Scientists in the U.S. have created an artifi...

Scientists in the U.S. have created an artificial sunflower less than 0. 04 inches wide that can bend towards a light source and harvest solar energy. The flowers were found to be about 400 percent more efficient than other equipment, making them promising technology for solar power potentially even as a power source for solar-based spaceships.

The team, led by researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, was looking to improve. the efficiency of solar cells by modeling after a feature of nature-phototropism. This is where a plant adjusts itself to face the sun, getting the most amount of energy it can get. In a study published in Nature Nanotechnology, the team said it was a ''big challenge''.

However, this problem has now been overcome. The team has developed a polymer(聚合物) that is responsive to being simulated by light, The system, which they have named SunBOT for short, is able to instantly explore and track a light source. It can do this across a range of temperatures without power supply or any human intervention.

The researchers used the polymer to create a ''stem''. Then they placed a material commonly used in solar cells on its top, representing the ''flower''. When the team shone a light at the SunBOTs, the polymer began heating up and shrinking, causing the stem to bend so the flower faced the light.

The researchers tested their artificial sunflowers to see how efficient they were at harvesting solar energy Findings showed they were up to 400 percent more effective than non-phototrophic materials.

The practical applications of SunBOTs are some way off. The study shows a proof of concept, but the technology will need to be scaled up to be used commercially. However, the team is confident it could one day be used a across a broad range of industries.

This work may be useful for solar harvesters signal revere smart windows, self-contained robotics solar sails for spaceships and intelligent energy generation (for example, solar cells and biofuels), the scientific team said.

1.Why do the scientists create the artificial sunflower?

A.To prevent pollution. B.To protect sunflowers.

C.To reuse green energy. D.To warn us of the energy crisis.

2.What can we learn about SunBOTs?

A.SunBOTs are likely to be too limited in future use.

B.There is some time before SunBOTs are put into markets.

C.Scientists are still not sure of the function of SunBOTs.

D.SunBOTts are not efficient, though advanced, in collecting energy.

3.Where can we read such a text?

A.In an education report. B.In a market report.

C.In an experiment report. D.In a science report.

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Artificial flesh is growing ever closer to the real thing. Scientists in Australia have now created a new jelly-like material which they claim has the strength and lasting usage of actual skin, ligaments(韧带）,or even bone.

“With the special chemistry we’ve engineered in the hydrogel(水凝胶）,it can repair itself after it has been broken like human skin can,” explains chemist Luke Connal from the Australian National University. “Hydrogels are usually weak, but our material is so strong it could easily lift very heavy objects and can change its shape like human muscles do.”

Having a wet and soft material with such remarkable properties could be very important for the development of next-generation soft robotics and biomedical devices. Creating a shape-changing hydrogel that has multiple functions has proved an ongoing challenge for scientists, even with natural inspiration from sea creatures, such as jellyfish, sea cucumbers, and Venus fly traps.

While some hydrogels can withstand mechanical stress, others have self-healing properties, and a few more have the abilities to memorize shapes or change colours. As far as the ANU researchers know, no one else has been able to incorporate all these functions into one all-encompassing gel. At least, not at the speed and efficiency they’ve achieved.

Using this material, the researchers made extremely thin films of “flesh” without any breakage.

When these films were heated or cooled, they then changed into different shapes, bending one way or the other before returning back to their original state along with the temperature. If temperature is somehow used as a control, the authors think this gel could one day be moved like an artificial muscle. Researchers are trying to modify their temperature control technology accordingly and make a significant step towards turning this hydrogel into practical use.

1.What do you know about the new material according to the text?

A.It looks like the jelly and functions like the robot.

B.It can be easily repaired by scientists after being broken.

C.It is likely to be the most multifunctional hydrogel at present.

D.It can hardly go back to its original shape after heated or cooled.

2.What is the author’s attitude towards the future of the dynamic hydrogel?

A.Indifferent.

B.Neutral.

C.Negative.

D.Positive.

3.What is the best title for the text?

