China is a land of bicycles. At least it was back in 1992 when I traveled the country. Back then everyone seemed to be riding a bicycle. Millions of them, all black. Cars were rare. Yet since my arrival in Beijing last year, I’ve found the opposite is true. There are millions of cars. However, people still use their bicycles to get around. For many, it’s the easiest and cheapest way to travel today. Bicycles also come in different colors---silver, green, red, blue, yellow, whatever you want.
It’s fun watching people biking. They rush quickly through crossroads, move skillfully through traffic, and ride even on sidewalks(人行道). Bicycles allow people the freedom to move about that cars just can’t provide.
Eager to be part of this aspect of Chinese culture, I decided to buy a bicycle. Great weather accompanied my great buy. I immediately jumped up on my bicycle seat and started home.
My first ride home was orderly (守秩序的). To be safe, I stayed with a “pack” of bikers while cars on the streets came running swiftly out of nowhere at times. I didn’t want to get hit. So I took the ride carefully.
Crossing the streets was the biggest problem. It was a lot like crossing a major highway back in the United States. The streets here were wide, so crossing took time, skill and a little bit of luck.
I finally made it home. The feeling on the bicycle was amazing. The air hitting my face and going through my hair was wonderful. I was sitting on top of the world as I passed by places and people. Biking made me feel alive.According to the author, why are bicycles still popular in China today?
| A．Because they are convenient and inexpensive. |
| B．Because they are traditional and safe. |
| C．Because they are colorful and available. |
| D．Because they are fast and environment friendly. |
The author decided to buy a bicycle because he intended __________.
| A．to ride it for fun | B．to use it for transport |
| C．to experience local skills | D．to improve his riding skills |
How did the author feel about his street crossing?
| A．It was boring. | B．It was difficult. |
| C．It was lively. | D．It was wonderful. |
Which of the following best describes the author’s biking experience?
| A．The author enjoyed showing off his biking skills. |
| B．The author took great pleasure in biking. |
| C．The author was praised by the other bikers. |
| D．The author was annoyed by the air while riding. |
Writing one or two articles a day is a fair goal for a human writer. By contrast, the Wordsmith platform can produce up to 2,000 articles a second! Wordsmith is one example of natural language-generation software, often referred to as a robot journalist. To be fair, the software doesn’t start from the beginning, like a human writer might. Instead, the software takes a set of structured data and transforms it into readable text.
Natural language-generation software, such as Wordsmith and Quill, does its work by identifying trends and highlights in sets of data. The software then searches its own dictionary for the words to express its findings.
Why keep human writers around
Although this type of software writes faster than any human, it requires sets of structured data to work. That’s why it’s especially useful for writing earnings reports and other types of “dry” writing. Humans, on the other hand, are good at turning their unstructured thoughts directly into prose. The reports produced by Wordsmith and Quill read naturally, and they can match the tone of human writers. But for now, the robot journalists probably won’t steal many jobs or win any Pulitzer Prizes!（普利策奖）
Current applications of natural language-generation software
Financial reports: The software is commonly used by banks or traders to analyze large amounts of financial data and then produce reports in plain English.
Health and fitness: The software can turn data gathered from wearable devices or fitness trackers into personalized reports. The writing tone can even be adjusted to sound more encouraging!
Sports reporting: The software is often used to turn real baseball, basketball and football statistics into exciting stories.What does natural Language-generation software refer to?
| A．The Wordsmith platform. |
| B．A robot journalist. |
| C．A special dictionary. |
| D．Articles written by computer. |
Natural language-generation software can_________.
| A．discover the world’s focuses through the Internet |
| B．write well enough to win Pulitzer Prizes |
| C．produce articles in a tone similar to human’s |
| D．write such beautiful prose as human writers |
We can learn from the passage that natural Language-generation software ________.
| A．has taken the place of human writers currently |
| B．is only able to turn structured data into dry reports |
| C．is widely used in all the fields |
| D．works properly only with the help of sets of structured data |
Nowadays Natural language-generation software is seldom used by_________.
| A．schools | B．banks |
| C．hospitals | D．newspapers |
In New York City public schools, 176 different languages are spoken among the more than 1 million students. For 160,000 children, English is not their first language. New York's Department of Education makes learning better for these students by providing dual-language programs, in which students are taught in two languages, English and another one, like Russian or Chinese. Math, social studies, science and all other regular courses are taught in both languages. And they learn about the culture of the other country.
