1 . Imagine the sound of a dog walking across a tile floor, the “click, click, click” of its claws tapping against the ground. Now, imagine a cat walking across the same floor — the difference is the cat moves in total silence. Cats can fully retract (缩回) their claws, giving them superior ability to remain silence.
But why do cats have retractable claws, whereas dogs do not?
It all comes down to how cats and dogs use their claws. Cats use their claws primarily to attack their target, said Anthony Russell, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. They use their front claws to grab and hold on to their target and their back claws to cut open the target’s belly.
Cats need to keep their claws sharp to secure that next meal. Extended all the time, their claws would get less sharp as they scrape the ground, much like how a nail file deals with sharp points on a human fingernail.
Dogs, on the other hand, are social hunters. They work in groups to take down larger animals, wearing their target out over longer distances. For dogs, “if you’re hunting a moose or something, you wander along for kilometres and bite it until it is fatigued, and then you all jump on it,” Russell said. “Whereas cats essentially have a short burst, and then it’s over. Either the target gets away, or the target is captured.”
With more hunters working together, it’s less important for dogs to be able to grab and hold onto their target, so they don’t have to keep their claws as sharp. Sheer numbers are enough to give them the advantage.
But dogs’ claws aren’t completely useless. Dogs’ claws help them stand firmly on the earth and change directions quickly — a useful adaptation for pursuing target over long distances.
In nature’s silent dance, cats’ retractable claws are knives for quick attacks, while dogs’ strong claws make them good chasers. Each claw tells a tale of adaptation made to their unique hunting styles.
1. Where is the text most probably taken from?| A．An animal novel. | B．A scientific report. | C．A zoology magazine. | D．A pet keeping guide. |
| A．Hungry. | B．Scared. | C．Wounded. | D．Exhausted. |
| A．Cats use front claws to grab and kill the target. |
| B．Dogs use claws to attack and wear their targets out. |
| C．Cats stop hunting if the target escapes from the first attack. |
| D．Dogs work together to capture their targets in a shorter time. |
| A．Cats are better adapted to hunting than dogs. |
| B．Claws are more important for cats than for dogs. |
| C．The sharper the claws, the more efficient the hunt. |
| D．Cats and dogs find different ways to survive in nature. |
2 . From the deserts of Southern California to the forests of Alaska, the U.S. possesses a diversity of nature. For most of her life, Joy Ryan never saw the scenery beyond her home state of Ohio. Then, when she was in her mid-eighties, her grandson Brad Ryan decided to take her on a journey to all of the U.S. National Parks, which took eight years to complete. At the age of 93, Grandma Joy has finally seen all 63 parks, ending her journey in the National Park of American Samoa.
“When I learned she had never seen the great wildernesses of America — deserts, mountains, oceans, I decided to intervene (干预) in some way,” Brad says. This idea sparked their first trip to the Great Smoky Mountains. However, once they were on the road, Brad realised that they could visit more parks that were nearby. Over the years, they managed to see all of the famous sights at Yosemite, the Redwoods, and so on. But Brad values the time spent with his grandmother just as much as the breathtaking places they were able to visit.
Despite Grandma Joy’s older age, she was able to hike mountains. Brad regards her love for life as the key to her good health. She is grateful for each new day and is always Excited for the next journey. Finally, their long journey across the U.S. came to an end with American Samoa. “It’s about 6,700 miles from Ohio, where we live,” Brad explains. “We can enjoy the beach and the beautiful tropical paradise. But as we’ve learned from the rangers that work there, American Samoa is an island community firmly rooted in family. And I think that there’s a bit of a poetic beauty to ending it there, too.”
“I am thankful every morning for giving me another day,” Grandma Joy shares. “And it is your choice whether you’re going to have a rainy day or a sunny day. So, smile at everybody, and let everybody know you’re having a whale of a time.” While her tour of the U.S. has come to a close, she and her grandson are not done traveling. Next up, they have their sights set on Kenya.