A.Getting scientific inspiration from nature.

B.Lifting heavy objects by dynamic hydrogels.

C.Creating a new kind of flesh with chemistry.

D.Enabling artificial robots to heal themselves.

4.What will the author most probably talk about in the following paragraph?

A.The characters of artificial flesh.

B.The creation of the dynamic hydrogel.

C.The shapes and colors of artificial flesh.

D.The application of the dynamic hydrogel.

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Scientists in UK have grown a living human "brain". The team at Aston University created tiny bunch of cells which act like a mini nervous system.

They believe it could help find a cure for worse mental conditions like Parkinson’s disease. Professor Michael Coleman is leading the research program. He explained, "We are aiming to be able to study the human brain at the most basic level, using an actual living human cell system. Cells have to be alive and operating efficiently to enable us to really understand how the brain works. "The experiment involves changing cells from a cancer tumour (肿瘤）and making them behave like brain cells.

Although far from finished, researchers hope the false brain cells will give them a greater understanding of how real brains work. This, in turn, could significantly further research into conditions which affect the brain. Neil Hunt, chief leader of the research group, said, "It is still very early days, but in the future the research could lead to a useful tool for looking into dementia (痴呆)."

The technique could also provide a way to carry on animal test and is being supported by the Humane Research Trust (HRT). The scientists predict that over the next ten years a million people will develop dementia. Professor Coleman believes their findings could change this. He said，"We hope our research will provide scientists with a new and highly relational human experimental model to help them understand the brain better and develop new drugs to control the related disease. However, the biggest challenge at present is that we are greatly short of fund, which will slow our research."

1.UK scientists grow a living human "brain" in order to ______.

A. study the structure of human brain         B. make use of living human cell system

C. discover how human brain really works     D. separate cells from a cancer tumour

2. According to Neil Hunt, research into brain cells ______.

A. will get finished as early as possible        B. will make people discover dementia

C. will affect the brain growth in many ways

D. will help to treat some diseases in nerve system

3. From the last paragraph，we can know that ______

A. the technique provided by HRT is immature

B. animal tests are no longer allowed by law

C. a million people suffer from brain diseases

D. the research program lacks financial support

4. The text is intended to ______.

A. tell us about a breakthrough in medical research

B. introduce a research program in human's brain

C. introduce the progress of drugs for dementia

D. tell us about health problem in nerve system

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists in UK have grown a living human "brain". The team at Aston University created tiny bunch of cells which act like a mini nervous system.

They believe it could help find a cure for worse mental conditions like Parkinson’s disease. Professor Michael Coleman is leading the research program. He explained, "We are aiming to be able to study the human brain at the most basic level, using an actual living human cell system. Cells have to be alive and operating efficiently to enable us to really understand how the brain works. "The experiment involves changing cells from a cancer tumour (肿瘤）and making them behave like brain cells.

Although far from finished, researchers hope the false brain cells will give them a greater understanding of how real brains work. This, in turn, could significantly further research into conditions which affect the brain. Neil Hunt, chief leader of the research group, said, "It is still very early days, but in the future the research could lead to a useful tool for looking into dementia (痴呆)."

The technique could also provide a way to carry on animal test and is being supported by the Humane Research Trust (HRT). The scientists predict that over the next ten years a million people will develop dementia. Professor Coleman believes their findings could change this. He said，"We hope our research will provide scientists with a new and highly relational human experimental model to help them understand the brain better and develop new drugs to control the related disease. However, the biggest challenge at present is that we are greatly short of fund, which will slow our research."

1.UK scientists grow a living human "brain" in order to ______.

A. study the structure of human brain

B. make use of living human cell system

C. discover how human brain really works

D. separate cells from a cancer tumour

2.According to Neil Hunt, research into brain cells ______.

A. will get finished as early as possible

B. will make people discover dementia

C. will affect the brain growth in many ways

D. will help to treat some diseases in nerve system

3.From the last paragraph，we can know that ______

A. the technique provided by HRT is immature

B. animal tests are no longer allowed by law

C. a million people suffer from brain diseases

D. the research program lacks financial support

4.The text is intended to ______.

