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By the end of the year, editors of New York Times have picked the 4 best books of 2019, including fiction and non-fiction. Let’s see which one will take your fancy.
Disappearing Earth
By Julia Phillips
In the first chapter of this novel, two young girls vanish, sending shock waves through a town on the edge of the remote and mysterious Kamchatka Peninsula. What follows is a novel of overlapping short stories about the different women who have been affected by their disappearance. Each tale pushes the narrative forward another month and exposes the ways in which the women of Kamchatka have been destroyed — personally, culturally and emotionally — by the crime.
No Visible Bruises
By Rachel Louise Snyder
Snyder’s thoroughly reported book covers what the World Health Organization has called “a global health problem”. In America alone, more than half of all murdered women are killed by a current or former life partner; domestic violence cuts across lines of class, religion and race. Snyder reveals pervasive myths (restraining orders are the answer, abusers never change) and writes movingly about the lives (and deaths) of people on both sides of the equation. She doesn’t give easy answers but presents a wealth of information that is its own form of hope.
Midnight in Chernobyl
By Adam Higginbotham
Higginbotham’s superb account of the April 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is one of those rare books about science and technology that read like a tension-filled thriller. Filled with vivid detail and sharply etched personalities, this narrative of astonishing incompetence moves from mistake to mistake, miscalculation to miscalculation, as it builds to the inevitable, history-changing disaster.
Exhalation
By Ted Chiang
Many of the nine deeply beautiful stories in this collection explore the material consequences of time travel. Reading them feels like sitting at dinner with a friend who explains scientific theory to you with no airs and graces. Each thoughtful, elegantly crafted story poses a philosophical question; Chiang arranges all nine into a conversation that comes full circle, after having travelled through remarkable areas.
1.Which of the following tells about the violence from a husband to a wife in a family?
A.Disappearing Earth B.No Visible Bruises
C.Midnight in Chernobyl D.Exhalation
2.How may readers feel when reading the book Midnight in Chernobyl?
A.Delighted. B.Awkward.
C.Tense. D.Calm.
3.What kind of book is Exhalation?
A.A folk tale. B.A biography.
C.A love story. D.A sci-fi story.
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On a freezing December morning Matthew Warwick, then a 20-year-old college student, climbed on the edge of Waterloo Bridge in London. That morning, Matthew escaped from a mental health hospital, where he’d been diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder. He headed straight to the bridge, convinced that his disease was a life sentence.
Hundreds of people passed by. Only one man called Alex Owen, then 25, calmly and quietly walked to Matthew’s side.
“You’re alright, man? Why are you sitting on a bridge?”
At first Matthew wanted Alex to leave him alone, but something in Alex’s calm, down-to-earth manner struck a chord. Matthew felt faith, like he could talk to him.
“It’s cold here. Why not have some coffee in a warm cafe? Everything will be OK.” For the first time after the diagnosis Matthew felt perhaps it really might. He climbed back.
The police, having received calls from passers-by, were waiting there. They quickly put him into a police car, in case he was to panic and jump. He lost sight of Alex, the person who’d brought him hope.
Matthew ended up back in hospital. Eventually, he was well enough to return to university and finish his degree. Over the next six years, Matthew often thought about the stranger who had talked him round. Eager to thank him in person, he posted a Facebook message nicknaming the good man Mike. His #Find Mike post was shared millions of times around the world, as far as Canada.
Matthew was overexcited when Alex called him two weeks after his post. They had a reunion, finally having that coffee they had first planned all those years ago.
“Many people walked past, but because of Alex’s kindness and sympathy, I’ve lived a good life.” Matthew said.
1.Why did Matthew climb up the bridge?
A.He was badly treated in the hospital. B.His disease made him lose hope.
C.He wanted to draw people’s attention. D.He studied poorly in the college.
2.What does the underlined phrase “struck a chord” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A.Touched his heart. B.Drew his attention.
C.Aroused his interest. D.Blew his mind.
3.Which of the following best describes Alex?
A.Diligent. B.Strong-willed.
C.Caring. D.Generous.
4.How did Matthew find Alex?
A.By visiting homes door-to-door. B.By calling their friends.
C.By asking the police. D.By posting a message online.
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Robert F. Kennedy once said that a country’s GDP measures “everything except what makes life worthwhile.” With Britain voting to leave the European Union, and GDP already predicted to slow as a result, it is now a timely moment to assess what he was referring to.
