1 . Problem-solving

Solving problems draws on two types of intelligence: crystal and fluid. Crystal intelligence involves using stored knowledge to answer questions of fact (e.g. what is the speed of light?), which relies on our ability to learn and remember information.

Fluid intelligence involves solving more creative problems, such as how to get a lion, a goat and a cabbage over a river in a single-passenger boat.     1     It is partly because solutions tend to pop, fully formed, into consciousness as “aha!” moments. It also seems that our brains use different strategies for different types of puzzle.

    2     For example, to solve “If ABC=12, then DEF =?” you need to know three things: the alphabet, the number sequence (序列), and the coding technique of linking two sequences in parallel. Once you have this knowledge, you can find the answer by matching letters to their appropriate numbers, without having to look elsewhere for any extra information. In this case, focusing attention on the problem helps you get to the right solution.

Complex problems, on the other hand, require a different approach, because the number of things you need to know and handle is greater than your consciousness brain can cope with.     3     No human brain can think through them all, let alone hold them in mind in order to compare them. Inexperienced chess players typically react to the complexity of a chess problem by concentrating hard on working out possible sequences of events. Rather than helping them, however, this intense, narrow attention can make their play worse.

The reason is that focusing attention on sequential computation, which is done by the brain’s left side, closes down areas of the right side that are concerned with taking a wider view.     4     The right-side activity produces an intuitive (直觉的) sense of what the problem is and provides context for the conscious computations occurring in their left side. This use of intuition, with years of experience, distinguishes experts from new players not only in chess, but also in every area that requires complex problem-solving.

A．A chess move, for example, can lead to billions of outcomes.

B．Intense attention locks both sides of the brain into a particular pattern of activity.

C．This kind of intelligence has proven more difficult to understand.

D．Master players, by contrast, use their right side as well as their left.

E．As well as looking at problem from multiple angles, brilliant problem-solving involves dismissing bad options quickly.

F．We tend to work out simple problems—those involving just a few factors—methodically.

2 . The British accent of Cary Gran has finally been revealed after a fellow actor tracked down a secretly tape recording of the Bristol-born big screen superstar.

Jason Isaacs, who plays Cary Grant in a coming ITV biopic (传记片), said that although setting his mind on figuring out the actor’s real accent, he had become upset by the absence of interviews with Cary Grant.

The star, whose death aged 82 in 1986 brought to an end one of the 20th century’s greatest screen careers, rarely spoke in public and would always adopt a mid-American accent for the cameras

Isaacs, 60, said this week that after some “detective work”, he found out about an interview Cary Grant gave to a student from the University of Iowa months before his death. The student’s classmate secretly recorded the interview in which Cary Grant spoke about his hatred (厌恶) of being approached by fans. The secret recording reveals Cary Grant’s true accent.

At the launch of the ITV drama Archie-after Cary Grant’s birth name Archibald Leach — Isaacs said that when he landed the role, “the first thing I did was look for interviews of Cary Grant.” Isaacs added; “He didn’t want to be seen and he didn’t want to be known. There was nothing at all. Only the films. And that’s not what he spoke like. His accent changed a lot in the films.

Isaacs said of listening to the tape: “I felt like I’d finally made a real connection with him and that’s the voice you hear on screen in Archie. It’s more English than he is in the movies. People think they remember Cary Grant’s voice but what they remember is Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot.”

The ITV biopic focuses on Grant’s troubled family relationships. Jennifer Grant, Grant’s daughter, said her father had rarely spoken about his childhood. “Sadly I think there was so much shame wrapped up in it,” Jennifer Grant said.

1. Why did Jason Isaacs attempt to get a recording of Cary Grant?

A．To recreate his accent for real.

B．To show sincere respect to him.

C．To get the role of Cary Grant easily.

D．To make the film more profitable.

2. What can we infer about Cary Grant from Paragraph 4?

A．He acted as a detective.

B．He worked in a university.

C．He hated being recorded secretly.

D．He disliked having his life disturbed.

3. Whose voice is familiar to the audience?

A．Cary Grant.

B．Tony Curtis.

C．Jason Isaacs.

D．Jennifer Grant.

4. What kind of person is Jason Isaacs?

A．Generous.

B．Ambitious.

C．Determined.

D．Knowledgeable.

