1 . Flinging brightly coloured objects around a screen at high speed is not what computers’ central processing units were designed for. So manufacturers of arcade machines invented the graphics-processing unit (GPU), a set of circuits to handle video games’ visuals in parallel to the work done by the central processor. The GPU’s ability to speed up complex tasks has since found wider uses: video editing, cryptocurrency mining and most recently, the training of artificial intelligence.
AI is now disrupting the industry that helped bring it into being. Every part of entertainment stands to be affected by generative AI, which digests inputs of text, image, audio or video to create new outputs of the same. But the games business will change the most, argues Andreessen Horowitz, a venture-capital (VC) firm. Games interactivity requires them to be stuffed with laboriously designed content: consider the 30 square miles of landscape or 60 hours of music in “Red Dead Redemption 2”, a recent cowboy adventure. Enlisting AI assistants to churn it out could drastically shrink timescales and budgets.
AI represents an “explosion of opportunity” and could drastically change the landscape of game development. Making a game is already easier than it was: nearly 13,000 titles were published last year on Steam, a games platform, almost double the number in 2017. Gaming may soon resemble the music and video industries in which most new content on Spotify or YouTube is user-generated. One games executive predicts that small firms will be the quickest to work out what new genres are made possible by AI. Last month Raja Koduri, an executive at Intel, left the chip maker to found an AI-gaming startup.
Don’t count the big studios out, though. If they can release half a dozen high-quality titles a year instead of a couple, it might chip away at the hit-driven nature of their business, says Josh Chapman of Konvoy, a gaming focused VC firm. A world of more choices also favors those with big marketing budgets. And the giants may have better answers to the mounting copyright questions around AI. If generative models have to be trained on data to which the developer has the rights, those with big back-catalogues will be better placed than startups. Trent Kaniuga, an artist who has worked on games like “Fortnite”, said last month that several clients had updated their contracts to ban AI-generated art.
If the lawyers don’t intervene, unions might. Studios diplomatically refer to AI assistants as “co-pilots”, not replacements for humans.
1. The original purpose behind the invention of the graphics-processing unit (GPU) was to ________.| A．speed up complex tasks in video editing and cryptocurrency mining |
| B．assist in the developing and training of artificial intelligence |
| C．disrupt the industry and create new outputs using generative AI |
| D．offload game visual tasks from the central processor |
| A．It contributes to the growth of user-generated content. |
| B．It facilitates blockbuster dependency on big studios. |
| C．It decreases collaboration between different stakeholders in the industry. |
| D．It may help to consolidate the gaming market under major corporations. |
| A．AI favors the businesses with small marketing budgets. |
| B．AI is expected to simplify game development processes. |
| C．AI allows startups to gain an edge over big firms with authorized data. |
| D．AI assistants may serve as human substitutes for studios. |
| A．The evolution of graphics-processing units (GPUs). |
| B．The impact of generative AI on the gaming industry. |
| C．The societal significance of graphics-processing units (GPUs). |
| D．The challenges generative AI presents to gaming studios. |
2 . Time to end Santa’s “naughty list”?
Many of us have magical memories of Santa secretly bringing gifts and joy to our childhood homes — but is there a darker side to the beloved Christmas tradition?
I was — and I’m happy to admit it — a loyal believer of Santa. I absolutely loved the magic of Christmas, especially Santa Claus, and my parents went above and beyond to encourage it. However, as I begin to construct my own Santa Claus myth for my daughter, I can’t help but feel guilty. Could it undermine her trust in me?
I guess it’s not all that surprising.
The “Santa lie” can reduce trust between a parent and a child.
| A．But the biggest danger is the anti-critical thinking lessons that he is teaching. |
| B．It’s this emphasis on belief over imagination that he sees as harmful. |
| C．Interestingly, belief in Santa Claus has actually promoted children’s critical thinking. |
| D．There are plenty of cultural evidences we create for the existence of Santa. |
| E．He begins to probe and question the things he has seen and heard. |
| F．Fascinatingly, belief in Santa Claus has remained remarkably consistent. |
3 . Is an electric vehicle right for you?
Many people will ask themselves that question for the first time this year. Prices are falling, battery range is rising and mainstream brands are adding new EVs at a breakneck pace.
Here are three things anybody seriously considering buying an EV should know:
1. The price to install a 240v charger
Anybody who owns an electric vehicle needs a 240-volt charger at home. With one, you can recharge overnight, so you start every day with the equivalent of a full tank.
