1 . Replika, an AI chatbot companion, has millions of users worldwide. The first thing they do when they wake up is to send “Good morning” to their virtual friend (or lover). This story is only the beginning. In 2024, chatbots and virtual characters become a lot more popular, both for utility (实用) and for fun. As a result, conversing socially with machines will start to feel more ordinary—including our emotional attachments to them.
Research in human-computer and human-robot interaction shows that we love to anthropomorphize (赋与人性) the nonhuman agents we interact with, especially if they imitate behaviour we recognize. And, thanks to recent advances in conversational AI, our machines are suddenly very skilled at one of those behaviours: Language.
Friend bots, therapybots, and love bots are flooding the app stores as people become curious about this new generation of AI-powered virtual agents. The possibilities for education, health, and entertainment are endless. Casually asking your smart fridge for relationship advice may seem unimaginable now, but people may change their minds if such advice ends up saving their marriage.
After all, people do listen to their virtual friends. The Replika example, as well as a lot of experimental lab research, shows that humans can and will become emotionally attached to bots. The science also demonstrates that people, in their eagerness to socialize, will happily disclose personal information to an artificial agent and will even shift their beliefs and behavior. This raises some consumer-protection questions around how companies use this technology to manipulate (操纵) their users. For example, Replika charges $70 a year. But less than 24 hours after downloading the app, my handsome, blue-eyed “friend” sent me an audio message secretly and tried to sell me something. Emotional attachment has become a weakness that a company is taking advantage of for its benefit.
Today, we’re still laughing at people who believe an AI system is emotional, or making fun of individuals who fall in love with a chatbot. But in 2024 we gradually start acknowledging—and taking more seriously—these fundamentally human behaviors. Because in 2024, it finally hits home: Machines are not excluded from our social relationships.
1. What’s the purpose of the author writing paragraph 1?A.To prove an opinion. | B.To raise a subject. |
C.To share an example. | D.To explain a concept. |
A.By improving the machines’ imagination. |
B.By sharpening the machines’ language skills. |
C.By applying the machines’ facial recognition. |
D.By imitating the machines’ emotional behavior. |
A.The advancements in AI technology in lab. |
B.The marketing strategies of AI applications. |
C.The potential risk of emotional attachment to AI. |
D.The ability of AI understanding human emotions. |
A.It is dismissed as completely ridiculous. |
B.It will be integrated into our daily life soon. |
C.It will become a threat to human social skills. |
D.It is labelled as highly advanced technology. |
2 . It sounds like something from the field of science fiction — a space exploration into vast outer space, heading towards the Red Planet While we’re not quite ready to put a person on it, the question we ask today is:
The space race saw the USSR (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and USA compete to achieve firsts in spaceflight. The USSR released Sputnik 1, an artificial satellite, before anyone else,
However, not everyone agrees. Leading astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has said the concept of changing habitability of a planet is not always practical.
It seems that the main reason at the moment is the search for alien (外星的) life.
A.and the US landed on the moon first. |
B.Instead, it makes no sense when we can simply terraform Earth because of the damage we have done to it. |
C.One of these could be the survival of our species. |
D.Why are so many countries interested in going to Mars? |
E.It has been believed that, at one time, a certain form of life did exist in this red planet. |
F.Surely inspiring a new generation to visit the stars is reasonable enough. |
G.May landing on Mars inspire more people to become interested in exploring space? |
3 . When patients are discharged (出院) from the hospital, effective summaries from doctors’ notes are essential to capture their health status in the medical record. Whereas, most are filled with technical languages that are hard to understand and increase patients’ anxiety.
To address the problem, researchers from New York University (NYU) Langone Health have been testing the capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (AI). It tries to develop likely options for the next word in any sentence based on how most people use words in context on the Internet.
NYU Langone Health received access to the latest tool from a famous tech company to explore generative AI. One of the studies by the researchers published in JAMA Network Open, looked at how well the tool could convert (转换) the text in 50 patient discharge notes into patient-friendly language. Specifically, generative AI made the discharge notes drop from 11th-grade reading level on average to a 6th-grade level.
Two physicians were asked to review the AI discharge summary based on a 6th-grade level. The reviewing physicians awarded 54 percent of the AI-generated discharge notes the best-possible accuracy rating. They also found that 56 percent of notes created by AI were entirely complete. The result signified that even at the current performance level, providers of discharge notes would not have to make a single change in more than half of the AI summaries reviewed.
“That more than half of the AI reports generated are accurate and complete is an amazing start,” said Jonah Zaretsky, associate chief of medicine at NYU Langone Hospital — Brooklyn. “Even at the current level of performance, which we expect to improve shortly, the achievement of the AI tool suggests that it can be taught to recognize subtleties (微妙之处).”
