1 . Our species’ incredible capacity to quickly acquire words from 300 by age 2 to over 1, 000 by age 4 isn’t fully understood. Some cognitive scientists and linguists have theorized that people are born with built-in expectations and logical constraints (约束) that make this possible. Now, however, machine-learning research is showing that preprogrammed assumptions aren’t necessary to swiftly pick up word meanings from minimal data.
A team of scientists has successfully trained a basic artificial intelligence model to match images to words using just 61 hours of naturalistic footage (镜头) and sound-previously collected from a child named Sam in 2013 and 2014. Although it’s a small slice of a child’s life, it was apparently enough to prompt the AI to figure out what certain words mean.
The findings suggest that language acquisition could be simpler than previously thought. Maybe children “don’t need a custom-built, high-class language-specific mechanism” to efficiently grasp word meanings, says Jessica Sullivan, an associate professor of psychology at Skidmore College. “This is a really beautiful study, ” she says, because it offers evidence that simple information from a child’s worldview is rich enough to kick-start pattern recognition and word comprehension.
The new study also demonstrates that it’s possible for machines to learn similarly to the way that humans do. Large language models are trained on enormous amounts of data that can include billions and sometimes trillions of word combinations. Humans get by on orders of magnitude less information, says the paper’s lead author Wai Keen Vong. With the right type of data, that gap between machine and human learning could narrow dramatically.
Yet additional study is necessary in certain aspects of the new research. For one, the scientists acknowledge that their findings don’t prove how children acquire words. Moreover, the study only focused on recognizing the words for physical objects.
Still, it’s a step toward a deeper understanding of our own mind, which can ultimately help us improve human education, says Eva Portelance, a computational linguistics researcher. She notes that AI research can also bring clarity to long-unanswered questions about ourselves. “We can use these models in a good way, to benefit science and society, ” Portelance adds.
1. What is a significant finding of machine-learning research?| A．Vocabulary increases gradually with age. |
| B．Vocabulary can be acquired from minimal data. |
| C．Language acquisition is tied to built-in expectations. |
| D．Language acquisition is as complex as formerly assumed. |
| A．Facilitate. | B．Persuade. | C．Advise. | D．Expect. |
| A．Its limitations. | B．Its strengths. | C．Its uniqueness. | D．Its process. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Cautious. | C．Dismissive. | D．Positive. |
2 . Los Angeles is home to a popular cycling culture. The following bike shops will help you see the city in a whole new light.
Los Angeles Bike Academy
Los Angeles Bike Academy is a bike shop with a critical mission: Provide resources and community for local underserved youth. Its initiative is its Earn-a-Bike program, where students spend time in the shop learning the basics of bike maintenance and running a store, and they graduate with their own bike. LABA also forms competitive cycling teams that race all around the country.
The Cub House
It’s a bike shop, a plant store and a nice place to wander through. It has something for everyone. Here you can play a game of ping-pong on the outdoor table, head into the mini greenhouse for a delicate plant, or just admire the vintage (老式的) cycling clothes hung on the walls. Finally, make sure to swing by the Cub House for the L. A. Invitational, a weekend party featuring multiple bike rides and a vintage car and bike show outside the store.
Frank’s
Some of the wildest bikes in L. A. are rolling out of Frank’s. The house specialty here is BMX, specifically luxury models with large 29-inch wheels. These bikes are as much fun to look at as they are to ride. Since 1992, Frank’s has found a business opportunity for itself as a destination for BMX builds and hard-to-find parts. The display counter has enough attractions to match a jewelry store.
The Bicycle Stand
This spacious store features classic vintage bikes. It’s worth making a trip to this store just to see their amazing collection. The store also specializes in vintage bike repainting and restorations. Besides, the Bicycle Stand team works on all kinds of rides, and the shop has a variety of refurbished (翻新的), ready-to-ride bikes for sale.
1. What is special about Los Angeles Bike Academy?| A．It aims at repairing local bikes. |
| B．It holds national cycling competitions. |
| C．It serves as a community for disabled youth. |
| D．It offers a program for students to earn a bike. |
| A．Los Angeles Bike Academy. | B．The Cub House. |
| C．Frank’s. | D．The Bicycle Stand. |
| A．To discuss benefits of riding. | B．To explain how bike shops work. |
| C．To promote bike shops in L. A. | D．To introduce a riding organization. |
3 . Birmingham is the second largest city of the United Kingdom. It lies near the geographic center of England. It’s one of England’s major industrial and commercial areas. Here’re some places in Birmingham you may be interested in living in.
SolihullLocated 7.5 miles southeast of Birmingham, Solihull offers the best of both worlds for the perfect combination of city and country living. With several top-rated schools, Solihull is a perfect location for families, and with over 1,500acres of parks, there’re plenty of green spaces to keep the kids entertained as well. With easy transport links into Birmingham, it’s a great choice for commuters (通勤人员) and what’s more, Birmingham Airport is located in Solihull.