Just a few years ago, home 240v EV chargers cost $2,500-$3,000, including installation, but prices have declined as competition grows with the number of EVs on the road.
2. The time it takes to charge
About 80% of miles driven in EVs are powered by electricity charged at home, but you’ll need to charge elsewhere occasionally. That’s when charging time becomes a big deal, but how long it takes depends on a couple of factors.
First, voltage from the charger. Getting 250 miles of range in seven hours from a 240v charger is fine when you’re charging overnight at home, but it’s a deal breaker if you’re going 300 miles for a weekend getaway. In that case, you’ll want to look for a 400v DC fast charger. They’re not as common as 240v public chargers yet, but they’re becoming more widespread.
There’s another factor: the on-board charger. It regulates how fast the battery can accept electricity. A vehicle with a higher-capacity on-board charger accepts electricity faster.
3. Where to charge
Good route-planning apps will help you find chargers on a road trip.
“Most people have no idea how many public charging stations are within, say, a 10-or 15-mile radius(半径) because they’re small, people don’t look for them or even don’t know what to look for, and they’re rarely signposted,” said journalist John Voelcker, who has studied EVs and charging exhaustively.
4. On the horizon
If an EV doesn’t meet your needs now, watch this space. They’re coming closer, but large numbers of gasoline vehicles will remain in production for years. Beyond that, companies will keep making spare parts for oil-burners for decades.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?| A．The price of installing a home EV charger has remained stable in the past few years. |
| B．It’s quite easy to identify the public charging stations with the help of striking signposts. |
| C．Popular brands are introducing new EVs at an incredibly fast rate. |
| D．An electric vehicle can’t provide the same amount of energy as a completely filled fuel tank. |
| A．give up the plan to purchase an EV |
| B．make space for an EV |
| C．find an alternative to EV |
| D．keep an eye out for future developments |
| A．illustrate the factors charging time depends on |
| B．offer advice on purchasing an electric vehicle |
| C．look forward to the future of electric vehicles |
| D．explain the reason for the falling prices of electric vehicles |
4 . From Marie Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion (鬼屋) to horror-themed escape rooms, haunted house attractions have terrified and delighted audiences around the world for more than 200 years.
These attractions turn out to be good places to study fear. They help scientists understand the body’s response to fright and how we perceive some situations as enjoyably thrilling and others as truly terrible. One surprising finding: having friends close at hand in a haunted house might make you more jumpy, not less so.
Psychologist and study co-author Sarah Tashjian, who is now at the University of Melbourne, and her team conducted their research with 156 adults, who each wore a wireless wrist sensor during their visit. The sensor measured skin responses linked to the body’s reactions to stress and other situations. When the sensor picked up, for example, greater skin conductance — that is, the degree to which the skin can transmit an electric current — that was a sign that the body was more aroused and ready for fight or flight. In addition to this measure, people reported their expected fear (on a scale of 1 to 10) before entering the haunted house and their experienced fear (on the same scale) after completing the haunt.
The scientists found that people who reported greater fear also showed heightened skin responses. Being with friends, Tashjian and her colleagues further found, increased physiological arousal during the experience, which was linked to stronger feelings of fright. In fact, the fear response was actually weaker when people went through the house in the presence of strangers.
Other investigators have used haunted houses to understand how fear and enjoyment can coexist. In a 2020 study led by Marc Malmdorf Andersen, a member of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark, scientists joined forces with Dystopia Haunted House. The Danish attraction includes such terrifying experiences as being chased by “Mr. Piggy”, a large, chain-saw-wielding man wearing a bloody butcher’s apron and pig mask. People between the ages of 12 and 57 were video recorded at peak moments during the attraction, wore heart-rate monitors throughout and reported on their experience. People’s fright was tied to large-scale heart-rate fluctuations; their enjoyment was linked to small-scale ones. The results suggest that fear and enjoyment can happen together when physiological arousal is balanced “just right”.
1. Studying haunted house attractions helps scientists to learn about ________.| A．the psychological effects of fear on individuals |
| B．the history of horror-themed entertainment |
| C．the body’s response to material rewards |
| D．the impact of technology on people’s enjoyment |
| A．By surveying participants. | B．By analyzing historical records. |
| C．By employing wireless wrist sensors. | D．By using virtual reality simulations. |
| A．Being with friends elevated level of physiological arousal. |
| B．The fear reaction was stronger in the company of strangers. |
| C．Psychological effect was unrelated to intensified feelings of fright. |
| D．Those reporting lightened fear showed increased skin responses. |
| A．fear and enjoyment can not happen at the same time |
| B．large-scale heart-rate fluctuations were linked to enjoyment |
| C．the age of the participants was not related to the study’s findings |
| D．fear and enjoyment can coexist under certain conditions |
5 . What is the likelihood of you having someone who looks just like you? Would it be a good thing? And if you did have one, would you want to meet them?