3 . Authorities have moved to tighten oversight of the rapidly expanding semi-prepared food industry, ironing out definitions of precooked dishes and roll ng out rules on the use of additives in the sector to ensure food safety. Restaurants are also being encouraged to identify dishes on their menus that include semi-prepared ingredients, a move that experts say will help customers make informed decisions.

The reforms, led by y the State Administration for Market Regulation, which oversees product quality and consumer rights, were outlined in a circular issued on Thursday by six government agencies.

Share (股票) prices of companies involved in the semi prepared food sector fell by an average of 2 percent on the A-share market on Monday because of the strengthened oversight Industry insiders said the rules were the first to clarify the definition of semi-prepared food and set out safety and quality standards for the multibillion yuan industry.

China has more than 70, 000 companies making food items that have undergone some preparation but are not fully cooked or ready to eat, according to Xinhua News Agency. Their output value topped 500 billion yuan ($69.4 million) last year and is on track to surpass 1 trillion yuan in a few years, it said.

The new rules differentiate between semi-prepared food-also known as prepackaged meals — and other food items, such as instant noodles, frozen dumplings and salads. They say semi-prepared food must be a dish that can be consumed after simple preparations such as heating or boiling.

Experts said makers of frozen foods such as dumplings and hamburgers will no longer be regarded as being semi-prepared food businesses, and will be unable to ignore regulations in their own sector or enjoy preferential policies tailor-made for semi-prepared food makers. They said the generalization of the concept of semi prepared food had previously created regulatory difficulties.

1. Why is it necessary to oversee the semi-prepared food industry?

A．To raise people’s awareness of food safety concerns.

B．To ban the use of semi-prepared prepared ingredients.

C．To guarantee food safety through strengthened regulations.

D．To encourage restaurants to identify dishes on their menus.

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．Rules aiming to define semi-prepared food.

B．Great loss suffered by semi-prepared food sect on.

C．Safety and quality standards imposed on food industry.

D．Effects on semi-prepared food industry made by the new rules.

3. Which of the following statement is true?

A．Semi-prepared food can be directly consumed.

B．Instant noodles are considered as semi-prepared food.

C．Semi prepared food makers enjoy preferential treatment.

D．Output value of semi-prepared food is decreasing in China.

4. What is the expert’s attitude towards the regulatory reforms?

A．Ambiguous.

B．Positive.

C．Objective.

D．Indifferent.

4 . To put it simply, stress can be the father of growth, while a crisis can be the mother of innovation. The notion that great good can emerge from great adversity (逆境) is as old as the legend of the great phoenix (凤凰), who not only arises but soars to new heights from its own ashes.

In 1598, William Shakespeare penned the play As You Like It. One of the most famous lines from that play is spoken in Act 2 Scene 1 by Duke Senior, “Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad (癞蛤蟆), ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.” Even 500 years ago, the potential value of adversity was recognized, not by a great healer, but by a great playwright. Can this really be the case?

Fast-forward to the great silent film star Mary Pickford. She was called the most popular actress in the world in the 1910s and 1920s. Failing to continue acting with the advent of the “talkies”(movies with recorded sound), she co-founded the film company United Artists. Shifting her talents to producing and directing, she became the most powerful woman in the entertainment industry. She once noted, “You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.”

Rather than fear and try to avoid adversity, perhaps we should accept the inevitability (必然) of adversity and prepare for it. Indeed, positive things can emerge from adversity.

Adversity reveals true opportunities for those preparing to take advantage. Dr. John Krumboltz’s happenstance theory states that career and life development is best fostered by preparing for opportunities that you may not know even exist in the current moment. Numerous unpredictable factors are potentially shaping the future. These include the crises adversity brings.

In Friedrich Nietzsche’s book, Behold the Man, the German philosopher writes that a person who has “turned out well” could be recognized by the ability to take advantage of and prosper from adversity, just as he wrote before, “What does not kill him makes him stronger.”

So, the next time adversity enters your life, will you run from it, or will you embrace it and use it as a step ping stone to greater happiness and success?

1. Why does the author quote the line from Shakespeare’s play?

A．To emphasize the great wisdom of Shakespeare.

B．To highlight the beauty of Shakespeare’s language.

C．To challenge the conventional belief regarding adversity.

D．To show the long-standing recognition of adversity’s value.

2. What is conveyed through Mary Pickford’s story?

A．Fame can block one’s achievements.