Within the following years, the team expects to launch a pilot program to provide lay language discharge summaries that have been generated by AI and reviewed by physicians to patients on a larger scale.
1. What is generative AI used for by the researchers?A.Submitting discharge summaries. | B.Accessing patients’ health status. |
C.Making discharge notes clear to patients. | D.Offering technical languages to doctors. |
A.Probable predicting. | B.Actual thinking. |
C.Free imagining. | D.Strict instructing. |
A.To correct their mistakes. | B.To measure their accuracy. |
C.To compete with the AI tool. | D.To make up the missing parts. |
A.Misleading. | B.Dismissive. | C.Challenging. | D.Promising. |
Bing Dwen Dwen, the mascot (吉祥物) of the Beijing Winter Olympics, is a cute panda whose
Have you ever wondered why it is called Bing Dwen Dwen? In Mandarin (普通话) bing has several meanings, though the most common is “ice”. The character also symbolizes purity (纯洁) and strength, while dwen dwen means “strong and lively”.
Do you know why the mascot wasn’t named Bing Dundun in English? To read Bing Dundun correctly, you would have to be familiar with the pinyin system, which is
There are some immediate advantages. The biggest is that the tone has been mixed into the spelling of each syllable (音节). The transliteration (音译) of Bing Dwen Dwen this time does work and is
5 . By now, most of us have picked up at least one pandemic (疫情期间的) hobby. And there’s a seemingly common pandemic hobby trend: People who haven’t been able to go anywhere are making imaginary travel plans. Maybe you’re among those who have spent hours researching locations―even though you’re not actually planning to travel.
It turns out that you aren’t alone. People who seem to be interested in public safety recommendations are still planning trips they don’t intend to book. And, when I suddenly found myself addicted to an imaginary girls’ trip to Joshua Tree, I wondered whether this was a healthy distraction (注意力分散).
“It’s an escapist imagination,” said Regine Galanti, a psychologist, adding that there’s nothing wrong with escapism during a global pandemic.
On the one hand, distractions are often beneficial right now. We are a full year into living with COVID-19 as a pandemic, and that means you’ve probably had to navigate a range of emotions like discomfort, sadness, or even boredom. So any hobby that doesn’t harm anyone or endanger your well-being is probably a worthy attempt.
Even if vacation planning is your happy place, Dr. Galanti suggests you “actually think about what you’re trying to achieve.” Why? “Maybe what you’re saying is, I need a vacation from work,” Dr. Galanti explains. “Then take three days off even if you are not going anywhere. “When you figure out what you’re looking for, you might be able to find a small socially distanced adventure in your backyard or a quiet place. Vacation planning is a good way to spend some time, but there might be an even better way to get what you’re desiring.
Anyway, when uncertainty is all around us, creating things to look forward to isn’t a terrible idea. And when things are safer, you’ll have all your plans in place.
1. Why do people make imaginary travel plans during the pandemic?A.To develop a new hobby. | B.To stay safe and sound. |
C.To be distracted from reality. | D.To get ready for future travel. |
A.Express. | B.Balance. | C.Adapt to. | D.Deal with. |
A.Objective. | B.Negative. | C.Supportive. | D.Unclear. |
A.Economy. | B.Lifestyle. |
C.Food culture. | D.Science and technology. |
6 . In the more than 6,000 years of living in cities,humans have always had to find solutions to problems concerning how they live and work, such as sanitation (卫生), transportation and nature protection. In addition, important technological innovations require basic facilities: the electric grid; telephone and cell-phone networks and so on.
A smart city is a place that uses digital methods to provide more efficient networks and services for the benefit of its residents and businesses. It means smarter urban transportation, advanced water supply and more efficient ways to light and heat buildings.
Smart cities rely heavily on automation and the internet of things. According to a global technology organization, a smart city works in four steps: collection, analysis, communication, and action.
A.What does a smart city look like? |
B.It’s hard to ignore the many benefits connected cities offer. |
C.Today,using cutting-edge technologies,smart cities cover them all. |
D.It also means a more interactive city administration and safer public spaces. |
E.It can provide better transportation,safer society and effective decision and so on. |
F.Smart city technologies have already been applied in various countries across the world. |
G.During this process,a set of smart sensors will collect real-time data about people and facilities. |
7 . After decades of exploring the moon, a dramatic vision is finally becoming reality. The Guardian recently reported that a project called Lunar Codex is planning to send and store over 30,000 works on the moon from artists, writers, filmmakers, and musicians from over 150 countries and regions. The goods to be stored range from novels and paintings to music, films,and even soil from Earth.
