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Sandy got the following messages yesterday. Read them carefully and find the best answers to the questions.
1.When is Grace going to have a party?
A.This weekend. B.This Friday. C.Next weekend. D.Next Wednesday.
2.What is "the Fugitive"?
A.A book. B.A movie. C.A song. D.A ball game.
3.What did Mr. Brown most probably do for Sandy?
A.He fixed her car.
B.He wanted to buy her car.
C.He prepared dinner for her.
D.He found a new kind of dog food.
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Animals have their special ways to deal with hard times in nature. The superb fairy-wren, one kind of bright-blue bird in Australia, is one example. This year, a ten-year study showed that this small bird has eggs of different sizes in different kinds of weather. When the weather is hot and dry there is less food for young superb fairy-wrens, and they die easily. So the mother bird will make larger eggs to help her babies grow stronger inside before they break out of the eggs into the "hungry" world.
However, not all mother birds are able to do this. Only those with at least one male child can. When the weather is "good", the mother will make smaller eggs, and her sons will bring food back for their baby brothers and sisters from the eggs. With her sons' help, the mother can save more energy to make larger eggs when the weather is bad. Isn't this amazing?
1.Which is the best title of the passage?
A.The Best Place for Birds.
B.The Hard Times in Nature.
C.Larger Mother Birds Have Larger Eggs.
D.Mother Bird Fights Weather Changes.
2.What does the underlined word "this" mean in the passage?
A.Having eggs of different sizes.
B.Growing stronger inside the egg.
C.Saving food for weaker baby birds.
D.Helping baby birds break out of the eggs.
3.What can we learn about superb fairy-wrens from the passage?
A.Baby birds grow well in hot, dry weather.
B.Male birds can usually live for over ten years.
C.Young male birds share the job of feeding the baby birds.
D.Mother birds make smaller eggs when there is less food outside.
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Would you pay thousands of dollars for a painting with a face so unclear that you're not even sure it's a face? What if the artist was a computer?
A piece of artwork created mainly by a computer programme has been sold a the price $432,500—about ten times more than people expected. This painting named Edmond de Belamy, was created by artificial intelligence (AI). This means the computer now doesn't just follow us, but makes some decisions and "thinks itself".
15,000 real paintings were used by some French students to train the computer programme with two parts.
One part tries to create paintings that look real, while the other part decides if it is good. If the painting doesn't look real enough, the first part will change its decisions until it comes up with a better work.
This is not the first AI artwork just the first piece on sale. In fact, many people are not impressed with the painting. "The work isn't interesting or creative," says Robbie Barrat, who helped create the painting but doesn't like the idea of selling it. He thinks it's too simple and gives a bad idea of what real AI artists are doing.
In some other people's opinion, however, AI art is already very unusual. They hope it will be more common in the future.
Still, people who look down upon AI art shouldn't worry. Just as an AI artist, Theo Triantafyllidis says, he usually thinks of AI as a tool and not the artist. Even the best AI today is somewhere between a stupid child and a smart pet. It will grow up.
1.Edmond de Belamy was mainly created by ________.
A.a computer programme B.some French students
C.several unknown artists D.a man called Edmond
2.What does the third paragraph mainly talk about?
A.What the computer programme can do.
B.Whom the computer programme was trained by.
C.Why the painting Edmond de Belamy was created.
D.How French students train the computer programme.
3.The writer mentions Robbie Barrat in Paragraph 5 to show ________.
A.many people are impressed with the painting
B.lots of people took part in creating the painting
C.some people didn't expect the painting to be sold
D.most people thanked Robbie Barrat for his help with the painting
4.What does the writer probably think of AI?
A.It creates better art than humans.
B.It hasn't developed well enough
C.It will make many artists lose their jobs.
D.It will always be a tool used only by human artists.
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A man in Germany may not have been in danger when he called the police on a baby squirrel running after him, but it all worked out for the best for the funny suspect.
Emergency services in the city of Karlsruhe got a call on Thursday from a man afraid that the tiny animal wouldn't stop following him around. The Guardian reported. Police arrived at the scene, where the squirrel finally stopped running after him by lying down and going to sleep.
It turned out that the squirrel actually needed help, the police said. ""It often happens that squirrels which have lost their mothers look for a replacement (代营) and then focus (集中) their efforts on one person, "the police spokeswoman Christina Krenz told The Guardian.
The squirrel, now named Karl-Friedrich, is in the care of an animal center. Karlsruhe police posted a statement on Facebook about the animal, including several lovely photos.
The baby squirrel chase is the second squirrel event to make international headlines this summer. Last month, a London woman called police after she heard loud noises in her home and suspected a burglar. The intruder turned out to be a squirrel, according to the police who came for help.
Although the government in the German case said the squirrel did need help, wildlife experts warn that before intervening (介入) in the case where you suspect a squirrel is orphaned (孤儿的),you should do your best to make sure the animal truly requires help. The Wildlife Centre of Virginia, which gets hundreds of calls every year about supposedly orphaned squirrels, published this handy guide to help decide whether such an animal really needs help and what to do if so. When in doubt, contact a local wildlife rescuer or animal center.
1.Karl-Friedrich in the passage turns out to be ________.
A.a policewoman B.a little squirrel
C.a guide in Virginia D.a woman from London
2.What does the underlined part "The intruder" in Paragraph5 mean?
A.A wildlife expert. B.A brave policeman.
C.A woman suspect. D.An unpopular visitor.
3.Why did the baby squirrel run after the man?
A.The man gave food to it.
B.It wanted to bite the man.
C.The man would take it to the animal center.
D.It needed the replacement for the loss of its mother.
4.What can we get from the wildlife experts' words?
A.People should find out if the squirrels truly need help.
B.The police should punish the people who hunt the squirrels.
C.The government should made laws to protect the squirrels.
D.The animal center needs enough money to carry on with their work.
5.Which part of a newspaper may this passage come from?
A.Environment. B.Geography. C.Pet raising. D.Sports News.
