1 . A study from the University of Montreal and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, published in Frontiers in Medicine, found that regular virtual visits to museums could help seniors stay mentally active and come with a host of additional health benefits. That's because these digital connections can make retirees feel less lonely and isolated (孤立的).
Social isolation has been associated with the risks for heart disease and the decline of recognition abilities in seniors and the pandemic (疫情) increased the risks due to the need for seniors to stay home and isolate, according to a press release from the university.
The researchers investigated the potential benefits of weekly virtual visits for a three-month period. The participants were people aged 65 nd older who lived in Montreal. Half of the participants took part in online visits and a discussion afterwards, while the control group did not participate in any cultural events at all. The group who participated in the virtual visits showed improvements in their quality of life. "Our study showed that art-based activities may be an effective intervention (干预), "lead author Dr. Olivier Beauchet, a professor at the University of Montreal, said in the press release. "On a world scale, this participatory art-based activity could become a model that could be offered in museums and arts institutions worldwide to promote active and healthy aging."
The initiative reflects approaches recommended by the World Health Organization to manage certain diseases, according to Beauchet. For instance, the WHO launched the Aging and Health Program in 2015that included using community-based organizations to promote culture as a key component of improving health. Traditionally, these sorts of preventive health activities have taken place in schools, community centers, and workplaces. "While these are suitable locations that reach a great number of people, there are additional organizations and sectors that could become partners in public health research and practice development," Beauchet said. "Museums are among such potential partners. They are aware of the needs of their communities and are consequently expanding the types of activities they offer."
1. According to the study, which one is a benefit of regular virtual museum visits for seniors?| A．Improved physical health. | B．Reduced loneliness and isolation. |
| C．Complete cure for heart diseases. | D．Enhanced cognitive abilities. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Indifferent. | C．Supportive. | D．Opposed. |
| A．They showed little improvement in their quality of life. |
| B．They exhibited a decline in their cognitive abilities. |
| C．They reported feeling more socially isolated. |
| D．They demonstrated an enhanced sense of well-being. |
| A．Museums primarily focus on displaying artworks and have no role in public health research. |
| B．Museums can become valuable potential partners in public health research. |
| C．Museums should replace traditional health institutions in conducting public health research. |
| D．Museums are only suitable for promoting health awareness among younger generations. |
2 . Third grade was the worst year ever. My parents split up that year, and my dad moved out. I know that every divorce is different, and I’m told that not all of them are as painful as ours was. Ours was cruel.
There were other difficult things happening, too. I was epileptic and had a brain tumor. So I had to leave he classroom sometimes, to go to the nurse’s office to take pills or to head to the hospital for blood work, an EEG, or a CAT scan. Not fun.
And I turned, as kids often do, to books. Books were doorways out of my cold house, to imagined ands, full of magical creatures and wishes-come-true. I read from sunup to sundown. I read at breakfast, and I read late into the night. I devoured books.
Originally, in that terrible year, I sought out books that distracted me from my pain. I loved Half Magic; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Mary Poppins, books where regular kids encountered magic in the world around them. I was eager for something unexpected to happen and radically alter my world, so those books were many of my favorites. But they were not my only favorites.
The other books I loved were the books that made me cry. My brain is still full of so many perfect painful moments. Beth, dying in Little Women. I read Oscar Wilde stories in which all hearts were broken. The Nightingale, dead from love.
I’ve thought a lot about why these books mattered so much. And I think it was because I was very alone in my sadness. Lonely, I sought company, the best way I could. Books were company. And though Half Magic was one kind of company, a distracting, cheerful friend — that wasn’t enough.
So sometimes you need a friend who is also struggling, a friend who is sad in the very way that you are sad, and so makes you feel normal. For me, sad books were that friend. After a sad book, I slept easier.
1. What didn’t happen to the author in the third grade?| A．The author’s dad left him/her. | B．The author had to quit school. |
| C．The author had serious diseases. | D．The author’s parents got divorced. |
| A．Fantasy books. | B．Funny books. |
| C．Sad books. | D．Medical books. |
| A．Because the author didn’t want to read cheerful books. |
| B．Because reading these sad books could make him/her cry. |
| C．Because he/she liked the perfect painful moments in the books. |
| D．Because they made the author feel he/she was not alone in sadness. |
| A．To share with readers his/her experience of growing up. |
| B．To encourage readers to read more books in their spare time. |
| C．To call on readers to pay more attention, to those who are suffering. |
| D．To tell readers how he/she got through a tough time in his/her life by reading. |
3 . The Ouray Ice Park sits at the mouth of a narrow box canyon sculpted by the Uncompahgre River. As we picked our way up the canyon, Davis, operations manager at the park, pointed out the various projects his staff were rushing to complete before opening day. There was signage to build, a new bridge to check, and of course, lots of ice to grow.