1. Why did Brad decide to travel across America with his grandma?| A．To celebrate Grandma Joy’s 93rd birthday. |
| B．To complete a task he promised Grandma Joy. |
| C．To enrich Grandma Joy’s travelling experiences. |
| D．To realise Grandma Joy’s dream of visiting parks. |
| A．Free and adventurous. | B．Tiring but educational. |
| C．Stressful but eye-opening. | D．Amazing and worthwhile. |
| A．The friendly locals. | B．The family bond. | C．The special culture. | D．The beautiful sights. |
| A．Stay Curious, Stay Young | B．It’s Never too Old to Hit the Road |
| C．Laughter is the Best Medicine | D．Travelling Contributes to Long Life |
3 . OpenAI’s automated AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT has taken the Internet by storm, but not without creating a few issues on the way. With writers, marketers, and seemingly everyone else in between using ChatGPT to generate content, companies worldwide are staring down a tsunami of AI-generated content. With issues of safety and stolen contents constantly swirling around ChatGPT and its output, OpenAI has now released GPT-Classifier, a tool designed to detect whether the text you’re reading was generated by ChatGPT or one of its other GPT tools.
GPT-Classifier attempts to figure out if a given piece of text was human-written or the work of an AI-generator. While ChatGPT and other GPT models are trained extensively on all manners of text input, the GPT-Classifier tool is fine-tuned on a dataset of pairs of human-written text and AI-written text on the same topic. In other words, the GPT-Classifier attempts to compare similarities between known human text and known AI text to find inconsistency that reveal the source writer.
While the idea of easily spotting AI-generated text will be music to the ears of editors and educators, OpenAI has warned that its classifier is not fully reliable.
A test of the GPT-Classifier spotted a human-generated example and marked it very unlikely to be AI-generated, and also correctly indicated that a ChatGPT-generated piece on USB issues was possibly AI generated. Currently, GPT-Classifier correctly identifies 26% of AI-written text while labelling 9% of human text as AI-written. OpenAI also notes that the tool’s accuracy typically improves as the length of the input text increases. For now, although GPT-Classifier is up and running and available for testing, it’s best to take its labelling with a pinch of salt.
Even with the GPT-Classifier’s limitations, the demand for reliable ChatGPT detection is likely to see many people turn to this tool. OpenAI’s commitment to building and releasing a free GPT detection tool is important because as more students, writers, programmers, and others use AI-text generation tools, understanding and detecting this input will become vital.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．GPT-Classifier’s components. | B．GPT-Classifier’s vast datasets. |
| C．GPT-Classifier’s high productivity. | D．GPT-Classifier’s working principle. |
| A．With certain doubt. | B．At face value. | C．With great respect. | D．As a challenge. |
| A．GPT-Classifier demands more users’ trust. | B．GPT-Classifier wipes out users’ belief in AI. |
| C．GPT-Classifier meets diverse growing needs. | D．GPT-Classifier has a limited range of services. |
| A．To discuss the reliability of GPT-Classifier. |
| B．To criticise the problem of Al-generated content. |
| C．To encourage more people to use GPT-Classifier. |
| D．To introduce a new tool for detecting AI-generated text. |
4 . Self-driving cars are just around the corner. Such vehicles will make getting from one place to another safer and less stressful. They also could cut down on traffic, reduce pollution and limit accidents. But how should driverless cars handle emergencies? People disagree on the answer. And that might put the brakes on this technology, a new study concludes.
To understand the challenge, imagine a car that suddenly meets some pedestrians in the road. Even with braking, it’s too late to avoid a crash. So, the car’s artificial intelligence must decide whether to swerve (急转弯). To save the pedestrians, should the car swerve off the road or swerve into oncoming traffic? What if such options would likely kill the car’s passengers?
Researchers used online surveys to study people’s attitudes about such situations with driverless cars. Survey participants mostly agreed that driverless cars should be designed to protect the most people. That included swerving into walls (or otherwise sacrificing their passengers) to save a larger number of pedestrians. But there is a dilemma. Those same surveyed people want to ride in cars that protect passengers at all costs — even if the pedestrians would now end up dying. Jean Bonnefon is a psychologist at the Toulouse School of Economics in France. He and his colleagues reported their findings in Science.
“Autonomous cars can completely change transportation”, says study co-author Iyad Rahwan. But, he adds, this new technology creates a moral dilemma that could slow its acceptance.
“Makers of driverless cars are in a tough spot,” Bonnefon’s group warns. Most buyers would want their car to be programmed to protect them in preference to other people. However, regulations might one day instruct that cars must act for the greater good. That would mean saving the most people. But the scientists think rules like this could drive away buyers. If so, all the potential benefits of driverless cars would be lost.