The question of GDP and its usefulness has annoyed policymakers for over half a century. Many argue that it is a mistaken concept. It measures things that do not matter and misses things that do. By most recent measures, the UK’s GDP has been the envy of the Western world, with record low unemployment and high growth figures. If everything was going so well, then why did over 17 million people vote for Brexit, despite the warnings about what it could do to their country’s economic prospects?
A recent annual study of countries and their ability to convert growth into well-being throws some light on that question. Across the 163 countries measured, the UK is one of the poorest performers in ensuring that economic growth is translated into meaningful improvements for its citizens. Rather than just focusing on GDP, over 40 different sets of criteria from health, education and civil society engagement have been measured to get a more all-round assessment of how countries are performing.
While all of these countries face their own challenges, there are a number of common themes. Yes, there has been an economic recovery since the 2008 global crash, but in key indicators in areas such as health and education, major economies have continued to decline. Yet this isn’t the case with all countries. Some relatively poor European countries have seen huge improvements across measures including civil society, income equality and environment.
This is a lesson that rich countries can learn: When GDP is no longer regarded as the only measure of a country’s success, the world looks very different.
So what Kennedy was referring to was that while GDP has been the most common method for measuring the economic activity of nations, as a measure, it is no longer enough. It does not include important factors such as environmental quality or education outcomes — all things that contribute to a person’s sense of well-being.
1.Robert F. Kennedy is cited because he _______.
A.praised the UK for its GDP B.identified GDP with happiness
C.misinterpreted the role of GDP D.had a low opinion of GDP
2.It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that _______.
A.the UK is unwilling to reshape its economic pattern
B.many people in the UK don’t think much of GDP as the measure of success
C.the UK will contribute less to the world economy
D.policymakers in the UK are paying less attention to GDP
3.Which of the following is true about the recent annual study?
A.Its results are inspiring. B.It is sponsored by 163 countries.
C.Its criteria are questionable. D.It removes GDP as an indicator.
4.What is the author’s attitude towards GDP as the most common measure of a country’s success?
A.Favorable. B.Indifferent.
C.Critical. D.Defensive.
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This year marks exactly two centuries since the publication of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Even before the invention of the electric light bulb, the author produced a remarkable work of fiction that would foresee many ethical(道德的) questions to be raised by technologies yet to come. Today the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) raises fundamental questions: “What is intelligence, identity, or consciousness? What makes human conscience(良知)？”
What is being called artificial general intelligence, machines that would imitate the way humans think, continues to evade(难倒) scientists. Yet humans remain fascinated by the idea of robots that would look, move, and respond like humans, similar to those recently on popular sci-fi TV series such as “West World” and “Humans”.
How people think is still far too complex to be understood, let alone reproduced, says David Eagleman, a Stanford University neuroscientist. “We are just in a situation where there are no good theories explaining what consciousness actually is and how you could ever build a machine to get there.”
But that doesn’t mean essential ethical issues involving AI aren’t at hand. The coming use of autonomous vehicles, for example, raises difficult ethical questions. Human drivers sometimes must make split-second decisions. Their reactions may be a complex combination of instant reflections, input from past driving experiences, and what their eyes and ears tell them in that moment. AI “vision” today is not nearly as complicated as that of humans. And to foresee every imaginable driving situation is a difficult programming problem.
Whenever decisions are based on masses of data, “you quickly get into a lot of ethical questions,” notes Tan Kiat How, chief executive of a Singapore-based agency that is helping the government develop a voluntary code for the ethical use of AI. Along with Singapore, other governments and mega-corporations are beginning to establish their own guidelines. Britain is setting up a data ethics center. India released its AI ethics strategy this spring.
Only when we can make sure that the thinking of intelligent machines reflects humanity’s highest values will they be useful servants and not Frankenstein’s out-of-control monster.
1.Why did the author mention Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein at the beginning of the passage?
A.Because it has remained popular for as long as 200 years.
B.Because it fascinates AI scientists all over the world.
C.Because it has sparked serious ethical controversies.
D.Because it involves some concerns raised by AI today.
2.In David Eagleman’s opinion, our current knowledge of consciousness ________
A.helps explain artificial intelligence. B.can be misleading to robot making.
C.inspires popular sci-fi TV series. D.is too limited for us to reproduce it.
3.The solution to the ethical issues brought by autonomous vehicles ________
A.can hardly ever be found. B.is still beyond our power.
C.causes little public concern. D.has aroused much curiosity.
4.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A.AI’s Future: In the Hands of Tech Giants
B.Frankenstein, the Novel Predicting the Age of AI
C.The Conscience of AI: Complex But Unavoidable
D.AI Shall Be Killers Once Out of Control
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