1 . It’s easy for consumers to buy food and drinks like a bowl of hot rice and coke online or from neighbourhood shops, but for astronauts such things were impossible in the past.
Members of China’s Shenzhou manned space flight last year, however, were able to enjoy such food, thanks to Joyoung, a Chinese firm. Joyoung created a mobile space kitchen for the astronauts. A drinking water machine, an air heater and a soybean milk maker were all accessible in the kitchen through a smart app. Tang Hongbo, who was a member of the Shenzhou manned spacecraft said in the news that during his three-month trip, he could eat hot food with just half-hour efforts, a contrast to the past when similar attempts required several hours. “If we had time, we would also use equipment to eat homemade yogurt. We could also control the equipment in the space kitchen through mobile phone apps.” he said.
In the past, most foods couldn’t be directly heated in a microwave oven in the space. Conduction equipment often caused uneven (不均匀的) heating. An astronaut had to spend as long as four hours to heat some vegetables in the space kitchen. To solve the problem, Joyoung has developed equipment that gives out hot air to heat vegetables in a 360-degree way. That enables astronauts to eat steaming-hot fish-flavoured pork and Gongbao chicken, a spicy, stir-fried Chinese dish.
Besides Joyoung, a group of companies, including Xiaomi Coip and Huawei Technologies, have contributed their technologies to the development of the space station. A vacuum (真空) cleaner made haircuts on the spacecraft possible. NOLO VR, a Chinese virtual reality manufacturer, has helped astronauts develop an experimental equipment through which laboratory technicians on the ground can see and experience what astronauts are doing in space.
1. What do astronauts think of Joyoung’s mobile space kitchen?| A．Water-saving. | B．Energy-wasting. | C．Time-saving. | D．Money-wasting. |
| A．By making contrasts. | B．By analyzing results. |
| C．By providing pictures. | D．By answering questions. |
| A．Jayoung needs to further its technology. |
| B．What astronauts are doing is significant. |
| C．Astronauts on board can do as they wish. |
| D．There are more technologies for the spacecraft. |
| A．The Hot Diet on the Space Station Needs to be Addressed |
| B．Earth to Space, Firms Add Value by Creating Technology |
| C．Modern Technology Brings Convenience to Human Beings |
| D．Manufacturers Make Big Profits from Inventing Equipment |
2 . The first wave of concerns over artificial intelligence(AI)in 2023 appeared soon after New Year’s Day when classrooms reopened and schools from Seattle to Paris started blocking ChatGPT, a powerful software based on AI large language models, because teenagers were using it to do their homework.
The AI large language models behind such products as ChatGPT work by repeatedly guessing the next word in a sentence after having “learned” the rules from a huge amount of/human-written works. Although they often get facts wrong, their answers appear so natural that Keven, their inventors begin to worry about their possible use for spreading false information.
People became more worried when various AI products started to create not just texts but novel images, music and human voices, which threatened the livelihoods of anyone who writes, draws or sings for a living. It led to strikes by Hollywood writers and actors and legal challenges from artists and bestselling authors. Some of the most respected scientists even warned that the technology’s unchecked progress was possibly threatening human existence. “In the longer term, they might manage our attention,” pioneering AI scientist Fei Fei Lisaid. “They would tell us which video to watch, which book to read or whose communication to respond as AI technology’s abilities improve rapidly. They could be a very good assistant, but also with really big risks.”
Li hoped that 2023 is going to be a year for people to think about what Al is, how to use it and what the effects are — all the good, the bad and the ugly.
“It’s easy to forget that they are not the first wave of AI products. Computer vision techniques developed by Li and other scientists have helped sort through a huge database of photos to recognize objects and individual faces and guide self-driving cars. Speech recognition advances have made voice assistants like Siri and Alexa a normal thing in many people’s lives,” said Tom Gruber, co-founder of Siri Inc.
1. Why did schools try to stop their students from using ChatGPT?| A．ChatGPT often got facts wrong in the class. |
| B．Students spent too much time on the software. |
| C．ChatGPT helped students spread false information. |
| D．Students used the software to cheat at their homework. |
| A．AI’s training costs. | B．ATs amazing abilities. |
| C．AI’s possible threats. | D．AI’s fast developments. |
| A．Think carefully about AI’s impact. | B．Welcome AI technology |
| C．Do use ChatGPT more carefully. | D．Upgrade ChatGPT in time. |
| A．A news report. | B．A guide book to a software. |
| C．A product review. | D．An introduction to a person. |
3 . For many book writers, artificial intelligence(AI) is a threat to their jobs and the very idea of creativity. At the same time, AI is a story to tell, and no longer just in science fiction.
