Can software bring dead tongues back to life? Probably yes.
A computer algorithm（计算程序）works almost as well as a trained linguist（语言学家） in reconstructing how dead "protolanguages" would have sounded, says a new study.
"Our computer system is doing a basic job right now," says Alex Bouchard-Côté, an assistant professor in the department of statistics at the University of British Columbia and lead author of the paper describing the algorithm. But the program does a good enough job that it may be able to give linguists a head start, the statistician added.
For centuries, scholars have reconstructed languages by hand: looking at the same word in two or more languages and making educated guesses about what that word's "ancestor" may have sounded like. For example, the Spanish word for man （"hombre"） and the French word for man （"homme"） developed from the Latin word "homo." The way linguists compare words from descendant（后代）languages to reconstruct the parent language is called, appropriately, the comparative method.
The early 19th-century linguist Franz Bopp was the first to compare Greek, Latin and Sanskrit using this method. Jacob Grimm, one of the Brothers Grimm of fairy tale fame, used the comparative method to show how Germanic languages developed from a common ancestor.
The difference between that and Bouchard-Côté's program, the statistician says, "is we do it on a larger scale." As a proof of concept, Bouchard-Côté fed words from 637 Austronesian languages （spoken in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and more） into the new algorithm, and the system came up with a list of what the ancestor words of all those languages would have sounded like. In more than 85 percent of cases, the automated reconstruction came within one character of the ancestor word commonly accepted as true by linguists.
The algorithm won't replace trained human linguists, but could speed up language analysis.
Using a computer to do large-scale reconstruction offers another advantage. Bouchard-Côté says, “With big data sets, you can really start finding regularities … You might find that certain sounds are more likely to change than others."
So Bouchard-Côté's team tested the "functional load hypothesis（假设）," which says that sounds that are more important for two clearly different words are less likely to change over time. A formal test of this hypothesis in 1967 looked at four languages; Bouchard-Côté's algorithm looked at 637.
"The revealed pattern would not be obvious if we had not been able to reconstruct large numbers of protolanguages," Bouchard-Côté and his coauthors write in the new study.
In addition to simply helping linguists understand how people spoke in the past, studying ancient languages can perhaps answer historical questions. For example, Bouchard-Côté says, "Say people are interested in finding out when Europe was settled. If you can figure out if the language of the settling population had a word for wheel, then you can get some idea of the order in which things occurred, because you would have some records that show you when the wheel was invented.”
The underline word “protolanguages” in the first paragraph probably refers to __________.
| A．the languages that couldn’t be reconstructed by hand |
| B．parent languages that existed in the past |
| C．languages developed from a common ancestor |
| D．languages used to explain things that occurred in the past |
We can learn from the fourth and fifth paragraphs that the reconstruction of “protolanguage” by scholars __________.
| A．is commonly accepted as false |
| B．dates back to the 19th century |
| C．focuses on European languages |
| D．is conducted using the comparative method |
According to Bouchard-Côté, reconstructing the dead "protolanguages" might _______.
| A．arouse people’s interest in when Europe was settled |
| B．allow us to find answers to some historical questions |
| C．enable us to picture the way linguists communicated |
| D．help figure out how the wheel was invented |
The author probably wants to prove the computer algorithm program led by Bouchard-Côté ___________.
| A．will bring every dead language back to life |
| B．can take the place of linguists in language analysis |
| C．is of great help to promote language analysis with big data sets |
| D．can merely reconstruct Asian-Pacific “protolanguages” |
People think that writing short stories is easy because they are short. But in fact they are hard to write well. There are only a few writers of good short stories and the American writer O. Henry is one of them.
His real name was William Sydney Porter and he grew up in North Carolina. He was not very successful at school but he loved reading. When he was about twenty years old he left North Carolina and moved to Texas. He thought there would be more opportunities for work there. At first he worked on a newspaper but as this did not provide enough money he changed his job. He decided to work in a bank. All went well until some money went missing. William was believed to have stolen it and was sent to prison. Although this was a horrible experience it helped in one way because he realized that he could write well. William began writing short stories and O. Henry was born! When he left prison he began writing as a career and published many of his stories. They were mostly about the people that he met or he knew in New York and they had interesting or surprising endings. People enjoyed reading them. His life, however, was not a happy one. He drank too much and died in 1910 in New York but he left behind stories that are still read and enjoyed by millions of people. In which order did O. Henry do the following things?
a. Lived in New York. b. Worked in a bank.
c. Travelled to Texas. d. Was put in prison.
e. Had a newspaper job. f. Learned to write stories.