ErdingtonSituated five miles northeast of the city center, Erdington has to be one of the best places to live in and around Birmingham. This is a very well-connected city suburb, with easy motorway access, great bus links and a railway station on the Cross City Line.
DigbethIf you’re looking to buy your first home in Birmingham, Digbeth could be the perfect choice. The area is a hub for the creative industry, with the Custard Factory and Fazeley Studios both hosting a huge variety of digital and cultural businesses. It’s very tolerant of all kinds of culture, making it one of the most dynamic places to live in.
EdgbastonEdgbaston is one of the richest areas in Birmingham, well-known for its green spaces and Birmingham Botanical Gardens. There’re many other attractions for those not interested in sports, including the pretty Victorian campus of Birmingham University and multiple Michelin-starred restaurants. It is a suitable place to live in.
1. What’s special about Solihull?| A．It is very suitable for the old. |
| B．It has the largest park in Birmingham. |
| C．It is the trading center of Birmingham. |
| D．It shows the mix of rural and urban life. |
| A．Digbeth. | B．Erdington. |
| C．Edgbaston. | D．Solihull. |
| A．Attend university. | B．Go on a tour. |
| C．Buy houses. | D．Start businesses. |
4 . Growing up in Kenya, Lesein Mutunkei, together with his family, always celebrated significant occasions by planting trees, which motivated him to protect the environment. It’s what the now 18-year-old soccer player treasures, especially since Kenya has an ongoing problem with deforestation.
Mutunkei follows in the footsteps of the late Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai who founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977. This initiative has resulted in the planting of over 51 million trees to date.
In 2018, Lesein decided to start a movement of his own. He started by planting one tree for every goal he scored during a football match. He called it Trees4Goals, and it has grown so much that he now plants 11 trees, one for each member of his team, every time he scores. Through this, he wants to inspire young people, specifically his fellow athletes, to follow in his footsteps, take nature conservation seriously, and promise to plant trees every time they score. As a result, some of them have adapted this practice for their sports. “Seeing that they’re taking that responsibility because of the project I started, for me, that is the biggest achievement,” he said.
The initiative has caught the attention of English football club Arsenal and Kenya’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, which he now works with regularly and gets advice from.
Like Green Belt Movement, Trees4Goals, which has planted 5,500 trees so far, has made it. While Lesein has received some recognition for his initiative, he sets his sights on making it a worldwide phenomenon. “Football is a universal game, and climate change is a universal problem,” he explains. “It has the power to unite, educate and inspire my generation to create a safer and greener future.” This is why he wants to work with the world’s biggest football federation FIFA.
As for what others can do to fight deforestation or other environmental concerns, the teenager says it’s important to just get involved in some way, no matter how small.
1. What made Lesein get interested in environmental protection?| A．The influence of his family. |
| B．Wangari Maathai’s huge assistances. |
| C．The demand of the football team. |
| D．His fellow athletes’ encouragement. |
| A．To gain Kenya’s support. |
| B．To set an example for others. |
| C．To catch Arsenal’s attention. |
| D．To show his achievements. |
| A．Promoting football’s development. |
| B．Going global with the help of FIFA. |
| C．Beating climate change completely. |
| D．Getting beyond Green Belt Movement. |
| A．Fame is a great thirst of the young. |
| B．A youth is to be regarded with respect. |
| C．Positive thinking and action result in success. |
| D．Success means getting personal desires satisfied. |
5 . Almost everyone has felt something similar: wearing clothes we don’t like causes a general feeling of unease and discontent. This proves the fact that clothes have more than functions of protection or warmth in life.
The book The Little Prince offers a fictional example of the latter: The fox will love the sight of wheat, which had been meaningless to him, just because it will remind him of the color of the boy’s hair.
As a result, associations can differ widely from person to person and culture to culture. Others might read into our outfits something different than we intend.
| A．Take colors, for instance. |
| B．We ought to dress to benefit ourselves, not others. |
| C．They also communicate something about the wearer. |
| D．Thus, they will misunderstand our values and identity. |
| E．Clothes have the psychological power to elevate our sense of self. |
| F．Or we can form associations based on our personal experience and values. |
| G．We might also associate certain fabrics with different qualities of character. |
6 .
“By removing needless details in pursuit of perfection, Van Den followed in the footsteps of many great artists, writers, composers, and painters.”
Juhani Murros made an unexpected discovery during his visits to art galleries when he worked for an organization in Ho Chi Minh City in 1990. A small still life in an unnoticeable gallery commanded the Finnish physician’s attention. “It was not an eye-catching oil painting, yet its dark, mysterious colors and the emotional tension of its disciplined composition set it apart.” Thus began a long journey of discovering the art and life of Van Den, a Buddhist of mixed Chinese and Vietnamese ancestry who studied in Paris for less than two years during the first French Indochina War.