Consider how often your facial features are used to identify you. Your passport, ID card and driving license all feature your face.
The word “doppelgänger” refers to a person who looks the same as you, essentially sharing your features; those that you thought were unique to you and your identity. Not identical twins, as a doppelgänger has no relation to you. The idea originated in German folklore.
So, let's get real. What are the chances of you having one in the first place? There's said to be a one in 135 chance of an exact match for you existing anywhere in the world, so the chances are pretty low, despite folk wisdom promising you otherwise. And the chances of meeting? The mathematical certainty of finding this particular person is supposedly less than one in a trillion.
That said, these statistics may be a good thing. Historically, having a double wasn't always a positive. Back in 1999, an innocent American man, indistinguishable from the real criminal, was sent to prison for robbery, where he stayed for 19 years.
| A．In the end, it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. |
| B．Doppelgängers will also have some of the same DNA as you. |
| C．To enter your workplace, you likely need to be recognizable. |
| D．Why are people interested in finding their possible doppelgangers? |
| E．Eventually, discovering a person's doppelgänger might widen trust boundaries. |
| F．A doppelgänger was said to be a spirit-double that copied every human and beast on earth. |
6 . The cultivation of plants by ants is more widespread than previously realized, and has evolved on at least 15 separate occasions.
There are more than 200 species of ant in the Americas that farm fungi (真菌) for food, but this trait evolved just once sometime between 45 million and 65 million years ago. Biologists regard the cultivation of fungi by ants as true agriculture appearing earlier than human agriculture because it meets four criteria: the ants plant the fungus, care for it, harvest it and depend on it for food.
By contrast, while thousands of ant species are known to have a wide variety of interdependent relationships with plants, none were regarded as true agriculture. But in 2016, Guillaume Chomicki and Susanne Renner at the University of Munich, Germany, discovered that an ant in Fungi cultivates several plants in a way that meets the four criteria for true agriculture.
The ants collect the seeds of the plants and place them in cracks in the bark of trees. As the plants grow, they form hollow structures called domain that the ants nest in. The ants defecate (排便) at designated absorptive places in these domain, providing nutrients for the plant. In return, as well as shelter, the plant provides food in the form of fruit juice.
This discovery prompted Chomicki and others to review the literature on ant-plant relationships to see if there are other examples of plant cultivation that have been overlooked. “They have never really been looked at in the framework of agriculture,” says Chomicki, who is now at the University of Sheffield in the UK. “It’s definitely widespread.”
The team identified 37 examples of tree-living ants that cultivate plants that grow on trees, known as epiphytes (附生植物). By looking at the family trees of the ant species, the team was able to determine on how many occasions plant cultivation evolved and roughly when. Fifteen is a conservative estimate, says Campbell. All the systems evolved relatively recently, around 1million to 3 million years ago, she says.
Whether the 37 examples of plant cultivation identified by the team count as true agriculture depends on the definitions used. Not all of the species get food from the plants, but they do rely on them for shelter, which is crucial for ants living in trees, says Campbell. So the team thinks the definition of true agriculture should include shelter as well as food.
1. According to biologists, why is ant-fungus cultivation considered as a form of true agriculture?| A．Because it occurred earlier than human agriculture. |
| B．Because it fulfills the standards typical of agricultural practices. |
| C．Because it redefines the four criteria for true human agriculture. |
| D．Because it is less common than previously thought. |
| A．They determined on new family trees of the ant species. |
| B．They overlooked some tree-living ants that provided nutrients for the plants. |
| C．They never studied the ant-plant relationships within the context of agriculture. |
| D．They never identified any an t species that engaged in cultivation of fungi. |
| A．Ants’ cultivation of plants is limited to a few specific species. |
| B．The cultivation of fungi by ants is considered the earliest form of agriculture. |
| C．True agriculture in ants involves only food-related interactions with plants. |
| D．Ants have independently cultivated plants on at least 15 distinct occasions. |
| A．The evolution of ants in the plant kingdom. |
| B．The widespread occurrence of ant-plant cultivation. |
| C．The discovery of a new ant species engaging in agriculture. |
| D．The contrast between ant agriculture and human agriculture. |
7 . Reducing the workweek to four days could have a climate benefit. In addition to improving the well-being of workers, cutting working hours may reduce carbon emissions. But those benefits would depend on a number of factors, experts emphasize, including how people choose to spend nonworking time.
