Instant Expert: Artificial IntelligenceLike i...

Instant Expert: Artificial Intelligence

Like it or not, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is starting to influence your life. Machines that have learned how to perform a task-or a huge range of tasks-better than humans are proving to be an invaluable resource. Join our speakers on a journey through the fascinating world of AI and give your own intelligence and instant upgrade.

Speakers:

Michael Veale, Lecturer in digital rights and regulation at University College London

Nello Cristianini, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Bristol

Lydia Nicholls, Researcher and writer

Helmut Hauser, Senior Lecturer in Robotics at the University of Bristol

Aleksandra Berditchevskaia, Nesta Senior Researcher at the Center for Collective Intelligence

Benefits of attending:

Become an expert one day

Open your mind, be inspired

What's included in your ticket:

In depth talks from leading AI researchers

Ask-an-expert Question Time session

Sandwich lunch, plus morning and afternoon refreshments

Exclusive Instant Expert certificate

Exclusive New Scientist subscription deal

Book information:

The event will be held in the Knowledge Center Auditorium, the British Library

Doors will be open at 9:15 am, with talks starting at 10 am as sharp. The event will finish at 5pm.

The schedule/exact running order for the day will be confirmed closed to the event, and will

be emailed to all ticket holders.

Should you require details about disabled access, please contact us at: live@newscientist.com.

Tickets:

Early bird: Save ￡ 20

Standard ticket:￡ 149

Student ticket:￡　 99-Limited Availability

1.The attraction of the event lies in the fact that it_

A.Provides three hot meals

B.gifts one copy of Lydia Nicholls' book

C.gives magazine subscribers free services

D.arranges particular interaction with experts

2.How much should a farther pay if he buys tickets for himself and his 15-year-old daughter?

A.￡ 119 B.￡ 169

C.￡ 288 D.￡ 248

3.The purpose of the passage is to

A.try to persuade us to enjoy AI

B.tell us about the influence of Al

C.attract us to join in an event of AI

D.inform us of the information about AI

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Robots writing newspapers

Whether it’s robots working as hotel receptionists or artificial intelligence creating poetry, it’s becoming more and more common to read about technology doing the jobs of humans.

And now, it seems that software is even capable of writing news stories –such as the very one you’re reading.

Recently the Press Association (PA), a UK news service, has created a computer program that’s capable of creating articles that are almost impossible to tell apart from those written by human journalists.

Called “robo-journalism”, such software “teaches” itself by analyzing thousands of news stories written by humans. The PA’s software is already so advanced that many UK newspapers and websites publish articles created by it.

According to the Reuters Institute of Journalism, many publishers are using robo-journalism to release interesting information quickly, from election results to official figures on social issues. For example, The Washington Post has its own robo-journalism software, Heliograf. Heliograf “wrote “over 850 articles in 2017, as well as hundreds of social media posts.

So what does this mean for regular journalists?

“We’re naturally wary about any technology that could replace human beings,” Fredrick Kunkle, a Washington Post reporter, told Wired.

“But this technology seems to have taken over only some of the work that nobody else wants to do.” “Indeed, it appears that robo-journalism software is designed to help humans, rather than take away their jobs.

“In the future, Heliograf could do things like search the web to see what people are talking about, check The Washington Post to see if that story is being covered, and, if not, alert(提醒) editors or just write the piece itself.” Wired reporter Joe Keoha wrote.

However, Joshua Benton at Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab believes that while robo-jounalism is undoubtedly going to become more present in newsrooms, nothing can replace traditional human creativity.

“Good journalism is not just a matter of inputs and outputs, it is a craft(技艺) that has developed over decades, “ he told BBC News. “The really difficult part of what professional journalists do----carefully weighing information and presenting balanced, contextualized(全景式的) stories ----will be very hard for machines to master.

1.What is the article mainly about?

A. Describling the first robo-journalism soft ware.

B. The introductions of robo-journalism and its strengths and weaknesses.

C. A comparison of news reports written by humans and robots.

D. A predictin of what will happen with robo-journalism in the future.

2.What message does Heliograf convey about robo-journalism software?

A. It has played a major role in news reporting.

B. It can help and cooperate with human journalists.

C. It can create news reports in a style better than that of humans.

D. It is a threat to regular journalists and their careers.

3.The underlined word “wary” has the closest meaning to ________.