Helen Phillips is the writer of the upcoming book HUM. It tells of a wife and mother who loses her job to AI. “I’m frightened by artificial intelligence, but also interested in it,” she explained. Phillips said there is a hope in AI for gaining all knowledge, the understanding of everything. But at the same time, there is an “inborn terror in being replaced by non-human intelligence.”
Ryan Doherty is a vice president and director at Celadon Books. It recently agreed to publish Fred Lunzker’s book Sike, featuring an AI doctor of mental health. “We’ve been seeing more and more about AI in book proposals,” Doherty said. Doherty used the term zeitgeist (时代精神), meaning the general ideas or spirit of a time, to describe AI. “It’s the zeitgeist right now. And whatever is in the cultural zeitgeist gets into fiction,” Doherty said.
In Sierra Greer’s Annie Bot, the title character is an AI mate designed for a human male. For Greer, the book was a way to explore the character’s “urgent desire to please.” Amy Shearn’s book, Animal Instinct, has its origins in her personal life. She had recently divorced and began to use dating apps. “It’s so strange how, with apps, you start to feel as if you’re going person-shopping,” she said, “And I thought, wouldn’t it be great if you could really pick and choose the best parts or all these people you meet with to make your ideal person?”
Earlier this year, Stephen Marche used AI to write the short book Death of An Author. Simon Rich worked with Brent Katz and Josh Morgenthau for I Am Code, a thriller that came out this month. The AI program “code-davinci-002” created the work.
1. What’s Helen’s attitude towards AI?| A．Resistant. | B．Doubtful. | C．Approving. | D．Contradictory |
| A．AI reflects the spirit of current times. | B．AI acts as a doctor of mental health. |
| C．Al proposes more ideas for fictions. | D．Culture is a combination of general ideas. |
| A．AI exposes writers’ private life. |
| B．AI satisfies writers’ urgent desire. |
| C．Writers are using AI to handle human problems. |
| D．AI helps writers pick and choose when shopping. |
| A．Some AI programs are created. | B．Some books touch on AI themes. |
| C．Some books on AI will come out soon. | D．Some writers are openly working with AI. |
4 . I always considered myself a good friend and I’m always there when my friends need me. I truly believed I was a(n)
I basically put my
As soon as we started going into lockdown over COVID-19, one of my friends in the last category (类 别) texted me and suggested we Wechat to
What really
I
| A．interesting | B．excellent | C．different | D．special |
| A．guessed | B．realized | C．remembered | D．hoped |
| A．friends | B．neighbors | C．relatives | D．patients |
| A．travel | B．move | C．meet | D．help |
| A．ever since | B．now that | C．even though | D．as if |
| A．approach | B．explanation | C．opportunity | D．expectation |
| A．disappeared | B．developed | C．worked | D．failed |
| A．show off | B．catch up | C．get away | D．hold on |
| A．hit | B．annoyed | C．impressed | D．scared |
| A．leave | B．refuse | C．contact | D．forgive |
| A．careful about | B．afraid of | C．sorry for | D．used to |
| A．spread | B．achieve | C．change | D．mention |
| A．forget | B．hate | C．believe | D．doubt |
| A．important | B．real | C．strange | D．open |
| A．present | B．confident | C．powerful | D．independent |
5 . How is eating in space different from eating on Earth?
If you send astronauts into space, you have to send along food as well. But what do astronauts eat, and how do they eat it? Scientists take several factors into consideration as they plan meals for space.
First, and possibly most important, is nutrition (营养).
The lack of gravity in a spacecraft also determines what foods can or cannot be eaten in space. Meals must be packaged carefully so they won’t spill (洒落/溢出) into the cabin (one of the areas inside a spacecraft). Water or tiny bits of food could get inside a machine or electronic device and damage it.
Despite all these requirements, much of the food eaten in space is actually similar to what you might eat on any given day.
| A．Believe it or not, they also have fresh fruits and vegetables. |
| B．Keeping astronauts’ physical health is a top task for any space mission. |
| C．Food packaging is made to be as light as possible. |
| D．Taste is also important. |
| E．For the same reason, sharp knives and folks are never used on board. |
| F．Nutrition and practicality(实用) are important things to consider. |
| G．Finally, weight is an important concern. |
6 . If you think of the jobs robots could never do, you would probably put doctors and teachers at the top of the list. But, in some cases, they already perform better than doctors at diagnosing (诊断) illness. Also some patients might feel more comfortable sharing personal information with a machine than a person. Could there be a place for robots in education after all?
British education expert, Anthony Seldon thinks so, And he even has a date for the robot takeover of the classroom: 2027. He believes robots will do the main. job of transferring (传递) information and teachers will be like assistants. Intelligent robots will read students’faces, movements and maybe even brain signals. Then they will transfer the information to each student. It’s not a popular opinion and it’s unlikely robots will ever have empathy (共情) and the ability to really connect with humans like another human can.