A. tell us about a breakthrough in medical research

B. introduce a research program in human's brain

C. introduce the progress of drugs for dementia

D. tell us about health problem in nerve system

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The AlphaGo program’s victory is an example of how smart computers have become.

But can artificial intelligence (AI) machines act ethically, meaning can they be honest and fair?

One example of AI is driverless cars. They are already on California roads, so it is not too soon to ask whether we can program a machine to act ethically. As driverless cars improve, they will save lives. They will make fewer mistakes than human drivers do. Sometimes, however, they will face a choice between lives. Should the cars be programmed to avoid hitting a child running across the road, even if that will put their passengers at risk? What about making a sudden turn to avoid a dog? What if the only risk is damage to the car itself, not to the passengers?

Perhaps there will be lessons to learn from driverless cars, but they are not super-intelligent beings. Teaching ethics to a machine even more intelligent than we are will be the bigger challenge.

About the same time as AlphaGo’s triumph, Microsoft’s ‘chatbot’ took a bad turn. The software, named Taylor, was designed to answer messages from people aged 18-24. Taylor was supposed to be able to learn from the messages she received. She was designed to slowly improve her ability to handle conversations, but some people were teaching Taylor racist ideas. When she started saying nice things about Hitler, Microsoft turned her off and deleted her ugliest messages.

AlphaGo’s victory and Taylor’s defeat happened at about the same time. This should be a warning to us. It is one thing to use AI within a game with clear rules and clear goals. It is something very different to use AI in the real world. The unpredictability of the real world may bring to the surface a troubling software problem.

Eric Schmidt is one of the bosses of Google, which own AlphaGo. He thinks AI will be positive for humans. He said people will be the winner, whatever the outcome. Advances in AI will make human beings smarter, more able and “just better human beings.”

1.What does the author want to show with the example of AlphaGo’s victory?

A.Computers will prevail(战胜) over human beings. B.Computers have unmatched potential.

C.Computers are man’s potential rivals. D.Computers can become highly intelligent.

2.What does the author mean by AI machines acting ethically?

A.They are capable of predicting possible risks.

B.They weigh the gains and losses before reaching a decision.

C.They make sensible decisions when facing moral dilemmas.

D.They sacrifice everything to save human lives.

3.What is said to be the bigger challenge facing humans in the AI age?

A.How to make super-intelligent AI machines share human feelings.

B.How to ensure that super-intelligent AI machines act ethically.

C.How to prevent AI machines doing harm to humans.

D.How to avoid being over-dependent on AI machines.

4.What do we learn about Microsoft’s ‘chatbot’ Taylor?

A.She could not distinguish good from bad. B.She could turn herself off when necessary.

C.She was not made to handle novel situations. D.She was good at performing routine tasks.

5.What does Eric Schmidt think of artificial intelligence?

A.It will be far superior to human beings. B.It will keep improving as time goes by.

C.It will prove to be valuable to human beings. D.It will be here to stay whatever the outcome.

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Scientists at the University of Oxford have developed new artificial intelligence(AI) software to recognize and follow up the faces of chimpanzees(黑猩猩)in the wild. The new software will allow researchers and wildlife conservationists to significantly cut back on time spent analyzing videos, according to the new paper published in Science Advances.

For species(物种)like chimpanzees, which have complex social lives and live for many years，getting photos of their behavior taken from short-term field research can only tell us so much，” says Dan Schofield， researcher and DPhil student at Oxford University’s Private Models Lab, School of Anthropology. “By taking advantage of the power of machine learning to unlock large video files , it makes it possible to measure behavior over the long term. ’’

The computer model was trained using over 10 million images(影像):from Kyoto University s Primate Research Institute(PRI) video files of wild chimpanzees in Guinea,West Africa. The new software is the first to continuously track and recognize individual a wide range of poses, performing with high accuracy in difficult conditions such as low lighting and poor image quality.

