — we suggest that innovation is more a process of trial and error, where two steps forward may sometimes come with one step back, as well as one or more steps to the right or left. This evolutionary view of human innovation weakens the idea of _________ genius and recognizes the accumulative nature of scientific progress.

Consider one _________ scientist: John Nicholson, a mathematical physicist working in the 1910s who assumed the existence of ‘proto-elements’ in outer space. By combining different numbers of weights of these proto-elements’ atoms, Nicholson could recover the weights of all the elements in the then-known periodic table. These successes are all the more noteworthy given the fact that Nicholson was _________ about the presence of proto-elements: they do not actually exist. Yet, amid his often fanciful theories and wild guesses, Nicholson also _________ a new theory about the structure of atoms. Niels Bohr, the Nobel prize-winning father of modern atomic theory, _________ this interesting idea to come up with his now-famous model of the atom.

What are we to make of this story? We propose that science is constantly _________, much as species of animals do. In biological systems, organisms may display new characteristics that _________ random genetic mutations (变异). In the same way, random or accidental mutations of ideas may help pave the way for __________ in science. __________ mutations prove beneficial, the animal or the scientific theory will continue to thrive and perhaps reproduce.

__________ for this evolutionary view of behavioral innovation comes from many domains. Consider one example of an influential innovation in US horseracing. The so-called ‘acey-deucy’ stirrup (马镫) placement, in which the rider’s foot in his left stirrup is placed as much as 25 centimeters lower than the right, is believed to give important speed advantages when turning on egg-shaped tracks. It was developed by a relatively unknown jockey named Jackie Westrope. Had he __________ the speed advantage that would be provided by riding acey-deucy? No. He suffered a leg injury, which left him unable to fully bend his left knee. His __________ just happened to coincide with enhanced left-hand turning performance.

Plenty of other stories show that fresh advances can arise from error, misadventure, and also pure serendipity — a happy __________. The time seems right for abandoning the naive notions of intelligent design and genius, and for scientifically exploring the true origins of creative behavior.

1.

A．overlooks

B．enriches

C．questions

D．reflects

2.

A．Aiming at

B．Longing for

C．Holding back

D．Setting aside

3.

A．native

B．creative

C．subjective

D．sensitive

4.

A．stressed

B．unrecognized

C．celebrated

D．respected

5.

A．suspicious

B．concerned

C．wrong

D．guilty

6.

A．tested

B．rejected

C．accepted

D．proposed

7.

A．got rid of

B．made room for

C．jumped off from

D．put up with

8.

A．struggling

B．reversing

C．evolving

D．shrinking

9.

A．result from

B．contribute to

C．depart from

D．relate to

10.

A．priorities

B．trials

C．advances

D．obstacles

11.

A．If

B．Until

C．While

D．Unless

12.

A．Responsibility

B．Prejudice

C．Dislike

D．Support

13.

A．doubted

B．neglected

C．foreseen

D．exceeded

14.

A．motivation

B．modification

C．dedication

D．publication

15.

A．occasion

B．life

C．accident

D．ending

7 . No Guts, No Glory? The Fear and Attraction of Risky Winter Sports

Once I went flying off the side of a mountain on skis. Certainly, I didn’t mean to. Before I _________ the ground, there was a surprising amount of time for reflection—and more on the long painful journey down to the ambulance.

The Winter Olympics are here, and I’ll be astonished with my heart in my mouth, watching ski-jumping and people hurtling downhill at _________ speed one way and another. But why are we so attracted to doing, watching and glamorizing dangerous activity? Is it really the thrill (兴奋) of the adrenaline (肾上腺素) rush? I hate that part when I take a big risk of any kind.

It _________ out I’m not the only one. The popular “thrill-seeker” explanation put forward by Marvin Zuckerman and others that sensation seeking is a basic personality trait has been strongly _________. Thrill-seeking is common in the young, especially young males. Many pay a high _________ for it. But our relationship with fear, courage and risk-taking is _________.

Eric Brymer and Robert Schweitzer asked people who had been doing an extreme sport for many years, to reflect   _________ on the experience. For these people, it wasn’t that they didn’t feel fear, or that they were attracted to the feeling of fear. They saw fear as an important tool to _________ danger—and working through it was a transformative experience. Part of the reward was the sense of one-ness with nature that lay beyond the _________.

For me, reading what the research participants said was __________ and there was a lot that was easy to relate to. __________, it seemed as though they believed they were only taking on risks over which they could prevail (战胜). Presumably, many of the people who are severely injured thought so too. I wonder if many who draw the short __________ regret it?

I have an almost total lack of mastery of winter sports. The contrast between my enthusiasm and lack of skill   __________ the somewhat spectacular accident at the start of this post. But just what kind of risks are we talking about with winter sports more commonly? For example, Brian Chaze and Patrick McDonald gathered published data on head injuries in winter sports. They advocated __________ use for sledding and skating as well. Children who hurt their heads sledding need hospitalization twice as much as for head injuries in other sports. Helmets aren’t used much, though.

Perhaps the best __________ from watching the winter Olympians is not the glamour of their risk-taking, but the way they rock those helmets.