| A．e, c, f, b, d, a | B．c, e, b, d, f, a |
| C．e, b, d, c, a, f | D．c, b, e, d, a, f |
People enjoyed reading O. Henry’s stories because .
| A．they had surprise endings |
| B．they were easy to understand |
| C．they showed his love for the poor |
| D．they were about New York City |
O. Henry went to prison because .
| A．people thought he had stolen money from the newspaper |
| B．he broke the law by using violence |
| C．he wanted to write stories about prisoners |
| D．people thought he had taken money that was not his |
What do we know about O. Henry before he began writing?
| A．He was well-educated. | B．He was not serious about his work. |
| C．He was devoted to the poor. | D．He loved reading. |
Where did O. Henry get most material for his short stories?
| A．His life inside the prison. |
| B．The newspaper articles he wrote. |
| C．The city and people of New York. |
| D．His exciting early life as a boy. |
Mr. Backer is a kind-hearted man. Once he gave some food to a poor woman . Mr White, the boss of the restaurant, found it and became angry. He often gave the leftovers(剩饭菜) to some poor workers. Mr. Backers lost his work for it. It was difficult for him to find work in the small country though he was an able cook. The war made all stop. Children couldn't go to school, most shops were closed, even some farmers were hungry. Some people were made to leave their houses and they had to find the safe places. It was an autumn night. Mr Backer hadn't any food to eat and went to bed, but he couldn't fall asleep, because he was very hungry . suddenly he heard a noise in his room. He saw a man looking for something useful there. He said nothing and watched it carefully. At last the man took a few old clothes out of a broken paper box and took them away. He got up from his bed quickly and followed him gently(文雅地), with his quilt on his back. The man didn't find him and went into a small and wet house. Mr. Backer also went in and saw there was nothing in the room. The thief(贼) saw him and was surprised. He asked, “What did you come here for?” “You have carried my things here,” said Mr. Backer. “I have to move here, too!”Mr White sent Mr. Backer away because .
| A．he couldn't cook |
| B．he didn't work hard |
| C．he didn't like him at all |
| D．he gave some leftovers to the poor woman |
, so the people in the small country got into trouble.
| A．The war broke out(爆发) |
| B．It didn't rain |
| C．Children couldn't go to school |
| D．Shops and factories were closed |
Mr. Backer couldn't go to sleep because.
| A．the weather was cold | B．the weather was hot |
| C．he was hungry | D．he was ill |
Mr. Backer said nothing when the thief went into his room because .
| A．he wanted to send him to the police station |
| B．there was nothing expensive there |
| C．he was afraid the man could hurt him |
| D．he hoped the man could help him |
The underlined word“quilt” in this story means .
| A．珠宝 | B．钱箱 | C．被子 | D．鞋带 |
New research shows sheep are clever
People often make jokes about how dull sheep are, but new research shows they may be cleverer than we think. Researchers at the University of Cambridge discovered that Welsh mountain sheep have brainpower that equals rodents (啮齿动物). Tests found that the sheep can map the area they live in, and some may even be able to plan ahead.
Young fish prefer noisy neighbors
A new study has shown that young fish like to live on reefs with noisy neighbors! Researchers from the universities of Auckland and Bristol found that young fish looking for a home choose areas where other noisy fish live. The scientists produced all kinds of sounds which had been recorded in different natural environments. The young fish seemed to prefer the sounds of natural reefs, complete with noisy animals! The scientists compared the choice to a music fan wandering around at a music festival, choosing to set up a tent closest to the music they like best!
Butterflies are disappearing
A new study has shown that 17 species (物种) of butterfly found in Europe have dropped by 70% in the last 20 years. The information collected from 3,000 sites across 15 countries shows it may be caused by the loss (减少) of grasslands covered with flowers. You can encourage butterflies to come into your garden by planting flowers. What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Some new studies about animals. |
| B．People’s wrong ideas about animals. |
| C．Why the number of animals has dropped. |
| D．The importance of protecting animals. |
According to the first paragraph, we may infer that sheep _____.
| A．are less clever than rodents |
| B．can find their home |
| C．can read maps |
| D．are good planners |
When young fish are looking for a home, they like to _____.
| A．live in a noisy environment |
| B．live in areas close to their parents |
| C．choose the reefs which are quiet |
| D．choose other kinds of fish as neighbors |
Which seems to have to do with the number of butterflies?
| A．The species of grass in grasslands. |
| B．The species of trees in grasslands. |
| C．The number of flowers in grasslands. |
| D．The number of animals in grasslands. |
In which part of a newspaper can we most probably read the passage?
| A．Geography. | B．Culture. | C．Travel. | D．Nature |
In the near future, we may be using our eyes to operate our smart-phones and tablets, even when it comes to playing popular games like Fruit Ninja.