“Access to this large video file has allowed us to use deep neural networks to train models to a degree that was previously not possible,” says Arsha Nagrad, co-auther of the study and DPhil student at the Department of Engineer Science ,University of Oxford .” Additionally, our new software differs from previous primate face recognition software in that it can be applied to videos with limited manual intervention(人工干预)，saving hours of time. ”

The technology can be potentially used to monitor species for conservation Although the present application focuses on chimpanzees, the AI software provided will be applied to other species, and help drive the adoption of AI systems to solve(解决)a range of problems in the wildlife sciences.

1.What is the purpose of developing the new soft?

A.To save wildlife researchers’ time spent in the labs.

B.To keep track of wildlife conservationists' behaviors.

C.To protect chimpanzees and help them to live longer .

D.To recognize and track the faces of wild chimpanzees.

2.What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A.Getting photos. B.Analyzing videos.

C.A powerful machine D.The new AI software.

3.What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A.The working principle of the new software. B.Some limitations of using the new software.

C.The unique advantages of the new software. D.Controversial attitudes to the new software.

4.What can be known from the last paragraph?

A.Technology advance is the final goal of science

B.The new software won’t just be applied to chimpanzees.

C.AI systems are widely used in the wildlife sciences.

D.The application of the new technology isn’t easy.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists at the University of Oxford have developed new artificial intelligence (AI) software to recognize and follow up the faces of individual chimpanzees (黑猩猩) in the wild. The new software will allow researcher and wildlife conservationists to greatly cut back on time spent analyzing videos, according to the new paper published today in Science Advances.

“For species like chimpanzees, which have complex social lives and live for many years, getting photos of their behavior from short-term field research can only tell us so much.” says Dan Sehofield, researcher and DPhil student at Oxford University’s Primate Models Lab, School of Anthropology. “By taking advantage of the power of machine learning to unlock large video files, it makes it possible to measure behavior over the long term.”

The computers model was trained using over 10 million images (影像) from Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute (PRI) video files of wild chimpanzees in Guinea, West Africa. The new software is the first to continuously track and recognize individuals in a wide range of posed, performing with high accuracy in difficult conditions such as low lighting and poor image quality.

“Access to this large video file has allowed us to use the newest deep neural networks to train models at a scale that was previously not possible,” says Arsha Nagrani, co-author of the study and DPhil student at the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford. “Additionally, our new software differs from previous primate face recognition software in that it can be applied to raw videos with limited manual intervention (人工干预) or pre-processing, saving hours of time.”

The technology has potential for many uses, such as monitoring species for conservation. Although the present application focused on chimpanzees, the software provided could be applied to other species, and help drive the adoption of AI systems to solve a range of problems in the wildlife sciences.

1.What’s the purpose of developing the new software?

A.To save wildlife researchers’ time spent in the wild.

B.To keep track of wildlife conservationists’ behavior.

C.To protect chimpanzees and help them to live longer.

D.To recognize and track the faces of wild chimpanzees.

2.What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A.Getting photos. B.Analyzing videos.

C.The new AI software. D.A powerful machine.

3.What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A.The unique advantages of the new software.

B.Some limitations of using the new software.

C.The working principles of the new software.

D.Controversial attitudes to the new software.

4.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A.The new software has a quite bright future.

B.The application of the technology can be tough.

C.Technology is the final goal of scientific research.

D.AI systems are widely used in the wildlife sciences.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Do you love hamburgers? Do you how they were created?

The first hamburgers in U.S. history were served in New Haven, Connecticut, at Louis’ Lunch sandwich shop in 1895. Louis Lassen, founder of Louis’ Lunch, ran a small lunch wagon selling steak sandwiches to local factory workers. Because he didn’t like to waste the excess beef from his daily lunch rush, he ground it up, grilled it, and served it between two slice of bread—and thus America’s first hamburger was created.