B．Strong determination overcomes adversity.

C．Accepting adversity results in positive outcomes.

D．Courage in the face of challenges leads to success.

3. What is the idea behind Krumboltz’s happenstance theory?

A．Embracing uncertainty.	B．Managing life’s challenges.
C．Seizing hidden opportunities.	D．Focusing on personal growth.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards adversity?

A．Cautious.

B．Favorable.

C．Neutral.

D．Doubtful.

5. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Finding value and opportunity in facing adversity.

B．Stress as the primary cause of growth and innovation.

C．How to avoid adversity and negative experiences in life.

D．Historical figures who failed to overcome adversity effectively.

5 . Sometimes you may feel like privacy, as a concept, has disappeared from the world.    1    Thus they can serve up frighteningly accurate ads that make you think your phone’s microphone has been turned on and marketers are actively listening to your every word.

They’re not—yet. But they are engaged in something called “datamining”. This is the process of collecting enormous amounts of unknown data from your every connected activity and then analyzing that data to fill your life with advertisements and other influences. Datamining gives away your privacy. You may find it quite impossible to avoid.    2    

Check settings carefully.

When you install(安装) an app on your device, you probably click through a series of permissions, But an app may require many unnecessary permissions. You may doubt whether a game really needs access to your microphone, location, and camera.    3    Take the next line of defense: stop installing garbage free apps and spend that dollar.

    4    

Social media is very obviously a landfill when it comes to privacy. If your main goal on social media is to connect with friends or colleagues, restrict the reach of your posts to just those folks. And don’t expose your travel plans, spending habits, or product reviews out into the universe.

Remember to log out.

    5    And as long as you’re signed in, that ability continues—even if you leave the site. It’s an inconvenience indeed, but logging out of those services when you’re not actively using them and clearing cookies and history regularly can slowdown the mining of data.

A．Be “boring” on social media.

B．Mind your comments on social media.

C．But you can minimize your exposure to it.

D．Advertisers certainly seem to know everything about you.

E．You should assume it is more of a data-mining app than anything else.

F．Upon logging into platforms like Google, your activities are monitored.

G．Online platforms have some hidden traps in which you will be cheated often.

6 . When you teach a child how to solve puzzles, you can either let them figure it out through trial and error, or you can guide them with some basic rules and tips. Similarly, incorporating (合并) rules and tips into AI training—such as the laws of physics—could make them more efficient and more reflective of the real world. However, helping the AI assess the value of different rules can be a tricky task.

Researchers report that they have developed a framework for assessing the relative value of rules and data in “informed machine learning models” that incorporate both. They showed that by doing so, they could help the AI incorporate basic laws of the real world and better navigate scientific problems like solving complex mathematical problems and optimizing experimental conditions in chemistry experiments.

“Embedding human knowledge into AI models has the potential to improve their efficiency and ability to make inferences, but the question is how to balance the influence of data and knowledge,” says first author. Hao Xu of Peking University. “Our framework can be employed to evaluate different knowledge and rules to enhance the predictive capability of deep learning models.”

Generative AI models like ChatGPT and Sora are purely data-driven—the models are given training data, and they teach themselves via trial and error. However, with only data to work from, these systems have no way to learn physical laws, such as gravity or fluid dynamics, and they also struggle to perform in situations that differ from their training data. An alternative approach is informed machine learning, in which researchers provide the model with some underlying rules to help guide its training process.

“We are trying to teach AI models the laws of physics so that they can be more reflective of the real world, which would make them more useful in science and engineering. We want to make it a closed loop (闭环) by making the model into a real AI scientist,” says senior author Yuntian Chen of the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo.

1. How did the author introduce the topic of the text?

A．By assessing basic rules.	B．By comparison of similarity.
C．By explaining laws of physics.	D．By analysis of human learning.

2. What does the underlined word “embedding” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Planting.

B．Stressing.

C．Employing.

D．Revealing.

3. What makes generative AI models underperform?

A．They’re dependent too much on data.

B．They’re inflexible to carry out new tasks.

C．They struggle to learn new things.

D．It’s tough for them to deal with familiar situations.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Informed machine learning may be an alternative to generative AI.

B．Helping the AI assess the value of different rules can be a tricky task.

C．Generative AI models can be more reflective of the real world in the future.