One thing is certain, though. A robot teacher is better than, no teacher at all. In some parts of the world, there aren’t enough teachers and 9 —16 percent of children under the age of 14 don’t go to school. Teachers all over the world are leaving because it is a difficult. and lower-paid job and they feel overworked. That problem could be part solved by robots.
Perhaps the question is not “Will robots replace teachers?” but “How can robots help teachers?” Teachers waste a lot of time doing non-teaching work, including more than 11 hours a week marking homework. If robots could cut the time teachers spend marking homework and writing reports, teachers would have more time and energy for the parts of the job humans do best.
1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?| A．Drawing a conclusion. | B．Giving an answer. |
| C．Presenting an example. | D．Introducing the topic. |
| A．Because robot teachers cost less. | B．Because robot teachers teach better. |
| C．Because there aren’t enough teachers. | D．Because there are already robot doctors. |
| A．By answering emails. | B．By marking homework. |
| C．By reading students’ faces. | D．By analyzing brain signals. |
| A．Illness Diagnosing | B．Robot Teachers | C．Information Transferring | D．Education Problems |
7 . Young children often benefit from the structure and routine of a traditional classroom setting. On the other hand, older students may find that they learn better when given the freedom to explore material at their own pace. In order to provide the full benefit of online learning, educators must be aware of the needs of their students and therefore tailor their instruction.
As anyone who has tried to learn from videos knows, it can be difficult to search, obtain, and sum up important information. In response to this, Hari Subramonyam, a research professor, and his two colleagues, have developed a new app called VideoSticker which uses artificial intelligence (AI).
The app uses AI to automatically identify and trim (整理) objects out of video lessons and place them into a note-taking area. In addition to capturing images, VideoSticker also pulls in key text, joining it with the imagery. This way, students can easily handle images and text and add those elements in their own explanations. As a result, the app turns the passive experience of watching a video into an active one with lots of enthusiasm and determination, which helps students to better engage with the material and remember the information.
The test of VideoSticker’s effectiveness was conducted with 10 graduate and undergraduate students. During the test, the students completed a 75- to 90-minute note-taking session of a biology class. The researchers reported positive feedback from participants, with particular praise to VideoSticker’s flexibility in navigating between notes and video content. Next up, the team will partner with other educators to further evaluate and improve VideoSticker before making the tool fully available commercially.
With more and more people turning to videos for educational content, apps like VideoSticker could help to make the learning process easier and more efficient. Other education-based innovations we have spotted recently include an app that lets students upload maths problems through their phones, as well as a platform for students with learning differences and a tool that identifies struggling readers sooner.
1. Which of the following has the similar meaning to the underlined word in Paragraph 1?| A．teach | B．satisfy | C．create | D．adapt |
| A．Thoughtful and focused. | B．Energetic and involved. |
| C．Helpful and encouraged. | D．Confident and determined |
| A．More burden is laid on students. |
| B．More practice bases are to be developed. |
| C．More education innovation come into being. |
| D．More people begin to make education videos. |
| A．An available method makes students improve study efficiency. |
| B．An AI tool makes it easy for students to take notes from videos. |
| C．An advanced app makes students interact well with the teachers. |
| D．A piece of important information makes students benefit from education. |
8 . Artificial intelligence (AI) tools designed to operate at human levels have greatly expanded in popularity over the past year. These include OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s AI-powered search engine Bing. Such tools, also known as chatbots or generative AI, are computer-powered systems. They are designed to interact smoothly with humans and perform high-level writing and creative work.
In recent months, these tools have demonstrated an ability to produce high-quality work. This has led some technology experts to warn that generative AI systems could end up replacing workers in many industries.
This year, researchers at Harvard Business School and other organizations carried out an experiment. It aimed to test how well AI tools could help workers perform their usual duties or tasks. It involved more than 700 business advisors, called consultants, from Massachusetts-based Boston Consulting Group.
Harvard Business School recently published the results from the experiment in a working paper. The main findings suggest that AI tools like ChatGPT can greatly improve worker performance. For example, researchers found that, on average, workers who used OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT 4 tool completed 12 percent more tasks than non-ChatGPT users. Tasks carried out with help from the AI technology were completed 25 percent faster. And the team found the quality of work performed by consultants using ChatGPT 4 increased by about 40 percent.
However, the paper also noted areas where the performance of consultants using ChatGPT 4 dropped. The researchers said this was especially true with tasks the AI tool was not good at completing. “Of tasks the AI was good at, the experiment showed it significantly improved human performance,” the paper said. “But for tasks ChatGPT 4 was not right for, humans relied too much on the AI and were more likely to make mistakes.”
The team suggests one of the biggest barriers to companies effectively using AI is not knowing which tasks can be completed best with the technology. Finding this out will require businesses to carry out thoughtful research and training efforts in order to find the right mix of AI and human-level work.