The small Crown Street restaurant is still owned and operated by the third and fourth generations of the Lassen family. Hamburgers are still the specialty of the house, where steak is ground fresh each day and hand molded, slow cooked, broiled vertically, and served between two slices of toast with your choice of only three “acceptable” garnishes: cheese, tomato, and onion.

Want ketchup or mustard? Forget it. You will be told “no” in no uncertain terms. This is the home of the greatest hamburger in the world, claim the owners, who are perhaps best known for allowing their customers to have a burger the Lassen way or not at all.

1.Why did Louis Lassen start making hamburgers?

A. Because he didn’t want to waste excess beef.

B. Because he wanted to earn more money.

C. Because he would like to make something special.

D. Because he was the founder of Louis’ Lunch.

2.Which of the following is not available for customers to choose from at Louis Lunch?

A. Cheese.　　　　 　　 B. Tomato.

C. Mustard.　　　　　　 D. Onion.

3.What does the underlined words “Crown Street restaurant” in the third paragraph refer to?

A. A restaurant on the Crown Street.

B. A restaurant called Crown Street.

C. Louis’ Lunch sandwich shop.

D. A new chain shop of Louis’ Lunch on Crown Street.

4. The best title of this article is________.

A. The Creation of hamburgers

B. Louis’ Lunch

C. A king of fast-food----Hamburgers

D. Why People Love Hamburgers

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists have created the world's smallest "snowman",_____ about a fifth of the width of a human hair．

A．measures    B．measuring   C．measured     D．to measure

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists have created a way to control a robot with signals from human brain.By generating the proper brainwaves—picked up by a cap with electrodes (电极) that sense the signals and reflect a person’s instructions—scientists can instruct a humanoid(类人的) robot to move to specific locations and pick up certain objects.

The commands are limited to moving forward，picking up one of two objects and bringing it to one of two locations.The researchers have achieved 94 percent accuracy between the thought commands and the robot’s movements.

“This is really a proof­of­concept demonstration，” said Rajesh Rao，a researcher from the University of Washington who leads the project.“It suggests that one day we might be able to use semi­autonomous robots for such jobs as helping disabled people or performing routine tasks in a person’s home.”

The person wearing the electrode cap watches the robot’s movements on a computer screen through two cameras installed on and above the robot.

When the robot’s cameras see the objects that are to be picked up they pass on the information to the user’s computer screen.Each object lights up randomly on the computer screen.When a person wants something picked up and it happens to light up，the brain registers surprise and sends this brain activity to the computer and then to the robot.The robot then proceeds to pick up the object.

A similar algorithm(计算程序) is used to decide where the robot will go.

“One of the important things about this demonstration is that we’re using a ‘noisy’ brain signal to control the robot，” Rao said.“That means we can only obtain brain signals indirectly from sensors on the surface of the head，not where they are generated deep in the brain.As a result，the user can only generate high­level commands such as indicating which object to pick up or which location to go to，and the robot needs to be autonomous enough to be able to execute such commands.”

In the future，the researchers hope to make the robots more adaptive to the environment by having them carry out more complex commands.

1.What is special about the robot introduced in the passage?

A．It is controlled by human thoughts.

B．It can be made humanoid.

C．It can be used to help the disabled.

D．It has high intelligence itself.

2.Which of the following is TRUE about the robot?

A．It can move forward and backward and pick up two objects at the same time.

B．It can move forward，pick up both objects and bring them to either location.

C．It can only move forward，pick up one object and put it in one location.

D．It can read all human thought demands and do as instructed.

3.What Rao said suggests that the new robot________.

A．is still at its early stage of development

B．will be widely used in our daily routine soon

C．is autonomous enough to complete complex commands

D．is only limited to doing routine work at home

4.The sixth paragraph mainly describes ________.

A．how the robot reacts to a person’s instructions

B．how the robot picks up the right object

C．the functions of the computer

D．how the robot finds out where to go

5.The underlined word “registers” in the passage can be best replaced by “________”．

A．receives　 B．shows　　 C．writes down　 　 D．picks up

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析