He showed. me the lines of water pipes and sprinklers (洒水器) located along the cliff edge. There are more than 200 of these sprinklers, which spray water directly onto the rock, creating walls of ice containing 100-plus climbs. Starting in November when the temperature drops, the ice farmers wet the rock with water to cool it, essentially building a canvas for the waterfalls. They use existing features on the rock to grow a variety of routes for all skill levels. Though the job involves much labour in freezing weather, Davis described growing ice as a kind of art form. If half an ice farmer’s job is creation, the other half is upkeep. Exposed water pipes in the mountains are easy to freeze and break and it is up to those farmers to fix them.
This winter has been unusually warm and temperatures, even in December, were not cold enough to make sufficient ice. It even rained a day before the park was set to open, destroying 30% of the ice farmers’ efforts. “Winter climate is less certain due to the warming of our planet,” said Heidi Steltzer, a professor of environment and sustainability. “Human-made ice may not be possible every year, but in years when it is, the ice park offers joy, a gathering place and opportunities of earning money to sustain rural mountain life.”
1. What does paragraph 1 mainly talk about?| A．The significance of building an ice park. |
| B．The geographical variety of the Ouray Ice Park. |
| C．The location and building schedule of the Ouray Ice Park. |
| D．The influence of the Uncompahgre River on the Ouray Ice Park. |
| A．To make ice walls for climbing. |
| B．To form an attractive landscape. |
| C．To remove dirt from the rock surface. |
| D．To avoid the rock breaking in high temperatures. |
| A．Profit. | B．Repair. | C．Impact. | D．Service. |
| A．It offers a method of recreation and livelihood. |
| B．It seems only a waste of manpower and money. |
| C．It has some unforeseeable impacts on local ecology. |
| D．It is better than other kinds of parks with its unique amusements. |
4 . Known as “the roof of the world”, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has long been an ideal and mysterious destination for visitors who are passionate about exploring remote lands. Here are some of the best tourist destinations in Tibet which might suit your keen travel taste with the arrival of spring.
The Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon
The Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon is the deepest canyon in the world. With a total length of about 500 kilometers, its altitude spans from 7,782 meters at Namcha Barwa, the highest peak of the eastern Himalayas, to 550 meters around the Yarlung Zangbo River Valley.
One unique feature of the spring sight here is that visitors can enjoy both the peach blossoms and the snow-capped mountains at the same time. The water Peach Blossom Fair is also an attraction in the area.
Lake Manasarova
Lake Manasarova sits 4,500 meters above sea level in Purang county, Ngari prefecture. Snow melt from the Gangdise Mountains hugging the lake is the source for the nearby Yarlung Zangbo River as well as the mighty Ganges.
The Manasarova wetland is a key “climate regulator” on the plateau and home to more than 400 rare species including the black-necked crane and the Tibetan wild donkey. Regarded as “holy lake and sacred mountain” along with Gang Rinpoche, Lake Manasarova attracts a large number of pilgrims (朝圣者) as well as tourists from home and abroad.
Nanyi Valley
Nanyigou scenic spot is 20 kilometers away from Milin county and is an important birthplace of the mysterious Tibetan medicine culture. The scenic area covers a total area of 820 hectares. The ecological conditions here are so good that the place is rich in various animal and plant species.
Nanyi Valley is known as “the highest green mysterious place on Earth”. Surrounded by mountains and covered in clouds, Nanyi Valley is an ideal spring destination for visitors, where you can find peach and azalea (映山红) blossoms everywhere.
1. What can we know about the Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon from the passage?| A．It is the second longest canyon in the world. |
| B．Its altitude ranges from 7,782 meters to 550 meters. |
| C．Visitors can only enjoy the peach blossoms in spring. |
| D．It is located in the western Himalayas. |
| A．The deepest canyon in the world. |
| B．Ancient Tibetan monasteries and temples. |
| C．A birthplace of Tibetan medicine culture. |
| D．A holy lake along with a sacred mountain. |
| A．The Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon. |
| B．Lake Manasarova. |
| C．Nanyi Valley. |
| D．None of the above. |
5 . Have you considered how to choose your major in university, which is of great significance for your future career? Here is some practical advice.
Don’t choose a major merely based on money or the salary prospect, otherwise mistakes will happen.