Commuting and travel
Transportation is the biggest contributor to greenhouse emissions. A November 2021 survey of 2,000 employees and 500 business leaders in the United Kingdom found that if all organizations introduced a four-day week, the reduced trips to work would decrease travel overall by more than 691 million miles a week.
But the climate benefits of less commuting could be eliminated, experts said, if people choose to spend their extra time off traveling, particularly if they do so by car or plane.
Energy usage
Shorter working hours could lead to reductions in energy usage, experts said. According to a 2006 paper, if the United States adopted European work standards, the country would consume about 20 percent less energy.
Energy could also be conserved if fewer resources are needed to heat and cool large office buildings, reducing demands on electricity. For example, if an entire workplace shuts down on the fifth day, that would help lower consumption — less so if the office stays open to accommodate employees taking different days off.
Lifestyle changes
It’s possible that fewer working hours may lead some people to have a larger carbon footprint, but experts say research suggests that most people are likely to shift toward more sustainable lifestyles.
One theory is that people who work more and have less free time tend to do things in more carbon-intensive ways, such as choosing faster modes of transportation or buying prepared foods. Convenience is often carbon-intensive and people tend to choose convenience when they're time-stressed. Meanwhile, some research suggests that those who work less are more likely to engage in traditionally low-carbon activities, such as spending time with family or sleeping.
“When we talk about the four-day workweek and the environment, we focus on the tangible, but actually, in a way, the biggest potential benefit here is in the intangible,” experts said.
1. What is identified as the leading cause of greenhouse emissions according to the passage?| A．The well-being of employees. |
| B．The conservation of energy. |
| C．Commuting and travel. |
| D．The European work standard. |
| A．People will have big potential in achieving intangible benefits while working. |
| B．People are more likely to engage in carbon-intensive activities due to time constraints. |
| C．People may shift toward more sustainable lifestyles and lower carbon footprints. |
| D．People may travel more frequently by car or plane during their extra time off. |
| A．highlight the importance of shortening working time in the context of well-being |
| B．provide an overview of transportation emissions worldwide |
| C．analyze the impact of reduced working hours on mode of business |
| D．illustrate factors affecting the climate benefits of a shorter workweek |
8 . Montessori was born in Italy in 1870 with progressive parents, who frequently communicated with the country’s leading thinkers and scholars. This enlightened family environment provided Montessori with many advantages over other young girls of the time.
Her mother’s support was vital for some important decisions, such as her enrolment in a technical school after her elementary education. Her parents’ support also proved to be essential for her decision to study medicine, a field that was dominated by men.
Soon after graduating, in 1896, Montessori began work as a voluntary assistant in a clinic at the University of Rome, where she cared for children with learning difficulties. The rooms were bare, with just a few pieces of furniture. One day, she found that the children were enthusiastically playing with breadcrumbs (面包屑) that had dropped on the floor. It then occurred to her that the origin of some intellectual disabilities could be related with poverty. With the right learning materials, these and other young minds could be nurtured, Montessori concluded.
The observation would lead Montessori to develop a new method of education that focused on providing optimal stimulation during the sensitive periods of childhood.
At its centre was the principle that all the learning materials should be child-sized and designed to appeal to all the senses. In addition, each child should also be allowed to move and act freely, and use their creativity and problem-solving skills. Teachers took the role of guides, supporting the children without press or control.
Montessori opened her first Children’s House in 1907. When the Fascists (法西斯主义者) first came into power in Italy in 1922, they initially embraced her movement. But they soon came to oppose the emphasis on the children’s freedom of expression. Montessori’s values had always been about human respect, and the rights of children and women, but the Fascists wanted to use her work and her fame.
Things reached a breaking point when the Fascist tried to influence the schools’ educational content, and in 1934 Montessori and her son decided to leave Italy. She didn’t return to her homeland until 1947, and she continued to write about and develop her method until her death in 1952, at the age of 81.
