1 . Scientists from Georgia Tech have developed a new robot named ESTHER (Experimental Sport Tennis Wheelchair Robot), which can move around the court and even return human serves.
The team believes the robot could serve as a training partner (搭档) for professional players in the future, lowering the pressure of training with another human.
The robot is the brainchild of Georgia Tech’s Matthew Gombolay, professor of robotics in the School of Interactive Computing. He wanted to develop a better training challenge than a ball feeder that stays in one place, one that would act like an always on-call partner or even team up with someone in doubles matches. The result is ESTHER, an adapted wheelchair tennis chair that can race to balls at ten metres per second and probably outplay a human.
Mr Gombolay explains: “The wheelchair has the ability to rapidly move around the court and get into position (恰当位置) to hit a ground stroke (击落地球). ESTHER can move up to two metres after a ball is struck to hit a successful return, which is comparable to the longest distance moved by human players for 80 per cent of shots (击球).”
The robot was named in homage to well-known wheelchair tennis player Esther Vergeer, who held the world No. 1 position in women’s wheelchair tennis for almost 13 years straight.
The team placed a network of cameras around a tennis court and used computer vision algorithms (视觉算法) to help ESTHER recognise an incoming tennis ball. Using cameras from different positions, they could know where the ball is in the air and feed this information to ESTHER. The team reached a breakthrough when they successfully and continually programmed ESTHER to track the tennis ball coming toward it and to hit a return.
ESTHER will now be developed to act as a highly-skilled tennis player.
1. What is ESTHER able to do?A.Return a shot. | B.Clean up a court. | C.Push a wheelchair. | D.Control a ball feeder. |
A.In search of. | B.In honour of. | C.As a result of. | D.With the help of. |
A.They improve its vision. | B.They direct it to the ball. |
C.They help it stay in position. | D.They picture unexpected things in the air. |
A.Athletes in wheelchairs | B.An all-purpose robot at home |
C.Rules are changing for tennis courts | D.A robot moves around the tennis court |
1. What was the writing subject about last year?
A.A bedroom. | B.A place. | C.Food. |
A.Teenagers. | B.Middle-aged people. | C.Old people. |
A.500 dollars. | B.Free tickets to a zoo. | C.The club’s magazines. |
A.The 4th next month. | B.The 14th next month. | C.The 25th next month. |
3 . David Brunelli has eaten up a huge burger. He starts eating handfuls of French fries. If he eats them fast enough, he could win. The crowd shouts with excitement. Suddenly, a stream of food pours out of Brunell' s mouth. Puking (呕吐) during an eating competition means you lose. So Brunelli catches the food in his hands and pushes it back into his mouth. Welcome to the world of competitive eating.
Thousands of eating competitions take place around the world each year. To win, people like Brunelli eat huge amounts of food as quickly as possible.They eat everything from mountains of hot dogs to hundreds of chicken legs.
Some people say it is time for eating competitions to stop. One reason is that the competitions can lead to serious health problems. These include weight gain, heart disease, and stomach problems. In 2004, a woman died from choking (窒息) during a competition. Eating competitions can make overeating look attractive. This sets a bad example for fans. Also, millions of people in the world go hungry every day. That makes it seem wasteful to eat amounts of food just for fun.
Still, many people love competitive eating. They say it is a fun tradition that goes back many years. Fans point out that the group Major League Eating (MLE) runs professional eating competitions. At these competitions, injuries are uncommon. MLE always has doctors on hand.
Eating competitions allow people like Brunelli to get famous and win money. And the competitions are popular. Each July 4, more than a million people watch Nathan s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on TV. This year, will you be one of them?
1. Why does the author write the first paragraph?A.To bring up the topic. | B.To introduce Brunelli. |
C.To make a comparison. | D.To show some delicious food. |
A.They have a short history. | B.They enjoy great popularity. |
C.They are attractive to the poor | D.They introduce lots of new food. |
A.The fun of watching eating competitions. |
B.The health problems caused by overeating. |
C.The difficulties in winning an eating competition. |
D.The reasons why eating competitions should be stopped. |
A.It trains many doctors. | B.Its prizes are unusual. |
C.Its competitions are relatively safe. | D.It is an organizer of traditional competitions. |
1. Why does Nancy make the phone call?
A.To ask for help. |
B.To make an appointment. |
C.To get some information. |
A.To improve runners’ health. |
B.To collect money for charity. |
C.To select out professional athletes. |
A.Adam. | B.Randall. | C.Joe. |
A.At 5: 00 a. m. | B.At 6: 00 a. m. | C.At 6: 45 a. m. |
5 . “The Worthington Christian defeated the Westerville North by 2—1 in an Ohio boys’ soccer game on Saturday.” That’s according to a story that appeared last month in The Columbus Dispatch. That lead was written not by a sportswriter, but by an artificial intelligence (AI) tool.