A hobby is never meant to be your priority. You want to pick something that interests you, but you need to be sure you won’t get sick of it as time progresses. Typically, people will confuse their hobbies with their passions.
Don’t always depend on your parents. The opinions of your family aren’t something to ignore.
| A．Therefore, listen to their opinions carefully |
| B．Never choose a major by feeling instead of research |
| C．You should also consider your passions, dislikes, and happiness |
| D．However, don’t be afraid to voice your own opinions and choices |
| E．A hobby is a pursuit outside one’s regular occupation for relaxation |
| F．It depends on position openings and your competitors when you graduate |
| G．Remember, the key to success is making the right decision based on your own passions and goals |
6 . Sara Dykman is on a 10, 000-mile bike trip, following the monarch butterfly from Mexico through the United States and Canada and back again. The purpose of her journey is not just to mark the butterfly's migrating(迁徙)road, but to warn about the threat it faces-and what we can do to help it.
When I reached Dykman by phone, she was biking through Iowa cornfields. She said she feels more upset than usual, because of what she is seeing-or not seeing-on her travels: Fewer butterflies and milkweed. "In the last two decades, the butterfly population has declined by about 90 percent as a result of the loss of milkweed, a native plant that the butterflies need as part of their life cycle," she said.
Butterflies go through a four-stage life cycle. In February and March, the adult monarch butterflies come out of winter sleep to look for a mate. Then they migrate north and east to lay their eggs on milkweed plants. It takes about four days for the eggs to hatch. Then the baby caterpillars(毛毛虫)spend much of their time eating milkweed in order to grow. About two weeks later, the fully grown caterpillars will attach themselves to plant branches or leaves to change into butterflies.
But Dykman is not in total despair. A solution, she says, exists within the reach of everyone who owns a home: simply planting some milkweed in the yards to help the butterflies on their journey.
Dykman lives a life as simple and rootless as the butterflies she loves. She doesn't own a house or car or eat out at restaurants. She carries only what she needs: a sleeping bag and clothing. People help along the way by providing a place to stay and a meal.
"I have failed at everything normal, but I'm pretty good at doing the less normal things," she admits in her new book Cycling With Butterflies.
"But this trip is about solutions, and it's about helping people see the consequences of their actions," she said on the phone.
1. What is the main purpose of Sara Dykman's bike trip?| A．To study the migration patterns of monarch butterflies. |
| B．To raise concern for the threats facing monarch butterflies. |
| C．To report the butterfly's migrating road. |
| D．To promote cycling as a healthy lifestyle. |
| A．Adult monarch butterflies emerge from winter sleep in February and March. |
| B．They lay their eggs on milkweed plants after migrating north and east. |
| C．It takes about four days for the eggs to hatch into caterpillars. |
| D．The fully grown caterpillars transform into butterflies within a week. |
| A．Growing more milkweed in yards. |
| B．Reducing the use of pesticides that harm butterflies. |
| C．Creating protected areas for monarch butterflies to breed. |
| D．Encouraging people to adopt a vegetarian diet. |
| A．The Life Cycle of Monarch Butterflies |
| B．Sara Dykman's Unique Lifestyle |
| C．Cycling for the Cause of Monarch Butterflies |
| D．The Decline of Monarch Butterflies and Solutions |
7 . Sean Elliot Martin and Pancho Timmons are friends on a mission to change the world, one small act of kindness at a time. That’s the subject of their new book, Quick and Easy World Change, which they released as an e-book.
The project is inspired by another kindness-related book Martin worked on years ago. The latest one takes parts of the first book and updates it with more inspiring stories and lists of little things people can do daily to spread goodness wherever they go. “Make a game of giving—you can assign yourself points for different little things,” Martin said. “How many doors can I open each day for someone with their hands full? Or how many different ways can I help someone today? Or how many good deeds can I think of?” It also addresses the concept of compound kindness—a domino effect of good deeds. “If you compliment one person, they’re likely to compliment two to five people,” Martin said.
Both authors’ lives have been impacted by the kindness of others, they each explained. Quick and Easy World Change is their way to pay those experiences and opinions forward. For Timmons, a teacher’s compassion in college was of great significance to him. “I did all the things I was supposed to do—worked hard, studied hard—and ended up failing pretty miserably,” he recalled. “But the professor pulled me aside and said, ‘You’re an A student turning in C and D work because you’re clearly dyslexic (读写困难的) and not getting the help you need.’” “That 5-minute conversation was the difference between dropping out of college and getting two master’s degrees and now running two companies,” Timmons said. “I’ve spent my career trying to pay that forward.”