“Compromises (折中) might be possible,” Kurt Gray says. He is a psychologist at the University of North Carolina. He thinks that even if all driverless cars are programmed to protect their passengers in emergencies, traffic accidents will decrease. Those vehicles might be dangerous to pedestrians on rare occasions. But they “won’t speed, won’t drive drunk and won’t text while driving, which would be a win for society.”
1. What is the challenge facing self-driving cars?| A．How self-driving cars reduce accidents. | B．The technical problems that self-driving cars have. |
| C．How self-driving cars handle emergencies. | D．People’s negative attitudes towards self-driving cars. |
| A．Quick decisions are required for self-driving cars’ AI. |
| B．People are in a difficult situation about self-driving cars. |
| C．The potential benefits of self-driving cars are ignored by buyers. |
| D．Self-driving cars are supposed to protect passengers at any price. |
| A．Favourable. | B．Doubtful. | C．Critical. | D．Neutral. |
| A．People Disagree on the Future of Driverless Cars |
| B．Driverless Cars are Revolutionising Transportation |
| C．New Regulations Have Great Influence on Driverless Cars |
| D．Moral Dilemma Could Limit the Appeal of Driverless Cars |
5 . Sharks and their relatives are some of the most threatened vertebrates (脊椎动物) on Earth. Coral reefs (珊瑚礁) provide homes for countless fish species that are vital for fisheries and are therefore an especially important ecosystem for humans — and one where the decline of shark populations seems to be especially acute.
The study by Simpfendorfer will his team is the result of a worldwide collaboration called the Global FinPrint project. The data analyzed include more than 20,000 hours of standardized underwater video taken at nearly 400 reefs in 67 countries around the world. It reveals declines of 60 to 73% of once-abundant coral reef shark species at reefs around the world.
However, the findings of Simpfendorfer with his team include signs of hope and a clear path forward. Their results show that although shark populations in many reefs had declined, some healthy reef shark populations remained. The reefs with healthier shark populations had some important similarities: they tended to be in the waters of high-income countries with stronger natural resource management regulations. A country that lacks the resources to feed its people is less able to sustainably manage and protect its biodiversity.
The most unexpected result of the study is that a decline or complete loss of shark species in one reef was not always associated with similar changes in nearby reefs.They found that one reef can be over fished so badly that a once-common reef shark species is totally gone, but another reef a short distance away can have healthy populations of that same species.It is likely that healthy populations can eventually help repopulate nearby areas.
The problem is clear — animals that provide ecosystem services that are vital for human food security and livelihoods are disappearing at an alarming rate. The loss of sharks and the ecosystem services they provide represents an ecological disaster that can cause substantial harm to humans. But apparently, the findings have shown a way. If the threat that led to population decline are resolved, then these important and threatened animals may recover.
1. Why is Simpfendorfer with his team mentioned in Paragraph 2?| A．To stress the result of global collaboration. |
| B．To state the urgency of protecting the ocean. |
| C．To show the severe condition of certain sharks. |
| D．To present the figures of their contributions to sharks. |
| A．strict laws in rich countries | B．developed countries |
| C．similarities between other waters | D．public awareness of protecting reefs |
| A．Changes in reefs lead to loss of shark species. |
| B．Humans and animals depend on each other in ecosystem. |
| C．It’s not clear whether humans cause damage to biodiversity. |
| D．The declined shark species have nothing to do with overfishing. |
| A．Acute Decline of reef sharks. | B．Potential recovery of reef sharks. |
| C．Global cooperation of saving sharks. | D．Amazing discovery of Coral reefs. |
6 . Emotions play a critical part in our lives and are easy to spread among people unless you know how to actually control them. In order to grow and thrive, you must learn to be emotionally intelligent.
Focus Your Efforts On Self-evolution
Just like you, it is completely normal for everyone else to have their own beliefs and opinions. Keeping that in mind, it’s better to understand that you cannot change others, no matter how hard you try. Even if you try changing others, you could be hurting yourself in the process.