A. guilty　　 B. annoyed　　 C. confident　　 D. cautious

4.What does Joshua Benton think the future of human journalists is?

A. They will be replaced by robots in the near future.

B. They will need to be more professional in information input and output.

C. They will need to focus more on their creativity in writing.

D. They will have to learn news reporting from robots.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Not only 　　　　 with your phone, but you can use it to send e-mails, chat on instant messenger, listen to music and even watch television.

A. you can take pictures　　 B. can take pictures you

C. can take you pictures　　 D. can you take pictures

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

When people lose legs after accidents or illnesses, emergency care and artificial limbs（假肢）often allow them to walk again. Newts （蝾螈） in the same situation, on the other hand, can grow limbs back on their own! Scientists have known for a long time that certain animals can re-grow limbs, but they haven’t quite figured out how these creatures do it.

Researchers have now come up with some new ideas. Their work may give people the ability to re-grow lost limbs. The researchers started with two simple experiments：when you cut a newt’s leg at the ankle, only the foot grows back；when you cut off a leg at the very end, the whole leg grows back. In both cases, the re-growth begins with stem cells. Stem cells can develop into nearly any type of cell in the body.

How do a newt’s stem cells know when to grow only a foot and when to re-grow a whole leg?

This question relates to another mystery. In newt’s, a cut-off leg will grow back only if the nerve bundle（神经束）in it also grows back , but if something prevents the nerve bundle from growing, the stem cells at the wound won’t re-grow a new leg.

In its study, a British team focused on a protein called n-AG. When the team prevented nerves in a limb from growing, but added the n-AG protein to stem cells in the limb, the limb still re-grew. That protein seems to guide limb re-growth. People have proteins that are similar to n-AG. Further research into these materials may someday help human limbs recover by themselves.

40. In the experiments, the researchers cut off a newt’s foot or leg to find out _____.

A. what stem cells were                    B. whether they would grow back

C. how long it would take to re-grow    D. how they would re-grow

41. A newt will re-grow its leg if _____.

A. its ankle was cut off but the nerve bundle was good

B. its leg was cut off and the nerve bundle stopped growing

C. its leg was cut off and the nerve bundle could grow back

D. its ankle and the nerve bundle were cut off

42. What do the underlined words “these materials” refer to?

A. Nerve bundles and proteins.         B. Proteins similar to n-AG.

C. Stem cells and proteins.              D. Stem cells and nerve bundles.

43. The first sentence of the passage _____.

A. acts as a lead–in                      B. shows where researchers got their new ideas

C. states the author’s opinion           D. describes the result of researchers’ studies

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has been applied in a wide range of fields to perform specific tasks, including education, finance, heavy industry, transportation, and so on.

Education

There are a number of companies that create robots to teach subjects to children ranging from biology to computer science, though such tools have not become widespread yet. Advancements in natural language processing, combined with machine learning, have also enabled automatic grading of assignments. AI has also led to an explosion in popularity of MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses, which allows students from around the world to take classes online.

Finance

Use of AI in banking can be tracked back to 1987. Banks use artificial intelligence systems to organize operations, maintain book-keeping, invest in stocks, and manage properties. Also, systems are being developed, like Atria, to translate complex data into simple and personable language. There are also wallets, like Wallet AI, which monitor an individual’s spending habits and provides ways to improve them.

Heavy industry

Robots have become common in many industries and are often given jobs that are considered dangerous to humans. Robots have proven effective in jobs that are very repetitive which may lead to mistakes or accidents due to failure in concentration and other jobs which humans may find degrading.

Transportation

Today’S cars can have AI-based driver assist features such as self-parking and advanced cruise controls. AI in transportation is expected to provide safe, efficient, and reliable transportation while minimizing the impact on the environment and communities.

Toys and games

Companies like Mattel have been creating AI-enabled toys for kids as young as age three. Using proprietary AI engines and speech recognition tools, they are able to understand conversations, give intelligent responses and learn quickly. AI has also been applied to video games, for example video game bots, which are designed to stand in as opponents where humans aren’t available or desired.

1.Which is true about AI and education?