D．Balancing training data and human knowledge makes AI more like a scientist.

7 . Ariel Procaccia has thought a lot about how to cut a cake over the last 15 years. As the father of three children, he knows how hard it is to divide a birthday cake to everyone’s satisfaction. But it’s also because Procaccia’s work focuses on exploring the mathematical rules for dividing stuff up fairly. One way to do that is to think abstractly about dessert.

For decades, researchers have been asking the seemingly simple question of how to cut a cake fairly. The answer reaches far beyond birthday parties. A mathematical problem at its heart, cake cutting connects strict reasoning to real-world issues of fairness, and so attracts not only mathematicians, but also social scientists, economists and more. “It’s a very elegant model in which you can distill what fairness really is, and reason about it,” Procaccia says.

The simplest approach is called the “divider-chooser” method, where one person cuts the cake into two equal pieces in his view, and the other person picks first. Each receives a piece that they feel is as valuable as the other’s. But when personal preferences are taken into account, even the easiest rule becomes complicated. Suppose Alice and Bob are to divide a cake, and Alice knows Bob prefers chocolate, she may knowingly divide the cake unequally so the smaller piece contains more chocolate. Then Bob will choose according to his preference, and Alice will get the larger piece. Both of them are satisfied with what they get, but the meaning of fairness changes in this situation.

The cake is a symbol for any divisible good. When cake-cutting principles are employed to settle disagreements, they are potentially helping the world find solutions. Procaccia has used fair division algorithms (算法) to model food distribution. Social scientist Haris Aziz is exploring situations ranging from how to divide up daily tasks to how to best schedule doctors’ shifts in hospitals.

Even after decades of investigation, cake cutting isn’t like a simple jigsaw puzzle (拼图) with a well-defined solution. Instead, over time, it has evolved into a kind of mathematical sandbox, a constructive playground that brings together abstract proofs and easy applications. The more researchers explore it, the more there is to explore.

1. What does the underlined word “distill” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Get the essence of.	B．Find the opposite of.
C．Keep the focus on.	D．Reduce the impact on.

2. What can we learn about fairness from the example given in paragraph 3?

A．Its standard is stable.	B．It prevents unequal division.
C．Its concept is complex.	D．It dominates personal preferences.

3. What is paragraph 4 mainly about concerning cake cutting?

A．The application of its rules.	B．The details of its process.
C．The problems it produces.	D．The harmony it symbolizes.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Who benefits most from fairness?

B．How has fairness changed over time?

C．What method works best in cake-cutting?

D．Why are researchers so interested in cake-cutting?

8 . “When I was young, I had so much energy and I loved building stuff. If I had an idea, I had to build it right away using whatever I could find around me.” says Danish recycle artist Thomas Dambo. When Dambo was just seven years old, he bought some materials from the local market to construct a game room in his parents’ basement. As a teenager, he built a “crazy” castle in his backyard.

Decades later, 42-year-old Dambo is proudly surveying his latest creation: a troll (巨人) called Little Lui. Towering at five meters tall, Little Lui is one of the six trolls hidden in secret corners of the Peel Region of Western Australia as part of Thomas Dambo Giants of Mandurah, an Australian-first exhibition, which will be on show for at least a year. Dambo has made many impressive trolls, which have found homes in the United States, Belgium, China, Denmark, South Korea and so on.

“For me, trolls represent the voice of nature,” Dambo says. This deep respect for the natural world is a central message of Dambo’s practice. Dambo’s troll are made almost entirely from locally sourced recycled wood: their faces from secondhand furniture and their hair from branches and leaves. Taking about 750 hours to complete, each troll is constructed out in nature.

“We are slowly turning the world into a landfill. I hope that by visiting the trolls, people will think of rubbish as a resource. I think it’s really important that the next generation is connected to nature.” Dambo says. “That’s why I tried to design the trolls to appeal to younger people. I want people to be inspired to play and experiment, and to realize they don’t need a lot to create something big and beautiful. Go out, go around the corner and take advantage of whatever is there — you will find a lot of adventure in your own backyard.”

1. Which of the following can best describe young Dambo?

A．Creative.

B．Generous.

C．Independent.

D．Courageous.

2. What do you know about Little Lui?

A．It is kept underground.	B．It is Dambo’s first creation.
C．It will be shown to the public.	D．It will be sent to foreign countries.

