1 . Direction: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. auto-complete             B. determine             C. essentially             D. grammatical       E. grouped F. indicating                    G. instructions             H. likely                    I. resembles             J. rigidly K. simple

How do AI chatbots answer my questions

Chatbots might appear to be complex conversationalists that respond like real people. But if you take a closer look, they are     1     an advanced version of a program that finishes your sentences by predicting which words will come next. Bard, ChatGPT, and other AI technologies are large language models—a kind of algorithm (算法) trained on exercises similar to the Mad Libs-style questions found on elementary school quizzes. More simply put, they are human-written     2     that tell computers how to solve a problem or make a calculation. In this case, the algorithm uses your prompt and any sentences it comes across to     3     the answer.

Let’s pretend you plugged this sentence into an AI chatbot: “The cat sat on the ______.” First, the language model would have to know that the missing word needs to be a noun to make     4     sense. But it can’t be any noun—the cat can’t sit on the “democracy,” for one. So the algorithm searches texts written by humans to get a sense of what cats actually rest on and picks out the most probable answer. In this scenario, it might     5     the cat sits on the “laptop” 10 percent of the time, on the “table” 20 percent of the time, and on the “chair” 70 percent of the time. The model would then go with the most     6     answer: “chair.” The system is able to use this prediction process to respond with a full sentence. If you ask a chatbot, “How are you?” it will generate “I’m” based on the “you” from the question and then “good” based on what most people on the web reply when asked how they are.

The way these programs process information and arrive at a decision sort of     7     how the human brain behaves. “    8     as this task—predicting the most probable response—is, it actually requires an incredibly advanced knowledge of both how language works and how the world works,” says Yoon Kim, a researcher at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

The beauty of language models is that researchers don’t have to     9     define any rules or grammar for them to follow. An AI chatbot learns how to form sentences that make sense by consuming textual elements, which are common sequences of characters     10     together taken from the raw text of books, articles, and websites. All it needs are the patterns and associations it finds among certain words or phrases.

2 . Directions: Complete the following passages by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. approach B. beneficiaries C. recently D. eliminates   E. nutrients F. practices G. irreparable   H. threat   I. undesirable   J. panic K. naturally

The Beneficial Effects of Forest Fires

Forest fires are undoubtedly a threat. In the mid-1900s, all forest burns were considered     1    , and firefighters responded to all of these fires whether or not they were burning close to where humans lived. This     2     to forest fires was both expensive and risky. However, more     3     forest managers began to see that forest fires did have benefits. Foresters saw that forest fires were beneficial for trees and soil.

Previously, people believed that forest fires caused     4     damage to trees, however, now forest managers know that trees are the major     5     of fires. Many     6     occurring forest fires, often caused by lightning strikes, are surface fires that burn the understory — the shrubs and herbs from the forest — without damaging the trees in the overstory. In this way, the fire     7     competition from the smaller trees, allowing the larger trees to flourish. Once the understory has been burned away, the forest is less likely to burn from high-temperature fires that can do real damage to the tall trees.

In the past, it was not obvious how forest fires enriched the soil. Today, foresters understand that forest fires improve soil quality by changing the ‘litter’ — dead leaves and branches on the forest floor — to nutrient-rich soil. Normally, litter decomposes very slowly. However, fire releases the     8     in the litter immediately. This creates an increase in the amount of phosphorus and potassium which are key elements that promote tree growth.

As forest managers have leared more about the long-term effects of forest fires, they have realized that forest fires can have beneficial effects and have changed their forest management     9     to reflect this new opinion. It is now recognized that forest fires, are a natural part of forest ecosystems and are beneficial to the trees and soil. As long as fires are no     10     to homes and communities, foresters now often choose to do nothing to stop the fires.

3 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one more word than you need.