A.Robots have been widely used to teach children.

B.AI has been used to grade students’ homework.

C.AI has enabled more students to receive education at school.

D.Education was the first field where A1 was used.

2.Which can be inferred from the passage?

A.Atria can help people understand complex data.

B.Wallet AI can help people make more money.

C.Robots’ jobs are considered dangerous to humans.

D.Robots can help people concentrate.

3.From the last two paragraphs we can know that_______________.

A.Today’s drivers needn’t learn to park their cars

B.AI ensures safe, efficient, and reliable transportation

C.AI-enabled toys is designed to improve kids’ intelligence

D.Video game bots can fight against you in video games

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A.The latest progress in AI. B.AI is of great use.

C.Some applications of AI. D.AI is used in all fields.

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

Artificial intelligence（AI，人工智能）can help us make phone calls, guide us to where we want to go, or play games. 1. Researchers from Microsoft recently created the first machine translation system that can translate news articles from Chinese to English, Business Standard reported.

According to Microsoft’s official website, researchers tested the system by asking it to translate hundreds of sentences taken from news stories. 2. They concluded that the system’s translations were as good as the human translations. 3. This is partly because different words can be used to express the same meaning. It can be hard to say which word is more “correct”.

4. “Much of our research is really inspired by how we humans do things,” lead researcher Liu Tieyan said.

One method is called dual learning（对偶学习）. In this method, the system translates every sentence from Chinese to English, as well as translating the sentences back from English into Chinese. 5. This is similar to what humans do to make sure their translations are accurate.

Another method makes use of deliberation networks. This is when the system is made to translate the same sentence over and over. Gradually, the system improves the quality of its translation, like humans who would improve their own writing by going over it again and again.

A. Machine translation is always challenging.

B. However, experts used several methods to improve the system’s translation abilities.

C. Then, language experts compared the results to two translations that were done by humans.

D. Researchers collected a lot of data to help the system learn and improve.

E. And now, AI can do even more things.

F. Researchers have worked on machine translation for decades.

G. This way, the system can improve itself and learn from its own mistakes.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Believe it or not, school uniforms are absolutely not only clothes for students. They stand for the culture or beauty appreciation standard of a country. Let’s take a look at school uniforms in different nations.

School Uniforms in England

Style of English school uniforms is rather classic, simple and elegant. Boys wear conventional western-style clothes, regular leather shoes and must wear neckties. Girls also wear western-style clothes, regular leather shoes and must wear bow-ties. This classic clothing style unconsciously affects English students’ temperament (气质) and also sense of beauty.

School Uniforms in Korea

Do you still remember the classic scenes in My Sassy Girl? If you’ve watched it, you will know how stylish Korean students’ uniforms are. Boys wear nice white shirts and western-style trousers. Girls wear white shirts, lovely skirts of latest design and bow knots.

School Uniforms in Malaysia

Students in Malaysia obey rather strict rules. Girls’ dresses must be long enough to cover the knees. Shirts must cover the elbows. Compared with Thai students, they are much more conservative.

School Uniforms in Japan

For students, school uniforms in Japan are not only symbols for schools, but also symbols for the current fashion trends, even affecting students when choosing a school. Japanese school uniforms for girls originate in sailor suits. So they are also called sailor suits or sailor uniforms. Cartoon elements are used on them. Japanese school uniforms for boys are classic dark-colored clothes with stand-up collars, similar to Chinese tunic suits.

1.What are the English school uniforms like?

A.Fashionable. B.Conservative.

C.Traditional. D.Cute.

2.In which way are Korean and Japanese school uniforms similar?

A.Both of them are fashionable. B.Both of them are eastern-style.

C.Both of them are affected by Chinese. D.Both of them are dark-colored.

3.Who might choose schools based on school uniforms?

A.English Students. B.Korean students.

C.Malaysian students. D.Japanese students.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Did you ever wonder how some of your favorite foods, products or toys came about? Believe it or not, they may have been an accident, or a failure of some other intention. Below, we found three mistakes we’re thankful for turned out to be what they are.

1. Most historians hold that the Chinese invented fireworks in the 9th century when they

discovered how to make gunpowder. Story has it that a Chinese cook accidentally mixed together what were then considered common kitchen items and noticed they burnt. When put tightly in a bamboo tube and lit, it blew up.