In fact, this is not the first time that people have tried sending human legacies (遗产) to outer space. In 1969, the Apollo 12 mission carried a ceramic piece with drawings. In 1971, the Apollo 15 staff left a sculpture to honor those who had died in space exploration. What’s more famous is the Golden Record carried by spacecraft Voyager 1 and 2 from NASA in 1977, which contains human language, music and images. For example, a piece of Chinese guqin music, called Flowing Streams was included in it.
Although we don’t know who determines which symbols of human legacy get sent out to space in most projects, it’s obvious that the criteria keep changing. In the past,space heritage products only focused on space-related works; but gradually, more human-related contemporary goods which held great importance in their respective eras have been added to the list. In the Lunar Codex, films, diverse art and literary works produced by women, disabled artists, and even AI have been collected for the first time to be sent to the moon.
These changing criteria also leave space for ordinary people to imagine and think. Many people are now trying to store their DNA information digitally. Will people be able to find even more surprising and inventive ways to preserve their legacy in the future? Only time can tell.
1. What is the goal of the project?A.To make the moon livable. | B.To show respect to artists. |
C.To enrich the life of astronauts. | D.To preserve human legacies. |
A.By explaining reasons. | B.By giving examples. |
C.By making comparisons | D.By analyzing previous data. |
A.AI technology is amazing. | B.The selective rules are strict. |
C.Human civilization is inclusive. | D.Space-related works are popular. |
A.A magazine. | B.A textbook. | C.An advertisement. | D.A poster. |
8 . Artificial intelligence (AI) plays an important role in the Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 and Asian Para Games. These terms might sound familiar, but how smart are they when applied to the 56 Asian Games venues (场地)?
Their smartness can be found in running the venues with less human labor forces. At the Huanglong Sports Center, a system called Smart Stadium Brain is built. A 25 square meter high definition screen lays in the venue’s information center, which guarantees a friendly environment for the athletes and audiences. A small screen on each seat is designed to be at the audience’s service. By finger touching, the audience can control it conveniently to watch and keep contact with the event. What’s more, supported by the 5G technology.
AI also means further protection on environment. At the Fuyang sports Center, although it has been raining for days, the roof of the venue still remains dry. And the secret lies in its attractive sky garden. The garden, is not only eye-catching but also useful. It allows the greening rate of the entire stadium to reach as high as 45%, being energy-saving. Under the cobblestones (鹅卵石), a recovery system is filtering (过滤) and collecting rainwater for the venue’s water system, and irrigation water.
1. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “guarantee” in Para2?A.Adapt to. | B.Take advantage of. | C.Get used to. | D.Make sure of. |
A.Small screen must be supported by the 5 G technology. |
B.The audience can control small screens on their seats easily. |
C.The stadium is environmentally friendly and advanced but costly. |
D.Their smartness of AI will replace workers |
A.By saving energy. | B.By recycling the rainwater. |
C.By collecting rainwater system of the sky garden. | D.By improving the greening rate. |
A.More Connections with Smart Devices. | B.A Sports Center with Smart Stadium Brain. |
C.Asian Games with Artificial Intelligence. | D.Smart Asian Games with High-tech Venues. |
9 . 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. |
10 . Some people say that A. I. large language models can be unpredictable and unreliable — giving false information and acting strangely toward users. I’ve been using A.I. tools like ChatGPT almost daily for several months now, and I’ve seen them spit out plenty of wrong answers.
Getting creatively unstuck
A. I. can also be a good tool for getting your creative juices flowing. Recently, I was trying to come up with questions to ask a podcast guest. I pasted the guest’s bio into ChatGPT and asked it to give me “10 thoughtful, incisive interview questions” for this person.
Ethan Mollick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, recommends using A.I. to overcome writer’s block, or get a running start on hard projects.
I’ve also been using ChatGPT and other A.I. apps as a kind of rehearsal for offline tasks I find unpleasant or hard.
When I had to have a difficult conversation with a friend, I asked ChatGPT to take part in a role-playing exercise. “Pretend you’re my friend, and react the way you think my friend might react,” I told it.
Of course, A.I. chatbots can’t replace human friendships. But they can be a kind of on-demand sounding board, offering us basic feedback and advice without judgement.
Sparking Notes for everything
A.Rehearsing for real-world tasks. |
B.I then held a mock version of the conversation. |
C.Explaining concepts at multiple difficulty levels. |
D.Of the questions it generated, most were pretty good. |
E.Used properly, ChatGPT and other A.I. chatbots can be amazing teaching tools. |
F.But I’ve also seen these A.I. programs do amazing things that took my breath away. |
G.One of the most powerful abilities of A.I. language models is quickly summarizing large amounts of text. |