Murros’ biography is, by necessity, brief because there is limited knowledge of the artist, mostly in oral way by family and friends. Many of his paintings did not survive the damp Southeast Asian climate nor the political chaos of his lifetime. However, the author’s research appears to be extensive, as much a years-long spiritual examination of Van Den as a historical one. The artist’s love for country life is apparent in his work, and it is said by those who knew him that he preferred to paint countryside scenes close to his heart and worked as an outsider. He is uninterested in the more elegant work of academically recognized painters. Despite these limitations, Van Den won Vietnam’s most honorable art award in 1960.
Murros gives an in-depth look into the life of this little-known unsung master. The book introduces the readers to Van Den’s art with photographs of his paintings, accompanied by short stories behind them. The book is as quiet as the artist’s work, but it is a satisfying read. Each stroke of words in the book connects to the readers; the narrative awakens the artistic spirit in each one of us, encouraging us to follow our heart.
1. What of Van Den first impressed Juhani Murros?| A．His life story. | B．His painting style. |
| C．His birth place. | D．His emotional stale. |
| A．His works are rarely available today. | B．He showed great love for his country. |
| C．He works were of mysterious themes. | D．He ever travelled in China and Vietnam. |
| A．Van Den’s art wasn’t well accepted. | B．Murros had limited knowledge of art. |
| C．Murros had gained little primary data. | D．Van Den’s family kept everything back. |
| A．Amusing. | B．Detailed. | C．Objective. | D．Inspirational. |
7 . Digital mindfulness is the application of mindfulness practices in your digital life. According to Jon KabatZinn, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medicine School, mindfulness is “a means of paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally”. Here two main key points are emphasized when it comes to mindfulness as a practice in your digital life.
The first point is that you must learn to do things on purpose. For instance, you use your phone as a habitual escape from boredom or stress, which is thought by many as a quick solution to all those negative feelings. But what if you get only negative responses from your phone — the news or posts are negative? Instead of finding peace, you find more boredom and more stress. The solution that mindfulness provides is purposeful and intentional choice. Therefore, you are empowered to choose how to respond to the stimulus (刺激) behind such feelings as boredom, loneliness, and stress and not just treat the symptoms (症状).
The other key is going through the experience nonjudgmentally. When you feel sad or angry because of a post on social media, all you ever do is to go through the experience and let it flow. At its core, mindfulness involves the acceptance of your memories, feelings, and thoughts minus any judgment on yourself or others because of those things. These feelings, memories, and experiences come and go. After they have passed, you are still you and in control. You will become more aware of your inner world. It’s this internal monologue (独白) that pushes you to grab your digital technology (phone, Alexa speaker, TV, etc.).
Digital mindfulness is not about avoiding the negative things in life. Through mindfulness practice, you regain the power to learn from these experiences and healthily deal with the negative. Mindfulness will also teach you to be aware of all your emotions, so you learn to deal with the things that you used to avoid. Finally, digital mindfulness brings you peace of mind in an everchanging and increasingly connected world.
Now, I would rather prefer to think of it as one of many tools that we can use in our daily life.
1. What does the author suggest readers do when they feel stressed in their digital life?| A．Find something interesting to do. |
| B．Use the phone as a habitual escape. |
| C．Keep away from the negative responses. |
| D．Deal with the root cause of the problem. |
| A．Negative feelings should be avoided or controlled. |
| B．Mindfulness involves both acceptance and judgment. |
| C．Mindfulness helps us fully experience life as it happens. |
| D．Digital technology is the key to understanding our inner world. |
| A．How Can You Avoid Negative Feelings? |
| B．How Can You Define Digital Mindfulness? |
| C．How Can Digital Mindfulness Help You? |
| D．How Can Digital Mindfulness Harm You? |
| A．Applications of mindfulness in communication. |
| B．Ways of practising mindfulness in the digital age. |
| C．Development of mindfulness in medical field. |
| D．Benefits of practising digital mindfulness in daily life. |
8 . The year is 1763, and a 7-year-old Mozart is about to set off on a tour around Europe that will jump-start the Mozart legend. Mozart had a trick up his sleeve. When the young Mozart heard a note played-any note-he could immediately identify exactly which note it was. It was an ability now we know as “perfect pitch”, and it seemed to be an example of the mysterious gifts that young geniuses had been born with. But is that really so?
Over my years of studying experts in various fields, like Mozart, I have found that there’s no such thing as a predefined ability. Actually, those people all develop their abilities through “deliberate practice”, a purposeful and systematic type of practice that makes it possible for them to do things they otherwise could not. In them, potential is an expandable vessel, shaped by the various things they do throughout their lives.
