Imagine shopping for clothes online and being able to run your hand across the screen of your computer or smartphone to feel the materials. That kind of simulation (仿真) technology could be available within the next five years.
“We’re talking about reinventing how computers interact （互动）with humans,” said Bernie Meyerson, IBM Vice President. Extending our sense of touch is one of the innovations (创新) IBM believes will change the world in the next five years, according to the company’s annual “Five in Five” list.
Smart machines will also be able to listen to the environment and highlight （强调；突出）the sounds we care about most. For instance, an advanced speech recognition system will tell new parents why their baby is crying. This kind of thing is not possible today, but with an advanced enough system, it’s actually possible.
In the near future, personal computers will be able to do more than recognize images and visual data. Their built-in cameras will be able to analyze features such as colors, and understand the meaning of visual media, such as knowing how to sort family photos.
Smart machines will also be able to smell. If you sneeze on your computer or cellphone, tiny sensors (传感器) in the machine will be able to analyze thousands of molecules (分子) in your breath. “It can give you an alarm and says, ‘Hey, you are probably sick, go to see your doctor immediately,’” Meyerson says.
Mark Maloo is a computer science professor from Georgetown University. He hopes the advances will encourage more students to study science, technology, engineering and math, preparing them to play a role in future innovations. He believes there’s little doubt that advances in computer technology over the next five years will make what now seems like science fiction a part of our everyday lives.The purpose of the text is to show us
| A．how smart machines will replace humans |
| B．what our lives will be like in the future |
| C．how to go shopping on the Internet |
| D．why IBM wants to invent these smart machines |
In the future, if you buy clothes online, you may .
| A．feel the materials of the clothes by touching the screen |
| B．ask your computer to give you some advice |
| C．ask your computer to make the decision for you |
| D．save a lot of money by using a smartphone |
How will a smart machine figure out that you are probably sick?
| A．By analyzing the thousands of molecules in your breath. |
| B．By analyzing your comments about your body condition. |
| C．By referring your condition to doctors. |
| D．By asking you to describe how you feel. |
America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness (礼貌) to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite (相反) of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily activities. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
| B．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
| C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
| D．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.
| A．treated hospitably at his home |
| B．offered a ride to his home |
| C．warmly welcomed at the airport |
| D．treated to dinner in a restaurant |
The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.
| A．strict with time | B．serious with time |
| C．willing to spend time | D．careful with time |
A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.
| A．Friendships between Chinese |
| B．Friendships between Americans |
| C．Americans’ hospitality |
| D．Americans’ and Chinese’s opinions of friendships |
A few months ago I was at a bus stop in town in the evening. The bus came on time and I took the window seat. The bus was travelling by the seashore and I was enjoying the soft wind while watching the sea waves (海浪). After a few minutes the bus made its next stop. A young boy and a girl got on. They were standing on my left when the bus pulled off. I looked at them in surprise and realized that all the window seats were taken up. They could sit but not together. Suddenly a different wave passed through my body and my inner mind gave me the advice to get up. I got up and offered them my seat. The young lady smiled kindly and said thanks. I took another seat and we parted our ways. I don’t remember whether I got off the bus before them or not.
Months passed by. Suddenly one day while I was standing at the same bus stop waiting some time for the bus to arrive I heard a voice.
“Excuse me, Uncle.” I looked in the direction of the voice. It was a beautiful young lady.
Puzzled, I said, “I do not recognize you.”
She said, “Do you remember you gave us your window seat?”
Puzzled, I said, “Maybe, but what is so great in that?”
She said, “If you had not given your seat that day, perhaps I would have not sat with my friend. By sitting together it helped us bridge a misunderstanding that had been between us forever. Do you know we are getting married next month?”
“Good! God bless both of you,” I replied.
The young lady again said thank you and went on her journey. I realized the importance of giving that day.Why were the young boy and the girl standing on the bus?
| A．Because they couldn’t sit together. |
| B．Because they wanted to enjoy the sea weaves. |
| C．Because there were no empty seats. |
| D．Because they preferred to stand. |
The underlined sentence in the first paragraph probably means that the author had a feeling that ______.
| A．the sea wave made him upset |
| B．he wanted to do something special |
| C．a wave from the sea passed by him |
| D．he wanted to make a sea wave in his heart |
The author’s act of kindness helped the young boy and the girl ______.
| A．begin to talk to each other again after a time of silence |
| B．sit together and become friends very soon |
| C．know each other and get married |
| D．clear up a misunderstanding between them |
From the story, we can know that ______.
| A．small things can create great happenings in life |
| B．giving is more important than receiving |
| C．offering one’s seat to others will lead to a marriage |
| D．we sometimes forget what happened in the past |
The word “conservation” has a thrifty meaning. To conserve is to save and protect, to leave what we ourselves enjoy in such a good condition that others may also share the enjoyment. Our forefathers had no idea that human population would increase faster than the supplies of raw materials: most of them, even until very recently, had the foolish idea that the treasures were “limitless” and could “last forever”. Most of the citizens of earlier generations knew little or nothing about the complicated and delicate system that runs all through nature, and which means that, as in a living body, an unhealthy condition of one part will sooner or later be harmful to all the others.
Fifty years ago, nature study was not part of school work; scientific forestry was a new idea; wood was still cheap because it could be brought in any quantity from distant woodlands; soil destruction and river floods were not national problems; nobody had yet studied long-term climatic cycles in relation to proper land use; even the word “conservation” had nothing of the meaning that it has for us today.