1. The primary reason for Montessori to develop a new educational method was ______.| A．her family’s supportive influence on her education |
| B．her experience as a voluntary assistant in a clinic |
| C．her observation of children playing with breadcrumbs happily |
| D．her decision to study medicine, a field dominated by men |
| A．Providing standardized, one-size-fits-all learning materials. |
| B．Encouraging strict discipline and control over children’s actions. |
| C．Focusing on rote memorization and competition. |
| D．Creating a free and children-centered learning environment. |
| A．she wanted to explore other countries and cultures |
| B．she wanted to avoid the Fascist’s influence on her work |
| C．she was offered a better job in a different country |
| D．she wanted to retire and enjoy a peaceful life in another country |
| A．Observant and innovative. | B．Traditional and emotional. |
| C．Progressive and dependent. | D．Open-minded and indifferent. |
9 . Tipping, customers paying service workers, usually at restaurants, for services they receive, has been a regular part of American culture for well over a century, but the emergence of new technology and shifting expectations have shaken long-standing norms around the practice. That uncertainty, together with the pressure it can often create, has left some consumers feeling exhausted by the frequency with which they’re forced to decide which workers to tip and how much.
A big reason for the growth of what is being called “tip tiredness” is the increasing presence of digital payment systems, which have replaced traditional cash registers at most businesses. Suddenly, rather than being given the chance to drop a dollar in a tip jar, customers are confronted with a tablet.
Tipping also makes labor laws more complicated. In all but a handful of states, employers are allowed to pay tipped workers below minimum wage. In some cases, the standard is as low as $2.13 per hour, as long as workers make enough in tips to earn the equivalent of minimum wage.
However, defenders of the current arrangement say it’s still the best option.
| A．The frustration about such shifting wage payment has added new wrinkles to the controversy. |
| B．The diversity of tipping channels somewhat eases the conflicts in deciding the amount of tips. |
| C．No workers should have their livelihood depend on their customers’ mercy. |
| D．The popularity of digital point-of-sale systems has also meant consumers are being asked to tip more frequently. |
| E．Tipping, against many people’s wills, establishes a new customer-server relationship. |
| F．It’s believed that tipping is the ultimate profit-sharing plan. |
10 . One of the curious things about social networks is the way that some messages, pictures, or ideas can spread like wildfire while others that seem just as catchy or interesting barely register at all.
Before you go deep into the puzzle, consider this: If you measure the height of your male friends, for example, the average is about 170 centimeters. You are 172 and your friends are all about the same height as you are. Indeed, the mathematical concept of “average” is a good way to capture the nature of this data set.
But imagine that one of your friends was much taller than you. This person would dramatically skew the average, which would make your friends taller than you, on average. In this case, the “average” is a poor way to capture this data set.
Exactly this situation occurs on social networks. On average, your coauthors will be cited more often than you, and the people you follow will post more frequently than you, and so on.
Now Lerman from University of Southern California has discovered a related paradox, which they call the majority illusion. They illustrate this illusion with an example. They take 14 nodes linked up to form a small network. They then color three of these nodes and count how many of the remaining nodes link to them in a single step.
In one situation, the uncolored nodes see more than half of their neighbors as colored. This is the majority illusion — the local impression that a specific feature is common when the global truth is entirely different.
So how popular is it in the real world? It’s found out that the majority illusion occurs in almost all network scenarios. “The effect is largest in the political blogs network, where 60% of nodes will have majority active neighbours, even when only 20% of the nodes are truly active,” says Lerman.
It immediately explains many interesting phenomena. For a start, it shows how some content can spread globally while other similar content does not — the key is to start with a small number of well-connected early adopters fooling the rest of the network into thinking it is common. The affected nodes then find it natural to follow the trend. A real spread finally comes into being.
But it is not yet a marketer’s charter. For that, marketers must first identify the popular nodes that can create the majority illusion for the target audience. These influencers must then be persuaded to adopt the desired behavior or product, which is essential to the prospect of the marketing plan.
1. The phrase skew the average in the passage most probably refers to the action of ________.| A．hiding the real average to be unrecognizable to others |
| B．producing an average against the general feature of data |
| C．working out the common feature suggested by the average |
| D．ignoring the average because of the frequency by which it is reviewed |
| A．Majority illusion rarely has impacts except in political blogs field. |
| B．The majority illusion on social networks relies on that people you follow post more than you. |
| C．The essence of successful opinion spread is to initiate the trend with well-connected sharers. |
| D．The spread scale of ideas on networks mainly depends on the quality of content. |
| A．thoroughly understand the concept of majority illusion |
| B．accurately figure out who is the powerful person to affect others |
| C．definitely decide who are the target audience for the promotion |
| D．successfully convince the influencers to practice certain action |
| A．The social network vision that tricks your mind. |
| B．Who is stealing your network identity? |
| C．Minority network opinion spread, curse or blessing? |
| D．Have you been misled during the last political voting? |