A. ballooning.        B. frost-intolerant.     C. directly.     D. contributors.     E. erupted F. conditions.     G. shaded H. sensor-equipped I. engineering J. situated   K. properly

Farm of the Future in the Sky

       Five storeys off the ground at Colorado State University, a highly unlikely garden grows under a long row of rooftop solar panels. It's late November at 9 am, when the temperature is-2℃ and the wind is cutting. Not long before my arrival, researchers had pulled the last     1    crops out of the soil under the panels. In their place, cool-season foods like leafy greens still grow,     2    from the intense sunlight up there.
   This is no ordinary green roof, but an expansive and     3     outdoor laboratory. The idea behind it is explained by Jennifer   Bousselot, the director of the rooftop farm. Solar panels tend to get too hot on conventional roof tops, and that heat reduces their efficiency while plants help cool them off. “If you have plants under there, ” Bousselot said, “they create ideal     4     for solar panels to operate. Also, the shade of the panels encourages the growth of plants. A win-win solution. ”
     Therefore, the overall goal of the rooftop farm is to grow more food for     5     urban populations while generating clean energy and making buildings more energy efficient. Without the sun beating down     6     on a bare roof, green roofs boost a building's energy efficiency by about 10 percent. That is, you don't need to run as much air-conditioning to     7     cool the place during a heat wave. This innovative approach can also maximize land use, making urban spaces not just consumers of resources, but also active     8     to both energy and agricultural production.
       However, being     9     on a rooftop comes with more challenges than a typical farming site. The wind loads on a roof make it challenging to install a tracking system and irrigation (灌溉) is also trickier. The expenses are substantially increased due to higher     10     costs and the difficulties of moving and installing all the sensors and materials high in the air.

It is obviously early days for rooftop farms, but some effects were already evident. Instead of being big, dead spaces, roofs may act as booming ecosystems.

4 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. attraction       B. waiting       C. mystery       D. unique             E. simply            F. originally G. stable            H. popularity       I. donating       J. searching       K. interfere

There’s a rarely-visited, dusty corner of the world where something magical happens. The place, which looks like Mars with its red rock landscape, is the Tatacoa Desert, in Colombia.

Tatacoa is located in the region of Huila, south of the country’s capital Bogotá. Although Tatacoa, with its protruding cacti and red rippled rocks, is called a desert, it is in fact a dry tropical forest. But the exciting, and very     1    , feature of this desert, is what happens above it, at night.

Thanks to its remote location — it’s almost 30 miles and an hour’s drive over bumpy winding roads to the nearest town — Tatacoa has no light pollution to     2     with the night sky.

Up to 88 constellations (星座) are visible on a clear night, as well as both hemispheres — something that happens nowhere else in the world.

The warm and dry climate helps with stargazing; a     3     atmosphere, which happens in dry spots or places of high elevation, decreases something called scintillation, which is when a star’s light rises and falls rapidly. It’s why stars twinkle, which looks beautiful but isn’t so great for astronomers.

Not only is Tatacoa a natural wonder, but the DIY observatory that’s run by a Colombian man named Javier Fernanda Rua Restrepo has become a star     4     too. In fact, this humble building attracts stargazers from all over the world, from China to Iceland to Australia. And Restrepo has also become well-known in astronomer circles, with a few scientists     5     their own telescopes to support the grassroots observatory.

The Colombian, who is     6     from Cali, fell in love with the stars thanks to his father’s interest in astronomy and science, and first visited Tatacoa in 1997, to try to see the Comet Hale-Bopp. He stayed for a couple of days before heading back to his hometown. But within a month, he returned to Tatacoa — and never left, camping out for weeks on end     7     for the night to come so that he could watch the stars.

At first Restrepo had worked at the Colombian government’s observatory, which he helped staff for 15 years. But after budget cuts meant he lost his job, he figured he would     8     build his own.

In 2015, Restrepo opened the doors to his observatory — Tatacoa Astronomia — with just one telescope. Now, as Colombia has grown in     9     as a tourist destination, hundreds flock to Restrepo’s star party, which he holds once a year in July.

Tatacoa Astronomia is only open on starry nights, and Restrepo remains the sole employee. But that doesn’t distract from the intimacy and the specialness of the place. The structure sits on a small patch of land that Restrepo bought himself, and is cordoned (隔离) off by tarpaulin (油布) to add an extra sense of     10     and intrigue (阴谋) for visitors.

“The stars… they put my life into its tiny perspective,” he says, “and they constantly remind me there are greater things out there.”

5 . Directions:   Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box.   Each word can be used only once.   Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. carved          B. unknowingly            C. ecosystem          D. artificial          E. elemental F. changing       G. practically        H. wrinkled        I. unmoving          J. species       K. inspection

Magical Creatures: AN APPRECIATION OF AUTUMN MOTH (蛾)

Moths seem to have a bit of a bad reputation: to some they are ill indications or something scary, to others they are dull in comparison to our well-loved butterflies. But moths are an essential part of a(n)     1    , and important food sources for species like birds and bats. And for me, moths are far from dull.