1.

A．left

B．hit

C．flew

D．lost

2.

A．short-lived

B．mind-numbing

C．break-neck

D．long-drawn-out

3.

A．turns

B．hangs

C．takes

D．bursts

4.

A．applauded

B．prohibited

C．recommended

D．challenged

5.

A．interest

B．respect

C．priority

D．price

6.

A．simple

B．straightforward

C．complicated

D．close

7.

A．swiftly

B．deeply

C．intensely

D．temporarily

8.

A．identify

B．dread

C．treasure

D．conduct

9.

A．experience

B．society

C．fear

D．environment

10.

A．enlightening

B．distressing

C．entertaining

D．confusing

11.

A．Hence

B．Furthermore

C．Rather

D．However

12.

A．scene

B．picture

C．odds

D．straw

13.

A．stands for

B．accounts for

C．checks out

D．points out

14.

A．belt

B．helmet

C．protection

D．blade

15.

A．take-away

B．carry-out

C．take-off

D．try-out

8 . Group-Centered Societies Have Just as Much Creativity

What does culture have to do with creativity? The answer could be “a lot”. For decades, psychologists trying to understand the roots of creative imaginations have looked at the ways in which two different types of cultures can come to have an effect over its artistic and _________ output. Individualistic cultures encourage people to be unique and to _________ their own interests even if doing so comes at a cost to the group overall. Collectivistic cultures are based on relationships and duties to other people. These types of cultures often _________ the individual’s wants for the needs of those who are close to them or for those in their community.

Individualism has long been thought to have a creative _________. Individualists _________ social convention, the logic goes, and that pushback supports innovation. For instance, around the world, individualistic cultures have more patents than collectivistic cultures do. _________, a new study suggests that these ideas about culture and creativity could be off base. People in collectivistic cultures actually do better with a particular type of creative thinking than those in individualistic cultures. And the findings overall reveal the shortcomings of thinking about innovation too _________.

The new work comes from comparing communities in different parts of China. Though it scores high, as a nation, on measures of cultural _________, China’s 1.4 billion people are more than just a single culture. People from areas north of the Yangtze River tend to be more _________, open to strangers and self-confident, whereas people along the river and farther south are often more inter-dependent, partial to friends over strangers and likely to try harder to __________.

In the new creativity study, researchers investigated innovation with these two groups in mind. The team used a drawing test that had been created by psychologists. They gave kids a sheet of paper with just a few basic elements printed on it: some dots here, squiggles (弯曲的线条) there, and a rectangle that suggested a drawing frame. The children got 15 minutes to use the elements already on the page to draw whatever they wanted. They could get “adaptive creativity” points for doodling in ways that connected the squiggles and lines into an original and __________ image. In addition, a judge checked whether the children chose to incorporate a small shape that could be found just outside the rectangular. This element was easy to __________, so those who included this outside-the-box detail could get points for “boundary-breaking creativity.”

The researchers gave the test to 683 middle school students from north and south of the Yangtze River. When the scientists got the scores back, they discovered that there were no differences in the children’s overall creativity. When they broke down the results into components, they found that students from collectivistic regions scored __________ in adaptive creativity while those from individualistic areas did better in boundary-breaking creativity.

The findings are also a warning against cultural chauvinism (极端民族主义). Western countries have tended to lead the way in innovation — at least as defined by the metrics (指标) we Westerners have created. Perhaps we have been __________ China’s adaptive creativity. For example, while the country may not have invented the assembly line, it is largely thanks to the __________ its people have made to this system that the country has such a thriving manufacturing sector today.

1.

A．theoretical

B．inventive

C．productive

D．regular

2.

A．prioritize

B．deprive

C．tolerate

D．abandon

3.

A．satisfy

B．stimulate

C．cherish

D．sacrifice

4.

A．shelter

B．edge

C．border

D．alternative

5.

A．embrace

B．propose

C．resist

D．create

6.

A．However

B．Therefore

C．Meanwhile

D．Moreover

7.

A．broadly

B．objectively

C．seriously

D．narrowly

8.

A．individualism

B．identity

C．collectivism

D．flexibility

9.

A．selfish

B．collective

C．individualistic

D．realistic

10.

A．fall apart

B．fit in

C．give in

D．show off

11.

A．separate

B．ugly

C．unified

D．tiny

12.

A．catch

B．miss

C．target

D．misuse

13.

A．higher

B．averagely

C．lower

D．vaguely

14.

A．capturing

B．approaching

C．imitating

D．overlooking

15.

A．improvements

B．drawbacks

C．insights

D．attempts

9 . ‘Small Data’ Are Also Crucial for Machine Learning

Many people relate “artificial intelligence” with “big data.” There’s a reason for that: some of the most prominent AI breakthroughs in the past decade have relied on enormous data sets. Image _________ made great progress in the 2010s thanks to the development of ImageNet, a data set containing millions of images hand sorted into thousands of categories. More recently, GPT-3, a language model, was trained on _________ online texts to produce humanlike text in Jan, 2021. So it is not surprising to see AI being tightly connected with “big data” in the _________ imagination. But AI is not only about large data sets, and research in “small data” approaches has grown extensively over the past decade. The so-called transfer learning serves as an especially _________ example.