Many news organizations are now examining how AI might be used in their work. But if they begin their “experimenting” with high school sports because they are less momentous than war, peace, climate change and politics, they may miss something crucial. Nothing may be more important to the students who play high school sports, and to their families, neighborhoods, and sometimes, the whole town. That next game is what the students train for, work toward, and dream about. Someday, almost all student athletes will go on to have jobs in front of screens, in office parks, at schools, in hospitals or on construction sites. They may suffer blows and setbacks. But the high school games they played and watched, as well as their hopes and cheers, will stay vivid in their memories.
I have a small idea. If newspapers will no longer send staff reporters to cover high school games, why not hire high school student journalists? News organizations can pay students an hourly wage to cover high school games. The young reporters might learn how to be fair to all sides, write vividly, and attract readers. That’s what some celebrities in sports did, and do.
And think of the great writers who were inspired by sports: Hemingway on fishing, Bernard Malamud and Marianne Moore on baseball, Chen Zhongshi on football, and CLR James on cricket, who said, “There can be raw pain and bleeding where so many thousands see the inevitable (不可避免的) ups and downs of only a game.” A good high school writer, unlike a robot, could tell readers not just the score, but the stories of the game.
1. Why is the lead mentioned in the first paragraph?A.To introduce an original idea. | B.To show AI’s wide application. |
C.To bring in the opinion about AI. | D.To stress AI’s importance to news. |
A.Hopeful. | B.Eye-catching. | C.Competitive. | D.Far-reaching. |
A.Rich in contents. | B.Fair in comments. |
C.Centered on results. | D.Targeted on readers. |
A.News Organizations Are Abusing AI | B.High Schoolers Can Do What AI Can’t |
C.Great Writers Are Crazy About Sports | D.AI Ruins High School Students’ Memory |
1. Who is Dave Godber?
A.A manager. | B.A director. | C.A footballer. |
A.Surprised. | B.Confident. | C.Upset. |
A.Attend a match. | B.Take a holiday. | C.Look for another job. |
Last year, Chinese from far-off cities flocked to Rongjiang County to watch an amateur village football super league, the VSL, or, CunChao. There was an audience of 50,000 once
Football in Rongjiang County has a time-honored history,
The league’s cultural
People’s hopes for the
8 . Defeating Daniil Medvedev in New York on Sunday, Djokovic, one of the greatest tennis player, bagging 24 Grand Slam (大满贯) singles titles, equalized the record held by Australian Margaret Court, the same number of singles titles in the all-time count.
With the victory, Djokovic became the oldest US Open men’s singles champion in the Open Era. In total, he has 10 Australian Opens, seven Wimbledons, four US Opens and three Roland Garros titles, making him the only man to win all four majors at least three times. “When I realized that, I started to dream new dreams and set new goals. I never imagined that I would be here talking about 24 Slams,” he said afterwards.
Djokovic reached all finals in the Grand Slams in 2023, and the only loss was at Wimbledon, when Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, 20, brought home the champion after an intense battle lasting four hours and 43 minutes.
Djokovic, at 36, shows few signs of losing physical edge. He stays healthy, keeps exceptional skills and always desires to win more. Capturing his first Grand Slam in 2008, Djokovic bagged half of his 24 major titles after he turned 30.“One of the biggest lessons I have learned probably mentally throughout my career is that even if you find a formula (方案) that works, it’s not a guarantee, and actually most likely it’s not going to work the next year, so I keep reinventing myself and always trying to find better ways to win,” said Djokovic.
For Djokovic, who always gets tough when the going gets tough, 24 is just a number that he can go beyond. “I’ll continue to prioritize Grand Slams as my most important tournaments and where I want to play the best tennis. That will stay the same in the next season, or I don’t know how many more seasons I have in my legs,” he added, “So, let’s see.”
1. What does the underlined word “equalized” in the first paragraph probably mean?A.Set. | B.Broke. | C.Levelled. | D.Approached. |
A.He won 12 Grand Slams in his thirties. |
B.He won all the finals in the Grand Slams in 2023. |
C.He attached the same importance to all the matches. |
D.He is the oldest men’s singles champion in the open era. |
A.Losing physical edge. | B.Attending more Grand Slams. |
C.Following a good formula. | D.Finding flexible and proper strategies. |
A.Confident and emotional. | B.Ambitious and devoted. |
C.Aggressive and stubborn. | D.Enthusiastic and generous. |
1. What is the talk mainly about?
A.A lecture on success. | B.A graduation ceremony. | C.A school award ceremony. |
A.A girls’ school. | B.A boys’ school. | C.A mixed school. |
A.A sportsman. | B.A teacher. | C.A singer. |
A.Confidence. | B.Success. | C.Trying. |
1. What are the speakers doing?
A.Doing some exercise. | B.Making a training plan. | C.Attending a sports meeting. |
A.Two weeks. | B.Four weeks. | C.Six weeks. |
A.Cycling. | B.Swimming. | C.Running. |
A.Interesting. | B.Easy. | C.Stressful. |