1. What is a purpose of designing AI tools according to the text?| A．To perform low-level writing. | B．To replace technology experts. |
| C．To finish high-quality work. | D．To improve interpersonal communication. |
| A．To explain the disadvantages of AI tools. |
| B．To show how well AI tools could help workers. |
| C．To forecast changes in the future working environment. |
| D．To compare the work performance between humans and AI tools. |
| A．Companies need to balance the work of AI and humans. |
| B．It is useless to train so many workers to learn to use AI. |
| C．It is easy to find the right mix of AI and human-level work. |
| D．Research on using AI effectively has been made by businesses. |
| A．ChatGPT Can See, Hear and Speak Now |
| B．Ways to Improve Your Performance at Work |
| C．The Fast Development of Artificial Intelligence |
| D．AI Tools Help but also Harm Worker Performance |
9 . An artificial intelligence system that has recently caught the spotlight for numerous reasons has been asked to produce images of real-life iconic (偶像的) cartoon characters.
The artificial intelligence that was requested to produce the images is called Midjourney which is an AI program that is designed to produce images from textual descriptions. The tool recently went into open in July and has since grown in popularity as users are able to enter descriptions of whatever they can think of to produce a completely unique image. Midjourney is extremely impressive, as I have personally used it to generate several wallpaper images for my desktop.
The AI system is capable of recognizing specific words such as 4K, real-life, cartoon, high detail and more. Using these words and more, you can write a prompt (提示符) such as: Portrait image of Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty in real life. Taking this principle of being able to request basically whatever you want, one, Midjourney, user decided to create an award-winning image and enter it into an art competition undisclosed (秘密的) of its creation process.
Jason Allen, a board game director, spent weeks improving the prompt that he was entering into Midjourney and eventually generated three images that he was happy with.
Allen entered the Al-generated images in the Digital Art category at Colorado State Fair under his own name along with “via Midjourney”. Allen won first place and used the opportunity to make a statement about AI art being accepted among the community, saying, “Is it common for artists to explain their process just for the sake of clarification? Are they judging the art or the method by which it was created?”
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．An AI system is able to draw cartoons. |
| B．An AI system makes pictures all by itself. |
| C．An Al system creates art works instead of artists. |
| D．An AI system produces pictures based on requirements. |
| A．Its style. | B．Its function. | C．Its shape. | D．Its appearance. |
| A．To show his great talent in art. |
| B．To explain how Midjourney works. |
| C．To prove Midjourney can do excellent work. |
| D．To appeal to artists to explain their creating process to people. |
| A．A newspaper. | B．A travel guide. | C．A science fiction. | D．A textbook. |
10 . Livestreaming is part of daily life in China. A person leading livestreams is known as a host or hostess. Toenter the industry is very easy. You can pick up your phone and you’re livestreaming. Many young Chinese are increasingly turning to online streaming as a way to earn money while selling products for major companies.
But that’s not all. For Lu, who recently graduated from a UK master’s program in marketing, the primary reason for her becoming a hostess was that she didn’t think she was able of doing the traditional nine-to-five office routine.
“I have a strong desire to share my views, which extend to some of the products I’m promoting, and there may be people who happen to like what I say. I think this is something that makes everybody happy,” said Lu, who in her videos shares romance stories and gives relationship advice to young women.
For hostesses like Lu, the industry meets the desire to be true and to express oneself freely, which is strongly welcomed by young people.
In recent years, just as China’s tech and tutoring industries offered less jobs due to structural changes in the economy, the short-video and livestreaning sector began to show potential for supplementing the job losses.
The industry will continue to grow, with studies suggesting that certain percentage of the Chinese population who have been slow to join this new consumer base will eventually find their way to embracing it.
Livestreaming sales are projected to generate over four trillion yuan in 2025, making up a quarter of all e-commerce revenue.
Still, the industry’s bright future doesn’t mean everyone entering it will be better off. While an average host can easily earn a monthly salary of 10, 000 yuan, it’s difficult to know how long the steady stream of income will keep, and whether she becomes a star will depend not just on her performance but also on how fierce her competition is.
So while the goal of getting rich and famous may be unrealistic for most, the short-video and livestreaming sector is yet filling a gap in China’s workforce.
1. What attracted Lu to be a hostess?| A．To be famous. | B．To make more friends. |
| C．To avoid the traditional office work. | D．To make more money. |
| A．Making up. | B．Worrying about. | C．Leading to. | D．Preparing for. |
| A．It can make most people have a better life. | B．It offers many jobs to society. |
| C．It makes society harmonious. | D．It produces stars from ordinary people. |
| A．Colorful Daily Life | B．Is It Easy to Make Money by Livestreaming? |
| C．Enter It and You can Succeed | D．Livestreaming, a New Industry in China |