For the sake of ourselves and those who will come after us, we must now set about correcting the mistakes of our forefathers. Conservation should be made part of everybody's daily life. To know about the water table (水位) in ground is just as important to us as a knowledge of the basic math formulas(公式). We need to know why all watersheds (上游集水区) need the protection of plant life and why the running current of streams and rivers must be made to give their full benefit to the soil before they finally escape to the sea. We need to be taught the duty of planting trees as well as of cutting them. We need to know the importance of big, grown trees, because living space for most of man's fellow creatures on this planet is figured not only in square measure of surface but also in cubic（立方体的） volume above the earth. In a word, it should be our goal to restore as much of the original beauty of nature as we can.The author's attitude towards the use of natural resources is_________.
| A．positive | B．uninterested | C．optimistic | D．critical |
According to the author, the greatest mistake of our forefathers was that________.
| A．they had no idea about scientific forestry |
| B．they had little or no sense of environmental protection |
| C．they were not aware of the importance of nature study |
| D．they had no idea of how to make good use of raw materials |
To avoid repeating the mistakes of our forefathers, the author suggests that ________.
| A．we plant more trees |
| B．natural sciences be taught to everybody |
| C．environmental education be given to everybody |
| D．we return to nature |
How can you understand the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?
| A．Our living space on the earth is getting smaller and smaller. |
| B．Our living space should be measured in cubic volume. |
| C．We need to take some measures to protect space. |
| D．We must preserve good living condition for both birds and animals. |
Students and Technology in the Classroom
I love my blackberry — it’s my little connection to the larger world that can go anywhere with me. I also love my laptop computer，as it holds all of my writing and thoughts. Despite this love of technology, I know that there are times when I need to move away from these devices（设备）and truly communicate with others.
On occasion, I teach a course called History Matters for a group of higher education managers. My goals for the class include a full discussion of historical themes and ideas. Because I want students to thoroughly study the material and exchange their ideas with each other in the classroom, I have a rule — no laptop, iPads, phones ,etc .When students were told my rule in advance of the class, some of them were not happy.
Most students assume that my reasons for this rule include unpleasant experiences in the past with students misusing technology. There’s a bit of truth to that. Some students assume that I am anti-technology. There’s no truth in that at all. I love technology and try to keep up with it so I can relate to my students.
The real reason why I ask students to leave technology at the door is that I think there are very few places in which we can have deep conversions and truly engage complex ideas. Interruptions by technology often break concentration and allow for too much dependence on outside information for ideas. I want students to dig deep within themselves for inspiration and ideas. I want them to push each other to think differently and make connections between the course the material and the class discussion.
I’ve been teaching my history class in this way for many years and the evaluations reflect student satisfaction with the environment that I create. Students realize that with deep conversation and challenge, they learn at a level that helps them keep the course material beyond the classroom.
I’m not saying that I won’t ever change my mind about technology use in my history class, but until I hear a really good reason for the change, I’m sticking to my plan. A few hours of technology-free dialogue is just too sweet to give up.Some of the students in the history class were unhappy with _______.
| A．the course material |
| B．others’ misuse of technology |
| C．discussion topics |
| D．the author’s class regulations |
The underlined word “engage ”in paragraph 4 probably means _______.
| A．explore | B．accept | C．change | D．reject |
According to the author, the use of technology in the classroom may _______.
| A．keep students from doing independent thinking |
| B．encourage students to have in-depth conversations |
| C．help students to better understand complex themes |
| D．affect students’ concentration on course evaluation |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that the author _______.
| A．is quite stubborn |
| B．will give up teaching history |
| C．will change his teaching plan soon |
| D．values technology-free dialogues in his class |
Until recently, women in advertisements wore one of three things — an apron, an attractive dress or a frown. Although that is now changing, many women still feel angry about offending advertisements. “This ad degrades women.” they protested（抗议）.Why does this sort of advertising exist? How can advertisers and ad agencies still produce, sometimes, after months of research, advertising that offends the consumer?
The ASA, the body which deals with complaints about print media, is carrying out research into how women feel about the way they are pictured in advertisements. Its conclusions are likely to be what the advertising industry already knows: although women are often annoyed by the ads, few feel strong enough to complain.
Women are not the only victims of poor and boring stereotypes（老套）— in many TV commercials men are seen either as useless, childish fools who are unable to perform the simplest household tasks, or as inconsiderate fellows, always on the lookout for an escape to the pub. But it is women who seem to suffer more from the industry’s inability to put people into an authentic present-day situation. Yet according to Emma Bennett, director of a London advertising agency, women are not aggressive or extremely angry about those stereotypes and sexist （歧视妇女）advertising. “They just find it annoying or tiresome.”
She says that it is not advertising’s use of the housewife role that bothers women, but the way in which it is handled. “The most important thing is the advertisement’s tone of voice. Women hate being insincerely praised or given desperately down-to-earth common-sense advice.”
In the end, the responsibility for good advertising must be shared between the advertiser, the advertising agency and the consumer. Advertising does not set trends but it reflects them. It is up to the consumer to tell advertisers where they fail, and the process of change will remain slow until people on the receiving end take the business seriously and make their –feelings known.Despite recent changes in attitudes, some advertisements still fail to.
| A．change women’s opinions of themselves |
| B．show any understanding of consumers’ feelings |
| C．persuade the public to buy certain products |
| D．meet the needs of the advertising industry |
According to the writer, the commonest fault of present-day advertising is to.
| A．condemn the role of the housewife |
| B．ignore protests about advertisements |
| C．present a misleading image of women |
| D．picture the activities of men wrongly |
Emma Bennett suggests that advertisement ought to.
| A．give further emphasis to practical advice |
| B．change their style rather than their content |
| C．use male images instead of female ones |
| D．sing higher praise for women than before |
We can learn from the passage that advertising industry should.
| A．take its job more eagerly |
| B．do more pioneering work |
| C．take notice of the public opinion |
| D．concentrate on the products advertised |