The Gaze Group has been developing eye-controlled computer technology for nearly 20 years. But those devices have been firstly designed to help those with disabilities, and are very expensive.
“After a while, we figured out that probably the best way is to go for a mass-market way,” says Gaze’s Sune Alstrup Johansen. “where everybody would have this available."
Johansen and some of his colleagues have formed a new company, the Eye Tribe, which is hoping to develop the technology on a mass commercial level.
The technology works with the help of the computing device toward the user’s face. After making sure of the user’s eye movements, the technology is then able to easily find where a person’s eyes are moving, and then allow the eyes to control a cursor(光标).
“Our software can then determine the location of the eyes and know where you’re looking on the screen to make sure what you’re looking at, ” reads an explanation on the Eye Tribe site.
There has been a gradual change toward hands-free technology in recent years, particularly in the gaming world. Recently Xbox released the Kinect device, which lets users control their Xbox and play certain games using only their hands, legs and voices. But still, most of these devices have been more of a gimmick than a practical way to use one’s hands to control a mobile device. Johansen said a replaceable filter(滤光器)would be a cheap, convenient way for most consumers.
And even as companies like The Eye Tribe work to create such a product for the average user, making the eye-controlled technology more accessible and less expensive will have similar benefits for physically disabled users.
For more articles on modern science，please CLICK here．Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?
| A．An introduction of eye-controlling technology |
| B．An introduction of a new device. |
| C．An introduction of smart-phones |
| D．An introduction of a new technology for the disabled. |
The underlined word “gimmick” probably means ___________.
| A．a way | B．a trick | C．a lie | D．a dream |
According to the passage, we can learn that ___________.
| A．the eye-controlling technology was first developed for the blind |
| B．the present developing of the technology will bring no good |
| C．the eye-controlling technology is only intended for the disabled people |
| D．there is no such a phone as we can use only with our eyes at present |
This passage is probably taken from ___________.
| A．an experiment report | B．a science fiction |
| C．a science website | D．a school textbook |
Aggressive pedestrians are in fact as dangerous as careless drivers. They cause traffic accidents, injury and death. These dangerous walkers can be seen in any big city all over the world. About 69% of last year’s pedestrian deaths in the US occurred in urban areas. They cross streets ignoring “DON’T WALK” signals, suddenly appear without warning from behind parked vehicles, walk slowly at crossroads with cell phones attached to heads, blocking traffic.
These pedestrians and drivers share a common disregard for the rules of the road, both for selfish reasons. The drivers believe in the power of their machines. If their machines can go faster, they believe they have the right to go faster. If their machines are bigger, they believe they have the right to push smaller vehicles aside. Aggressive pedestrians, on the other hand, believe in the primacy(首位) of the individual, the idea that they are first in any environment, under any circumstances, even when they are on foot in a roaring tide of steel and rubber.
Last year, an estimated 5,220 pedestrians died in traffic accidents. Some 69,000 pedestrians were injured. On average, that worked out to one pedestrian killed in a traffic crash every 101 minutes, and one injured every eight minutes.
The good news is that the accident rate is dropping. For example, the number of pedestrians killed last year was 24 percent less than the number killed in traffic accidents a decade earlier. The bad news is that the basic causes of pedestrian deaths remain pretty much the same----disregard for traffic signals, inattention and crossing roads under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Alcohol, in fact, was involved in 46 percent of the traffic accidents that resulted in pedestrian deaths. Of those, 31 percent of the pedestrians were found to be drunk.
The bottom line is that the pedestrians must do more to protect their lives as well as the lives of other road users. They can start by obeying traffic signals, using marked cross-walks and calling a cab when they’ve had too much to drink.The passage is mainly about _____.
| A．what the traffic rules of the road about pedestrians were |
| B．why so many Americans were killed on roads last year |
| C．how aggressive pedestrians cause traffic accidents |
| D．who are to blame for pedestrian deaths, drunk drivers or the aggressive pedestrians |
What is the pedestrians’ selfish reason for traffic jams?
| A．They believe individuals are always first. |
| B．They know all drivers are skilled and with great care. |
| C．They think traffic rules have nothing to do with them. |
| D．They guess all vehicles will slow down at crossroads. |
What was NOT the basic cause of pedestrian deaths in the US a decade ago?
| A．Disregard for traffic signals |
| B．Paying no attention to surroundings. |
| C．Overspeeding driving. |
| D．Crossing roads drunk. |
What word can best describe the author’s attitude to the traffic accidents caused by pedestrians?
| A．Excited. | B．Cold. | C．Unconnected. | D．Concerned |