Milady Baez, Deputy Chancellor of English Language Learners and Student Support, says these dual-language programs will help children succeed in the future. "The jobs of the future require that our students know more than one language. They are going to be traveling abroad; they are going to be communicating with people from all over the world. This will open doors for them."
Middle-schoolers might not have jobs on their minds yet. For Kequing Jaing, she likes keeping up her first language, Mandarin."It makes me feel that I am home because I can speak in Chinese, learn in Chinese, while learning in English. So it makes me feel better and makes me understand more about the task I'm learning."
Anastasia Hudikova came to the United States when she was 2 years old. She says the Russian-English program keeps her connected to her heritage and her parents happy."They're really happy about the program. They are really happy that I can preserve my culture and my language, and that I can speak it fluently in school."
The New York schools also offer dual-language programs in seven other languages: Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Korean, Polish and Spanish. There are plans to add even more languages in the future.
While these dual-language programs are popular, some organizations in the U.S. say teaching English comes first. U.S. Studies show that children who learn English early will be more successful later.Dual-language programs in New York aim to __________.
| A．help the students learn better |
| B．rid the students of homesickness |
| C．attract more international students |
| D．prevent the students forgetting their culture |
Who may not quite agree with dual-language programs?
| A．Milady Baez |
| B．Kequing Jaing |
| C．Anastasia Hudikova’s parents |
| D．some organizations in the U.S |
The author writes the passage in order to_________.
| A．encourage us to learn more languages |
| B．introduce dual-language programs in New York schools |
| C．advertise the dual-language programs |
| D．inspire more students to study in New York |
The 115-year-old famous Oxford Dictionary will now include popular new Chinese terms like “shanzhai” “youtiao” and “fangnu”, as part of the modern Chinese language.
As China plays a more and more important role in the world economy, the Chinese language is forever developing, attracting more attention from people who want to understand this ancient yet powerful language．
For instance, the word “shanzhai” is used to describe the countless knockoffs（名牌仿制品）.Another new term in the new edition is the word “fangnu”, a term used to describe the phenomenon in large cities where well-educated youth complain of a miserable existence due to the heavy burden of a home mortgage(按揭贷款).All these new or often fashionable terms can be found in the new Oxford English –Chinese, Chinese-English dictionary. that was unveiled(公布于众的)in the recently concluded Beijing International Book Fair last week．
This dictionary is the largest single volume English-Chinese, Chinese-English dictionary and contains 670,000 words and phrases after five years of preparation. Sixty editors from the Oxford University Press and its partner in China—the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press worked together on the project. According to Julie Kleeman, the dictionary’s chief editor, most of the firm’s editors were Chinese, while about one fourth were native-English speakers．
“We don’t want to make it florid（绚丽的）, we want it to be modern and conversational. Many of the words in the present dictionary are no longer in use.” said Kleeman. “The need for studying Chinese by foreigners today is totally different from decades ago. Precise, native and practical—that is our main advantage,” she said. She added the dictionary also has a sidebar section that explains words which contain too much cultural information, like “hutong”, a traditional architecture style of Beijing. Another would be “youtian” the popular Chinese breakfast choice usually eaten with soybean milk.
Kleeman said in the future newer updated versions will be only available online as language often changes too quickly for book versions to keep up with. The online version will also offer a Chinese pronunciation guide．
The online version, allowing access via different platforms from the PC to the iPhones, will be ready “as soon as possible”, Kleeman said.Why will Oxford Dictionary include popular new Chinese terms?
| A．To attract those who want to get a better understanding of Chinese. |
| B．To develop the international working language, English. |
| C．To keep up with the development of the world economy. |
| D．To interest people and sell at a higher price. |
We can use the following words to describe this new dictionary EXCEPT__________.
| A．accurate | B．flowery |
| C．practical | D．native |
The newer updated versions will be only available online because______.
| A．book versions are too expensive to buy |
| B．book versions can’t offer a Chinese pronunciation guide |
| C．they can keep up with the quickly changing language |
| D．they will allow access in different languages |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Oxford Dictionary has a history of more than 100 decades. |
| B．the word “shanzhai” can be only found in online versions. |
| C．Most of the dictionary’s editors are native English speakers. |
| D．Oxford Dictionary will be modern, practical and multifunctional |
It pays to be smart. We are not all smart in the same way. Youmaybe a talented musician, but you might not be a good reader . Each of us is different .