3. Which aspect of trolls does paragraph 3 highlight?

A．Their basic theme.	B．Their artistic value.
C．Their expensive materials.	D．Their building procedures.

4. What does Dambo intend to do with his trolls?

A．Inspire more people to take adventures.

B．Encourage the young to approach nature.

C．Help people spend less time playing games.

D．Call on the young to save natural resources.

9 . In today’s world, AI is increasingly becoming an integral part of our lives.     1     From personalizing learning to providing feedback, AI can help students a lot.

Artificial intelligence has revolutionized how students are measured in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. By analyzing massive datasets, AI can quickly identify a student’s areas of strengths and weaknesses through the images they upload, videos they watch, and data gathered from feedback systems.     2     It promises to take us into a new era of educational success where no student is left behind.

With the advancements in AI technology, each student can receive the most tailored education they need to reach their own educational goals. It can also aid in how to write an article review, potentially by being able to particularize how challenging certain elements are for students and how much further focus and practice any one student needs to accomplish their educational objectives.     3    

In today’s ever-connected world, having access to reliable sources of information beyond normal business hours can make a huge difference in a person’s life.     4     Whether you’re seeking self-help resources to aid in studies or trying to navigate administrative processes, these conversational agents are often the ultimate solution for covering your informational needs outside of class hours, as they are always on hand.     5    

A．AI-based chatbots offer just that, providing up-to-date information 24/7.

B．Here are some benefits of AI for students that can help them in their studies.

C．These data cannot reflect the whole picture of students’ performance, though.

D．This timeless advantage has significantly reduced the workload for the educators.

E．Thus, AI-supported personalized learning could finally create equal access to education.

F．Therefore, they allow us to efficiently access services without worrying about time limit.

G．It will also better identify potential areas for improvement in teaching and evaluating students.

10 . Teachers worried about students turning in essays written by a popular artificial intelligence chatbot now have a new tool of their own.

Edward Tian, a computer science major at Princeton University, has built an App called GPTZero to detect whether a text is written by Chat GPT, which is a popular chatbot that has caused fears over its possibility for immoral uses in American academic circles. His motivation to create the computer program was to fight what he sees as an increase in AI plagiarism (剽窃). Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, there have been reports of students using the language model to pass off AI-written assignments as their own. Many teachers have reached out to him after he released GPTZero, telling him about the positive results they’ve seen from testing it.

To determine whether an essay is written by a computer program, GPTZero uses two indicators: “confusion” and “burstiness (突发性)”. The first indicator measures the complexity of text; if GPTZero is confused by the text, then it has a high complexity and it’s more likely to be human-written. However, if the text is more familiar to GPTZero — because it’s been trained on such data — then it will have low complexity and therefore is more likely to be AI-generated. Besides, the second indicator compares the variations of sentences. Humans tend to write with greater burstiness, for example, with some longer or complex sentences alongside shorter ones. AI sentences tend to be more uniform.

In a demonstration video, Tian compared the App’s analysis of a story in The New Yorker and a Linked In post written by ChatGPT. It successfully distinguished writing between human and AI. However, GPTZero isn’t foolproof, as some users have reported when putting it to the test. He said he’s still working to improve the model’s accuracy.

Tian is not opposed to the use of AI tools like ChatGPT. GPTZero is “not meant to be a tool to stop these technologies from being used,” he said. “But with any new technologies, we need to be able to adopt it responsibly and we need to have protections.”

1. What have some students done since ChatGPT was released?

A．They have built language models from ChatGPT.

B．They have copied AI-written text from ChatGPT

C．They have accessed their assignments through ChatGPT.

D．They have passed their writing exams through ChatGPT.

2. What can be inferred about the two indicators of GPTZero?

A．The more uniform the text is, the more likely it is to be AI-generated.

B．The less complex the text is, the more likely it is to be human-written.

C．GPTZero sometimes confuses human-written texts with AI-generated texts.

D．GPTZero is more familiar with human-written texts than with AI-generated texts.

3. What does the underlined word “foolproof” mean in the fourth paragraph?

A．User-friendly.	B．Time-efficient.
C．Perfectly legal.	D．Completely reliable.

4. What maybe Tian’s attitude to the use of AI tools?

A．Favorable.

B．Disapproving.

C．Objective.

D．Ambiguous.