My first meeting with an Angle Shades moth was nearly a non-encounter. I almost passed by without noticing it, thinking it was a fallen leaf on a fence post. But there was something about it that stopped me in my tracks. Its angular shape perhaps? Or the way it sat,     2    , despite the breeze. Closer     3     revealed cream and buff shell-shaped wings, painted with triangles of light pink and brown. Suddenly, it transformed from a(n)     4     leaf into a living thing before my eyes. I’ve been fascinated ever since.

The Canary-shouldered Thorn, with its hairy buttercup-coloured body and yellow and orange wings, reminds me of a fallen silver birch (白桦树) leaf. A night-flyer, it favours gardens and woodlands, and is often drawn to     5     light, meaning that your torch beam may be attracting moths as well as lighting your way in the dark. It’s also worth double-checking any leaves in farm houses, as these sheltered spots are a favourite hiding place of another overwintering     6    : the Herald moth. This elegant creature’s beautiful wings look as though they’ve been     7     by hand and painted with bronze.

There’s more to these imitators than fallen leaves. The Green-spotted Crescent, which     8     disappears on rough branches, has metallic green spots integrating with the moss (苔藓). Maybe I’ve already     9     crossed paths with one, though. As we dig out our big coats and slip on boots for walks beneath branches, how many moths are we missing? These clever creatures aren’t bad indications, but     10     parts of nature, with a gift for fancy-dress.

6 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. invaluable   B. roughly            C. satisfying       D. distraction     E. simply     F. advantage G. reasonable   H. performed        I. schedule        J. planned          K. excellence

People tend to think that productivity involves doing several things at once, but according to Cal Newport, the secret to success is the opposite of multitasking. Newport is the author of Deep Work, a book that describes the benefits of focusing on one thing and doing it with     1    .

Newport defines deep work as “the ability to focus without     2     on a cognitively (认知地) demanding task.” It’s the opposite of shallow work, which is made up of simple tasks that are usually     3     while distracted.

According to Newport, deep work is a(n)     4     skill in today’s economy. It allows you to learn difficult things quickly and produce at a high level. Most people are distracted when they work, so you learn to work without distraction, that gives you     5    . Deep work enables you to produce to the best of your ability and acquire new skills quickly. Developing excellence in one’s craft can be a deeply     6     try. But deep work itself is also a skill, which means the more time you spend at it, the easier it gets. Moreover, if you only work at a shallow level, your ability to do deep work decreases.

So how do you conduct deep work into your work life or your studies? It’s essentially important to     7     deep work into your day. Otherwise, it’s easy to let your time fill up with shallow work. Newport recommends doing deep work as your first task of the day. That way you get it done before distractions build up. Shallow work does need to get done, but if you save it for later in the day, you can get your deep work done, too.

Scheduling deep work sessions for the same time every day can turn them into a habit. This makes it easier to spend time on them.

Because deep work is by definition cognitively demanding, you won’t be able to do it all day. Beginners can usually only focus on deep work for     8     an hour, and even experts have trouble going more than four hours. So set     9     goals for yourself. If you really focus, you’ll be surprised at how much you accomplish in a few hours.

By focusing on     10     sessions of deep work, you can get more done in less time and feel more satisfied.

7 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. smoothing            B. remain          C. switched        D. likelihood        E. impact            F. tip G. broadly               H. headed          I. booming          J. positioning       K. reliably

Sea-level rise predictions

A team of University of Idaho scientists is studying a fast-moving glacier in Alaska in hopes of developing better predictions on how quickly global sea levels will rise.

Tim Bartholomaus, a professor in the Department of Geography and Geological Sciences, spent several weeks on Turner Glacier in Alaska’s southeastern     1     near Disenchantment Bay. The glacier is unique because, unlike other glaciers, it rises greatly every five to eight years.

A surging glacier is defined,     2    , as one that starts flowing at least 10 times faster than normal. But the how and why of that glacial movement is poorly understood, although recent research suggests that global climate change increases the     3     of glacial surging.

During Turner’s surges, the mass of ice and rock will increase its speed from roughly 3 feet a day to 65 feet per day.