Psychologists have two different views on intelligence .Others believe there are many different intelligence .Some psychologists say there is one type of intelligence that can be measured with IQ tests .These psychologistssupport their view with research that concludes that people who dowell on one kind of test for mental ability do well on other tests .They do well on tests using words , numbers or pictures. They do well on individual orgroup tests , and written or oral tests .Those who do poorly on one test , do the same on all tests .
Studies of the brain show that there is a biological basis for general intelligence . The brain waves of people with higher intelligence show a quicker reaction .Some researchers conclude that differences in intelligence resultfrom differences in the speed and effectiveness of information processing by the brain .
Howard Gardner , a psychologist at the Harvard School of Education , has four children .He believes that all children are different and shouldn’t be tested by one intelligence test .Although Gardner believes general intelligence exists , he doesn’t think it tells much about the talents of a person outside of formal schooling .He think that the human mind has different intelligences .These intelligences allow us to solve the kinds ofproblems we are presented with in life .Each of us has different abilities within these intelligences .Gardner believes that the purpose of school should be to encourage development of all of our intelligences .What does the text mainly talk about?
| A．How to understand intelligence . |
| B．How to become intelligent . |
| C．The importance of intelligence tests . |
| D．The causes of different intelligences. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE concerning general intelligence ?
| A．Intelligent people do not do wellongrouptests . |
| B．Most intelligent people do well on the intelligence tests . |
| C．Intelligent people do better on written tests than on oral tests . |
| D．People doing well on one type of intelligence test do well on other tests . |
Gardnerbelieves that ________ .
| A．all children are alike . |
| B．children should take one intelligence test . |
| C．there is no general intelligence . |
| D．children have different intelligences . |
According toGardner, schools should ________ .
| A．test students’IQs once at least. |
| B．promote development of all intelligences . |
| C．train students who do poorly on tests . |
| D．focus on finding themostintelligent students |
Who needs guard dogs when you have wolves , right? That’s probably what Kazakh villagers in the Almaty region though when they decided to replace their dogs with the fierce forest dwelling beasts. According to local news reports, taming(驯化的) wolves is now the latest trend and a sort of hobby among rural Kazakhs.
Nurseit Zhylkyshybay, a farmer from the south-eastern Almaty region, told reporters that he purchased a wolf cub from hunters three years ago, and the animal is now perfectly tamed.
Kurtka, Nurseit’s pet wolf, lives in the family’s yard and takes long walks through the village with his master. “He’s never muzzled,” Nurseit insisted. “I rarely put him on a chain and do take him for regular walks around the village. Our family and neighbors aren’t scared of him at all.”
But wolf expert Almas Zhaparov said that the animals are ‘far too dangerous’ to keep at home. “A wolf is like a ticking bomb, it can go off at any moment,” he warned. “If nothing is done, the fashion could spread to the wealthy Kazakhs, who might try to keep wolves in the grounds of their houses, with possibly deadly consequences.” Social media users also expressed worry about the trend, accusing the government for failing to limit the practice.
Nevertheless, the wolves don’t seem to be posing an immediate threat. If visuals from news reports are anything to go by, the beasts look pretty happy with their new lifestyle, and appear quite fond of their new masters, not unlike dogs.The writer uses the example of Kurtka to show that____________.
| A．wolves can be tamed. |
| B．wolves are like ticking bombs |
| C．wolves like living with humans |
| D．keeping wolves at home is easy |
The underlined word “muzzled” in Para 3 means___________.
| A．puzzled | B．beaten |
| C．got his mouth covered | D．got changed |
According to Almas Zhaparov, keeping wolves at home is___________.
| A．a fashion | B．a disaster |
| C．a necessity | D．a hone |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Wolves are easy to get tamed. |
| B．A pet wolf can become aggressive at any moment. |
| C．The government will prevent people taming wolves as pets. |
| D．Wolves are as loyal to their masters as dogs are. |