Also known as “fine-tuning,” transfer learning is helpful in settings where you have _________ data on the task of interest but abundant data on a related problem. You need to first train a model using a big data set and then retrain slightly using a smaller one related to your _________ problem. A research team working on German-language speech recognition, _________, showed that they could improve their results by starting with an English-language speech model trained on a larger data set. Then, they used transfer learning to _________ that model for a smaller data set of German-language audio.

Small data approaches such as transfer learning are more _________ than more data-intensive methods. They can promote progress in areas where little or no data exist, such as in forecasting natural hazards that occur relatively __________. In this context, small data approaches will become increasingly important as more organizations look to diversify AI application areas and invest in previously __________ fields.

Despite the progress in research, transfer learning has received relatively little __________. While many machine learning experts are likely familiar with it at this point, the existence of techniques such as transfer learning does not seem to have reached the awareness of the broader space of policymakers in positions of making important decisions about AI funding and __________.

As long as the success of small data technique like transfer learning is __________, resources can be allocated to support their widespread use. In that case, we can help correct the popular __________ regarding the role of data in AI and foster innovation in new directions.

1.

A．standard

B．classification

C．quality

D．acquisition

2.

A．written

B．limited

C．spoken

D．abundant

3.

A．moral

B．visual

C．literary

D．popular

4.

A．complicated

B．interesting

C．promising

D．distinguished

5.

A．extra

B．different

C．available

D．few

6.

A．personal

B．specific

C．technical

D．potential

7.

A．in addition

B．or rather

C．in particular

D．for example

8.

A．adjust

B．invent

C．follow

D．check

9.

A．definite

B．advantageous

C．complex

D．precise

10.

A．remotely

B．severely

C．ultimately

D．rarely

11.

A．underexplored

B．underestimated

C．underpopulated

D．underqualified

12.

A．guidance

B．respect

C．supervision

D．visibility

13.

A．publication

B．adoption

C．tracking

D．polishing

14.

A．celebrated

B．evaluated

C．recognized

D．diversified

15.

A．challenge

B．concern

C．fear

D．misunderstanding

10 . Artificial intelligence (AI) has amazing potential to change the world, and we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. As AI matures and people move further away from distinct programming and monitoring of systems, unidentified bias (偏见) might make decisions continue for a long time that cause _______ harm for individuals and society. This bias might _______ input data or even the algorithms (算法) themselves.

All too often, data sets are incomplete and the sample represented in the data set does not _______ the population that the AI model is making predictions about — this is known as coverage bias. Some other types of bias related to input data include sampling bias, where data is not collected randomly from the target group, and participation bias, where users from certain groups _______ surveys at different rates than users from other groups. Still, another more challenging bias to identify is confirmation bias that occurs when a decision maker or analyst has a strong _______ belief or experience that affects their ability to consider alternatives. This could lead one to more strongly _______ data that confirms a preexisting belief.

Bias resulting from AI algorithms themselves, or algorithmic bias, is equally _______. One example of algorithmic bias is implicit bias or unconscious bias, where data scientists _______ make associations or assumptions based on their mental models and memories that affect data modeling decisions. Implicit bias can _______ how data is collected and classified, or how systems are designed and developed. As machines learn, their conclusions and decisions affect people. Ethical (道德的) AI must understand these impacts and create governance and testing methods to ________ mistakes and inaccuracies.

To create ethical AI, companies need to put the ________ of the individual at the center of data innovation. This means thinking about ________ rights as human rights and developing a comprehensive approach to data, including how we use AI.

Having ________ data practices for AI means having good AI governance. This governance not only focuses on data and analytics but also understands the impacts of any given analysis and makes sure it’s ________ and accurate. Good AI governance includes data responsibility as well as a commitment to transparency (透明性).

None of this will be easy, but true innovation never is. By coming together and working on the problem of bias now, before it becomes a(n) ________ force, businesses can help bring out the best AI has to offer the world.

1.

A．theoretical

B．psychological

C．disproportionate

D．unintended

2.

A．arise from

B．contribute to

C．take over

D．make up

3.

A．inspire

B．match

C．protect

D．restrict

4.

A．quit

B．administer

C．compare

D．analyze

5.

A．distinct

B．predictable

C．original

D．widespread

6.

A．restore

B．imply

C．miss

D．favor

7.

A．embarrassing

B．dangerous

C．relevant

D．ridiculous

8.

A．intentionally

B．temporarily

C．automatically

D．appropriately

9.

A．influence

B．help

C．attract

D．predict

10.

A．admit

B．define

C．address

D．publicize

11.

A．belongings

B．expressions

C．characteristics

D．needs

12.

A．civil

B．digital

C．legal

D．natural

13.

A．frequent

B．responsible

C．peculiar

D．graceful

14.

A．fair

B．quick

C．appealing

D．adequate

15.

A．leading

B．innovative

C．cultural

D．destructive