With the electronic version available, their plan is to follow up with hard copies. The authors hope people will use it like a workbook, a living document they can mark up, reflect on and use to make their lives—and the lives of others—better.
1. The expression “a domino effect” in the second paragraph can be replaced by .| A．a chain reaction | B．a sudden stop |
| C．a single action | D．a slow process |
| A．When he started working hard in college. |
| B．When he received encouragement from a professor. |
| C．When he realized he had dyslexia. |
| D．When he failed miserably in his studies. |
| A．To share their personal experiences about kindness. |
| B．To promote the use of electronic books over hard copies. |
| C．To inspire others to perform acts of kindness in their daily lives. |
| D．To encourage people to seek help from professors and teachers. |
| A．Electronic version. | B．Hard copy. |
| C．School workbook. | D．Library document. |
8 . Some people can begin a conversation with anyone ——even complete strangers.
A great way to start a conversation with the people around you is to simply comment on your shared surroundings.
Keep your comments positive——never mean-spirited or critical. You want the other person to feel comfortable getting in on the joke with you. You could follow up on your previous comment about your professor with something like, “I wonder where Hedwig is?”
If you don’t receive a positive response from one person, the method might work with someone else.
| A．A little humor works great here |
| B．Here are some ways to help you |
| C．A good conversation really matters a lot |
| D．But many others find it difficult to talk to a stranger |
| E．Humor is difficult with someone you don’t know well |
| F．The more you practice, the easier it will be to talk to a person you don’t know |
| G．The more confident you are, the more chance to receive a positive response there will be |
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1. From which is the text probably taken?| A．A magazine. | B．A web page. |
| C．A book guide. | D．A shopping list. |
| A．Experienced authors. | B．Experts in group travel. |
| C．Reader’s Digest subscribers. | D．Publishers of Reader’s Digest. |
| A．£60. | B．£100. | C．£120. | D．£200. |
10 . Researchers are training robots to perform an ever-growing number of tasks through trial-and-error reinforcement (强化) learning, which is often laborious and time-consuming. To help out, humans are now employing large language model (LLM) AI. A team at NVIDIA Research directed an AI protocol (协议) powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 to teach a simulation (模拟) of a robotic hand nearly 30 complex tasks, including throwing a ball, pushing blocks, pressing switches, and some other seriously impressive abilities.
NVIDIA’s new “AI agent” Eureka uses GPT-4 by asking the large language model to write its own reward-based reinforcement learning software code. According to the company, Eureka doesn’t need complicated reminders or even pre-written patterns; instead, it simply begins experimenting with a program, and then follows any external human feedback.
In the company’s announcement, Linxi “Jim” Fan, a senior research scientist at NVIDIA, described Eureka as a unique combination of LLMs and simulation programming. “We believe that Eureka will enable robots to control items flexibly and provide a new way to produce physically realistic animations for artists,” Fan added. After testing its training protocol within an advanced simulation program, Eureka then analyzes its collected data and directs the LLM to further improve upon its design. The result is a protocol capable of successfully numbering a variety of robotic hand designs to operate scissors, turn pens and open cupboards within a physics-accurate simulated environment.
Eureka’s alternatives to human-written trial-and-error learning programs aren’t just effective—in most cases, they’re actually better than those authored by humans. In the team’s open-source research paper findings, Eureka-designed reward programs outperformed humans’ code in over 80 percent of the tasks—amounting to an average performance improvement of over 50 percent in the robotic simulations.
“Reinforcement learning has contributed to impressive wins over the last decade, yet many challenges still exist, such as reward design, which remains a trial-and-error process,” said Anima Anandkumar, an AI researcher. “Eureka is the first step toward developing new algorithms (算法) that integrate generative and reinforcement learning methods to solve hard tasks.”
1. Why is AI used for the training?| A．To simplify robots’ tasks. | B．To advertise OpenAI’s GPT-4. |
| C．To speed up the training process. | D．To recognize artists’ role in art creation. |
| A．Design reward programs. | B．Copy pre-written patterns. |
| C．Get complicated reminders. | D．Avoid human intervention. |
| A．It is still poor at the reward design. | B．It should learn from hard tasks. |
| C．It has few challenges to solve. | D．It is of pioneering significance. |
| A．Trial-and-error learning programs are promising. |
| B．Robots can finish complex tasks through learning. |
| C．Reinforcement learning improves robotic simulations. |
| D．AI can better teach a simulated robotic hand to perform tasks. |