All of that is important because glaciers falling into the ocean are a major contributor to sea level rise, and current climate change models don’t     4     account for these movements. For example, Greenland’s glaciers are one of the leading contributors to global sea-level rise. Since the early 2000s, Greenland     5     from not having any effect on world sea levels, to increasing sea level by about 1 millimeter per year. Half of that yearly increase is due to warmer average temperatures, which leads to more ice melting. The other half, however, is because glaciers in Greenland are, as a whole, moving faster and running into the ocean more frequently.

Glacial movement has something to do with water running underneath the glacier. Glaciers are full of holes, and water runs through those holes. When the water pressure is high underneath a glacier, it starts to move, partly because it’s lifting the mass of ice and rock off the ground and partly because it’s     6     the underside of the glacier.

But how exactly does that water move through the glacier, and how does the movement     7     the glacier’s speed? Those are the questions the scientists hope to answer.

Bartholomaus, some graduate students and researchers from Boise State University,     8     onto the ice in August. They set up a base camp at the toe of the glacier and spent their days flying in on helicopters. They placed roughly 30 instruments, burying them deeply into the glacier and     9     them on rock outcroppings (露岩) alongside the glacier. This summer the team will return to get the instruments and replace batteries. Those instruments will     10     on and around the glacier until the glacier surge stops, providing researchers with before and after data.

9 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. unanticipated       B. moments       C. evolved       D. basically E. explored       F. clearly       G. navigate       H. rituals I. integral       J. access       K. inspiring

Boat of Power

Dragon boat racing began in China more than 2,000 years ago as part of a cultural community event to memorize the ancient poet, Qu Yuan. The traditional holiday was a time to perform    1    for good fortune and well-being, and to drive off evil spirits. Over time, dragon boat racing    2    into a global sport.

The Toronto-based Dragons Abreast team stands out at this sport for a few reasons. For one, the79-member team includes people ranging in age from 30 to 93. Prior to joining Dragons Abreast, some members hadn’t been part of a sports team since childhood and wouldn’t have described themselves as particularly athletic ones. And what has brought these women together is something    3     — living with breast cancer.

The breast cancer survivors on this team are in the same boat in every way. For many, being part of a community that knows    4    how life changes after breast cancer is as beneficial as the physical gains. The team offers a supportive space to    5    all the complexities of survivorship.

“I was so surprised at how    6    the racing was for me,” says Liz Johnston Hill, the race coordinator for Dragons Abreast. “It’s almost overwhelming how people encourage, no matter what.”

Being out on the water and connecting to the environment is an important aspect of dragon boating for many of the team members. They talk about how it provides    7    of peace and encourages mindfulness, something we could all use more of in our lives. Outside of dragon boat, the members are a(n)    8    part of each other’s life. “We’ve all been through    9    the same thing in our various ways,” says the race coordinator Liz Johnston Hill. While the number of breast cancer survivor teams grows, barriers to the sport remain such as cost, time,     10    to water and practice facilities and the lack of cultural and language diversity. But there are ongoing efforts to introduce more people living with breast cancer to dragon boat.

10 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A.normally     B. boost     C. sustain     D. gains   E. assessing   F. substantially G. efforts        H. mixed       I. surprising       J. anticipate            K. assigned

Your Social-Media Detoxes (脱瘾治疗) Probably Aren’t Helping You

We’ve all heard the supposed benefits of unplugging from digital devices, even for 24 hours. Such breaks are said to     1     self-confidence, reduce social competitiveness and fears of missing out, and make room for more-enriching, in-person interactions. Yet studies exploring those effects have produced     2     results. So a global research team set out to systematically test the idea that social media detoxing delivers meaningful psychological     3    .

The researchers recruited 600 undergraduate students in three places: the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. All participants were randomly     4     to keep away from social media on either the first or the second day of a two-day experiment. On the other day, they were to interact with digital platforms as they     5     would. Each evening they answered survey questions aimed at    6     various aspects of well-being. Contrary to the researchers’ expectations, the one-day detox made no noticeable impact on positive or negative emotions, self-confidence, or daily satisfaction. When it did have an effect, it decreased daily satisfaction and social relatedness, although the changes were not significant once the analysis was adjusted to control for gender. Just as     7    , people didn’t use the time freed up from looking at screens for other forms of socializing. In fact, they reported     8     lower levels of face-to-face, phone, and email interactions on their detoxing days.

Even short social-media breaks can be hard to     9     — indeed, only half the participants in the experiment did what was required and these results suggest that they may not be worth the     10    . “We did not find any evidence that social media detoxing for one day had significant positive impacts on psychological well-being,” the researchers write.