Try Using “I” Statements
People sometimes interact with us as if we are mind readers, especially in relationships. Your partner may expect you to understand their desires, which can be challenging. Just as you aren’t a mind reader, others aren’t either. You need to communicate your needs to other people, and they need to do the same with you. Share your needs with your loved ones and observe the positive changes.
Avoid Negative People
You are known by the company you keep, and this is always true.
| A．Express Your Needs |
| B．Always Be A Mind Reader |
| C．If surrounded by happy and motivated people, you will always be happy |
| D．When upset, express your feelings openly but in a non-aggressive manner |
| E．The strategy in this stressful situation is to focus on others instead of yours |
| F．Taking full responsibility for your actions is how you become emotionally mature |
| G．To enhance emotional maturity and happiness, self-development is the best course of action |
7 . Tonight, our family was going out to play under the full moon.
My husband Todd and I first started going on full moon walks for ourselves, as we needed these little doses of moonlight to stay happy, though sometimes we had to hike through the forest to find a perfect spot. But after we became parents, we did this for our children. We wanted to show Sierra and Bryce that it was not necessary to travel far from home to have an adventure and learn something new, and that there was much magic in the natural world, available to all.
Once we arrived at our location, Sierra and I stood holding hands, waiting to cheer the full moon in its rising — a thin sliver of the moon emerged above the ridge of the mountain afar. Soon, more of the moon came out until it turned into a brilliant orange sphere (球体). Todd explained to Sierra and Bryce that the moon generates no light, but simply acts like a mirror, reflecting the sunlight back to us. “Does the moon’s face change?” Bryce asked. I told him that the moon moves around the earth, but does not spin (旋转) by itself, so the same side of the moon is always facing the earth. Sierra remarked that the moon looked larger when it was rising. I explained that it is a visual illusion (错觉) because it is so close to the horizon that the moon magically tricks our eyes into comparing it with nearby objects.
Much of the knowledge that I shared with the kids was learned from my parents. During my childhood, they would take me on educational adventures out in the woods, and as I later found, so did their parents. So every time I go for a full moon walk with my beloved family, I thank those wise educators who came before me.
To educate, sometimes all it takes is going outdoors and gazing up at the heavens.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Traveling far from home. |
| B．Learning something new. |
| C．Hiking through the forest. |
| D．Going on full moon walks. |
| A．The children were unwilling to participate. |
| B．Todd mentioned a mirror to explain the sunlight. |
| C．The children showed great curiosity about the moon. |
| D．The author used a magic trick to explain the larger moon. |
| A．Proud and stubborn. |
| B．Learned and inspiring. |
| C．Confident and determined. |
| D．Adventurous and ambitious. |
| A．Nature is the best classroom. |
| B．It takes a village to raise a child. |
| C．It is good to learn at another man's cost. |
| D．All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. |
8 . Our future selves used to be a riddle. Now, thanks to social media filters (滤镜), we can stare them right in the face. People fell in love with TikTok this month to share themselves “aging” in real time using a filter “Time Travel”. Set to a sad song, the effect shows the user’s face slowly getting older, complete with wrinkles and sunspots.
Camera filters that age you have been around for years. But advancements in AI are making the results more real. Doctor Aleksandra Brown said the TikTok “Time Travel” filter does well in guessing how a given face would age.
As we get older, our facial skin thins, fat dissolves (溶解) and gravity pulls everything downward. Not everyone is pleased about this. One of Brown’s friends didn’t like watching time fly past. She couldn’t stand watching herself age 50 years in 15 seconds—could life really go by that fast? Brown cried herself after using the aging effect on her own young daughter. She won’t live to see her daughter get that old, she pointed out.
For other people, the “Time Travel” filter brought up unexpected positive feelings. Actor Jonathan Bennett shared a video saying his own filtered face recalled happy memories of his late father. Nicole Loehle, a 24-year-old in New Jersey, tested the effect with her boyfriend. It gave her a new viewpoint, she said, she could imagine the relationship lasting into their old age.
There’s no correct way to age. But it’s important to remember that no one can stop time or undo its effects. “I keep trying to view aging as a gift,” Brown said. “Some people don’t get to age, unluckily.”