One of my testimonies came from Ray Allen, a ten-time All-Star in the NBA. Allen’s jump shot was not noticeably better than his teammates’ back in high school; in fact, it was poor. But with hard work and dedication, he transformed his jump shot into one so graceful and natural that people assumed he was born with it.
But it doesn’t mean “Just keep working at it, and you’ll get there”. Heartfelt desire and hard work alone will not lead to improved performance. The right sort of practice carried out over a sufficient period of time will lead to improvement. Nothing else. And this is true whether our goal is to become a concert pianist or just play the piano well enough to amuse ourselves, to be the greatest three-point shooter or just build ourselves up. Deliberate practice is the gold standard for anyone in any field who wishes to build new skills and abilities.
1. Why is Mozart’s perfect pitch mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To introduce an inborn talent. | B．To explain reasons for success, |
| C．To lead to reflection on gifts. | D．To define a brilliant trick. |
| A．Affection. | B．Experience. | C．Training. | D．Gifts. |
| A．Challenges. | B．Proofs. | C．Comments. | D．Puzzles. |
| A．Secret of Great Talents | B．Born to Stand Out |
| C．A Surprising Discovery | D．Start When Young |
9 . MUSICAL HERITAGES FROM ANCIENT CHINA
Since remote antiquity, Chinese people have used music to record their lives and describe the ideals in their hearts. Catchy tunes are not only played on precious instruments, but also visualized in carvings, paintings, and buildings. Feel free to explore here!
Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220)
This period marked the significant development of the manufacturing of gugin and its music. The example unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Dynasty Tomb in Changsha, Hunan province, proves that gugin had developed into the form known today during that period. It shows 7 strings and 13 markers indicating the pressing positions of overtone series.
Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534)
Buddhism and its musical culture spread extensively during this period. Buddhist temples provided places for musical activities, which were recorded in many of the existing stone carvings. Located in Gongyi, Henan province, the Grotlo Temple is famous for its reliefs representing musical events. They are precious historical materials reflecting the music characteristics of the dynasty.
Song Dynasty (960-1279)
With economic development, a variety of musical cultures emerged to meet the entertainment needs of different social classes. Part of the painting Life along the Bian River al the Pure Brightness Festival vividly reveals a storytelling performance. The painter adopted delicate techniques to truly record a street performer, whose superb skills are reflected by each listener’s show of appreciation.
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
At this time, traditional Chinese operas developed rapidly, promoting the formation of many singing styles. People began to enjoy operas and drama stages were built. Covering a construction area of more than 160 square meters, the Fancun village drama stage in Shanxi province provides rich materials for the study of the local folk culture.
1. Which heritage would a fan of classical instruments explore?| A．The Ming Dynasty drama stage. | B．The Song Dynasty painting. |
| C．The Northern Wei Dynasty temple. | D．The Han Dynasty tomb. |
| A．Economy. | B．Politics. | C．Religion. | D．Technology. |
| A．Han Dynasty. | B．Northern Wei Dynasty. |
| C．Song Dynasty. | D．Ming Dynasty. |
To study the behavior of wild animals, scientists routinely tag them with GPS location trackers. But such devices’ battery capacity limits how long they operate, often bringing an early end to significant conservation work. Solar-powered trackers are also a poor choice for they break easily and don’t work for night creatures.
So biologist Rasmus W. H. of the University of Copenhagen and his colleagues turned to another abundant power source. After some trial and error, they finally came up with a tiny generator powered by a pendulum (摆锤) inside a closed device. As the tagged animal moves, the swinging pendulum forces a ring to slide across a copper coil, generating current which is then used to power the sensors for GPS unit. The tracker, which could theoretically survive for the entire life span of an active animal, was recently tested on domestic dogs, a wild pony and a European bison. The dogs and bison in the study were active enough to create the energy for one GPS transmission cycle per day for 14 days and 17 days, respectively. One of the wild pony’s-trackers lasted at least 146 days but didn’t produce enough power for daily transmissions, the researchers reported in Plos One.
The limited power generated by the animals’ movements means the new tracker isn’t ready for prime time just yet, says ecologist Emily Studd of British Columbia’s Thompson Rivers University, who wasn’t involved in the study. When researchers want to keep close track of animals, they often need GPS fixes more than once a day. But Studd says that with a bit more development, this could be a game changer for wild-life animal research and monitoring.
Rasmus and his colleagues hope conservation workers can one day use this technology to track species such as tigers, leopards and wolves, which can easily destroy solar-powered trackers and which hunt and travel at night.
1. What is one advantage of the new tracker over a solar-powered one?| A．It is safer. | B．It is tougher. | C．It is greener. | D．It is cheaper. |
| A．The sun. | B．The battery. | C．The animal. | D．The pendulum. |
| A．It still needs some improvement. | B．It performs like clockwork. |
| C．It works better on large animals. | D．It is a nice household appliance. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Hopeful. | C．Concerned. | D．Definite. |