2. In May of 1886, a law led John Pemberton, a pharmacist（药剂师）, to rewrite the formula(配方) for "Pemberton’s French Wine Coca,” his popular headache treatment. Containing sugar instead of wine as a sweetener, the outcome became something for Coke, which was later mixed with carbonated water. His bookkeeper suggested the name Coca-Cola because he thought the two C’s would look good together, which is how what we call Coca-Cola, a world –wide drink came into being.

3. During World War II, scientists at the University of Birmingham invented the magnetron—an important heat-producing part of the microwave oven(微波炉). While working for Raytheon Corporation after the war, the American engineer Percy Spencer was testing the magnetron when a chocolate bar in his pocket melted. He went on to test other foods including popcorn kernels, and found it to be a much more efficient way to cook. In 1947 Raytheon came out with the first restaurant microwave oven, which was six feet tall and weighed 750 lbs.

1.The right time order of the three inventions, according to the passage, should be_________.

A. fireworks, the microwave and Coca-Cola

B. fireworks ,Coca-Cola and the microwave

C. Coca-Cola , fireworks and the microwave

D. the microwave, Coca-Cola and fireworks

2.Percy Spencer found the microwave efficient in cooking when he was _______.

A. looking for a way to melt his chocolate

B. trying to know how a magnetron could cook

C. working to know how the magnetron works

D. asked to invent a restaurant microwave oven

3.What can we learn from the above invention stories?

A. Experiments make great inventors of our time.

B. Nothing is impossible if one tries each day.

C. Inventors come out of hard work at any time.

D. A small incident may lead to a great invention.

4.What’s the best title for the passage?

A. What great inventions they are!               B. Inventions from Three Countries.

C. Stories of Accidental Inventions.          D. The Human Inventions of time.

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

A conversation is not a business meeting at work or with your family. It is a personal or informal talk that takes place in the restaurant, in a car or walking on the street on your way to work.

It can make or break a relationship. It can make a career successful. It can make new friends. It can just brighten up another person’s life. It can change the world!

Here are some ways to make a conversation bring meaning to you and others.

Before starting a conversation, be clear about what you want to achieve. Knowing your purpose beforehand allows you to keep your conversation to the point and never get lost out of the way.

Start a topic that is very timely and appropriate. The starting point has to be depending on your relationship with the person you are talking to and the situation the person or both of you are going through. Starting the conversation with the right topic sets the tone that brings both sides at ease.

Come up with something that will make both of you interested. This allows the other person to be drawn more to speak up. Discovering common likes and dislikes opens up a bond (纽带) between two people.

Put yourself in the shoes of the other person. Think how the other person feels at that moment. Feeling how the other person feels helps you to be in his position.

One of the most difficult tasks to do in a conversation is really listening. Do not prepare for what to say while the other person is talking. Do not just keep quiet because you want to give the other person a time to talk. The proof that you really listen is to repeat your understanding of what was said in your own words.

After you have spoken, give the other person a time to talk. There are some people who like to talk about themselves. If you are one of them, try to be less selfish. A conversation is not a monologue (独角戏) or an interview.

Managing a conversation shows the kind of person you are. You do not have to wait for the other person to lead the discussion. You can do this. No matter who you are, if you lead a talk, you make a difference.

高二英语填空题中等难度题查看答案及解析

It is not unusual for people to speak two or three languages; they’re known as bilinguals or trilinguals. Speakers of more than three languages are known as polyglots. And when we refer to people who speak many languages, perhaps a dozen or more, we use the term hyper-polyglot.

The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.

Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?

U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.

Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.

Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it.

1.What does the underlined sentence imply?

A. Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day.

B. Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages.

C. Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous.

D. Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing.

2.The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __.

A. good memory       B. unique brain      C. hard work      D. learning methods

3.The German scientist’s findings showed that Krebs ___.

A. had an unusual brain

B. was born with great talent

C. had worked hard at languages

D. expected too much of himself

4.The author seems to agree that ___.

A. it is not hard to learn foreign languages

B. hard work plays a part in language learning

C. there is no such thing as a talent for languages

D. hyper-polyglots have an inborn talent for language

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析