1. What can people do with the “Time Travel” filter?| A．Recover from a sad mood. |
| B．Recall their happy childhood. |
| C．Foresee their aging appearance. |
| D．Remove their wrinkles and sunspots. |
| A．Reminder of the flight of time. |
| B．Instructions on using the aging filter. |
| C．Working principle of the aging filter. |
| D．Reactions to the aging effect of the filter. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Negative. | C．Indifferent. | D．Ambiguous. |
| A．“Time Travel”: Slowly or Quickly |
| B．“Time Travel”: to Enjoy or to Suffer |
| C．“Time Travel”: to Develop or to Drop |
| D．“Time Travel”: Backward or Forward |
9 . We sometimes think that everything was much better and easier in the past. It’s one of the tricks our minds play on us, especially when we arc in low spirits.
Actually, it’s unlikely that things were objectively better in the past. This form of thinking is called rosy retrospection,which is a well-studied cognitive bias. It happens because when we think about the past, we are more likely to focus on positive generalities than annoying details.
If you think back to a holiday with your family five years ago, you’re likely to recall the beautiful views rather than the uncomfortable bed. In other words,the negative details disappear from our memory over time while the positive ones remain.
Rosy retrospection can influence how we make decisions, and it’s one of the reasons why we easily return into problematic relationships. The longer it is since we experienced the negative influence of a relationship, the more likely we are to let the good memories outweigh the bad memories and to perhaps forgive unforgivable behavior. It’s always a good idea to review our nostalgic (怀旧的) feelings with a healthy degree of doubt.
But rosy retrospection does serve an important purpose. It keeps us in a positive state of mind in the present and is important to our psychological wellbeing. In fact, people who tend to remember negative experiences more than positive ones are likely to exhibit psychological disorders. Research generally suggests that our happiest days are still to come. And even if they’re not, it’s still important to believe that they are. Don’t shy away from looking upon the past with a certain degree of nostalgia. But, for the same reason, don’t use the past as an excuse to be unhappy in the present.
1. What does the underlined phrase “rosy retrospection” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Having a preference for good memories. | B．Remembering exactly about the details. |
| C．Concentrating on impossible things. | D．Thinking objectively about the past: |
| A．Reviewing the nostalgic feelings critically. |
| B．Ignoring the nostalgic feelings absolutely. |
| C．Forgiving the unacceptable behavior generously. |
| D．Getting back to the problematic relationships bravely. |
| A．The good excuse for present unhappiness. |
| B．The accuracy of remembering past details. |
| C．The importance of maintaining a positive mindset. |
| D．The negative impact of recalling past experiences. |
| A．Negative. | B．Cautious. | C．Favorable. | D．Objective. |
10 . National Public Radio(NPR)Music’s Tiny Desk Contest is back. Artists can begin to submit an entry from this morning on Feb. 2nd. The submission will last 14 days. This isn’t just another regular year of the Contest—it’s the 10th anniversary.
The panel (小组) of judges has doubled in size compared to previous years. The panel has a group of industry experts who are eager to see what this year’s participants can share. And there’s a great team of NPR’s Music station hosts on the panel: Amelia Mason, Novena Carmel and Stas THEE Boss.
Also new this year: Not only will the 2024 winner play a Tiny Desk concert, be interviewed on All Things Considered and go on tour with NPR Music, they’ll also be paired with a tutor in the industry who will help them navigate their music journey. Our judges are determined to give this year’s winner the support they’ll need to take their music to the next level. The winner will also be featured at two festivals this summer: Celebrate Brooklyn and the Millennium Park Summer Music series in Chicago.
And for the first time this year, the Contest is introducing a fan favorite vote. Later this spring, Contest judges will share their favorite entries as part of the annual Tiny Desk-Contest Top Shelf series on YouTube—and then artists and fans will be able to vote for their favorite among those selections.
Here’s how to enter: Record a video of you playing one original song—behind a desk, upload your video to YouTube and submit the video on our Tiny Desk: Contest website.
1. Who could assist the 2024 winner in improving musical skills?| A．The Music station hosts. | B．The tutors in the industry. |
| C．The industry professionals. | D．The participants of the contest. |
| A．Fewer judges get involved this year. | B．Fans are able to vote in the Contest. |
| C．Judges go on tour with NPR Music. | D．Winners host festivals this summer. |
| A．To talk about the history of the Contest. | B．To remember musicians in the Contest. |
| C．To mark the anniversary of the Contest. | D．To attract people to join in the Contest. |
