For two centuries, the famous University of C...

For two centuries, the famous University of Cambridge debating society has hosted many prominent figures, from world leaders to scientists to comedians.

On Nov 21, the Cambridge Union hosted its first-ever non-human guest. Designed by IBM, Project Debater is a machine that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to form a spoken argument. It can even listen and answer to opposing statements, much like a real person.

Speaking with a voice similar to Siri, Project Debater uses AI to search journals, newspapers and other information sources. It then filters out(过滤) useless information, picks the strongest arguments, and arranges them into a persuasive argument.

“In the Cambridge test debate, it argued the topic: AI will ultimately do more harm than good. According to IBM, it is the first machine that can debate complicated topics with humans.

Before the debate, more than 1,100 arguments for the positives and negatives of AI were submitted to the IBM website. The machine then analyzed these sources and formed the basis of its arguments in minutes. Project Debater then showed off its AI by arguing for both sides of the debate.

Over a four-minute speech, it argued first that, “AI can only make decisions that it has been programmed to solve, while humans can be programmed for all plots, possible events.”

In support of AI, it then argued that AI would create new jobs and “bring a lot more efficiency” to the workplace.

This isn’t the first test for Project Debater. In June 2018, the machine went back-and-forth for 20 minutes against champion debater Harish Natarajan.

According to New Scientist, on both occasions, Project Debater repeated points and didn’t always sufficiently support them.

Speaking to Cambridge Independent, Noam Slonim, the project’s lead engineer, said, “The AI is not perfect, but it’s going in the right direction.” The team hopes to improve the AI by researching why humans find certain arguments more persuasive than others.

1.In which way does Project Debater behave like a real person?

A.It can listen and answer to opposing statements.

B.It can speak with a voice similar to Siri.

C.It can create various useful sources.

D.It can deal with any situation.

2.What were prepared for the machine before the Cambridge test debate?

A.Analyzed sources.

B.Useless messages.

C.Materials for arguments.

D.Items about human debaters.

3.We can infer from the text that _________.

A.AI did better than humans in arguments

B.the machine had rich ideas to support its points

C.the machine beat Harish Natarajan in the first test

D.AI needs more persuasive arguments in debates

4.What is Noam Slonim’s attitude to the AI ?

A.Supportive. B.Unconfident.

C.Negative. D.Indifferent.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Two graduates from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom found themselves about to graduate, yet with loans to pay off. The pair decided to begin a strange, year-long project to battle their debt.

The men, Ross Harper and Edward Moyse, set up the website BuyMyFace.com last October as a way to get rid of the £50,000 they shared as student loans. The idea behind the project was to earn money by selling their faces as advertising space every day for a year. Each day, they advertise a different business by painting the brand’s name or logo onto their faces and upload the pictures to the homepage of BuyMyFace.com, adding a link to the advertiser’s website and including a short piece of text about it. After they paint their faces and publish them on the website, Harper and Moyse go out to highly populated areas such as music festivals and theme parks to maximize their faces’ exposure. They hope more people will pay attention to the advertisements on their faces.

At this time, Harper and Moyse have advertised their faces for over four months without skipping a day and they’re more than halfway to their goal. Though they first started charging a minimum of about £1.60 per company, the prices have risen as their popularity increases. For advertising space during the rest of April, they range between £250 and £750. Terri L. Rittenburg, associate professor of marketing at the University of Wyoming, said that she had heard of people tattooing (纹身) logos on themselves before, but this idea is much better. According to her, at first the idea would be new and unusual and attract attention. People are interested in this particular style of advertisement and would like to try what they advertise. But she is unsure how long it would last.

At least for now, companies that have bought Harper and Moyse’s faces have written positive comments on the pair’s website. “We had a three percent increase in website traffic on the very day and for two days more afterwards,” said one of the companies.

1.At BuyMyFace.com,you can ______.

A. enjoy a good chat with your friends　　 B. buy everything you want to have

C. share experiences in doing business　　 D. get information on certain goods

2.Harper and Moyse go to highly populated areas to ______.

A. offer their help　　 B. make more friends　　 C. show their faces　　 D. raise more money

3.We can infer from the passage that the two young men ______.

A. get on well with their project　　 B. work hard except on holidays

C. plan to open their own company　　 D. may close their website in future

4.Why does the men’s idea of advertising prove to work?

A. Because an expert has highly praised them.

B. Because people find it unique and appealing.

C. Because the products they advertise are reliable.

D. Because they receive great help from businesses.

高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

Two graduates from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom found themselves about to graduate, yet with loans to pay off. The pair decided to begin a strange, year-long project to battle their debt.

The men, Ross Harper and Ed Moyse, set up the site BuyMyFace.co.uk. last October as a way to get rid of the $80,000 they shared as student loans. The idea behind the project was to earn money by selling their faces as advertising space every day for a year. Each day, they advertise a different business on their site by painting the brand's logo or name on their faces and including a link to the company’s site. After they paint their faces and publish them on the site, Harper and Moyse go out to highly populated areas such as music festivals and theme parks to maximize their faces’ exposure.

At this time, Harper and Moyse have advertised their faces for over four months without skipping a day and they're more than halfway to their goal. Though they first started charging a minimum of about USD $1.60 per company, the prices have risen as their popularity increased. For advertising space during the remainder of April, they range between USD $250 and $750.

Terri L. Rittenburg, associate professor of marketing at the University of Wyoming, said she had heard of people tattooing (纹身) logos on themselves before, but this idea is much better. According to her, at first the idea would be new and novel and attract attention, but she is unsure how long it would last.

At least for now, companies that have bought Harper and Moyse’s faces have written positive comments on the pair’s website. “We had a three percent increase in website traffic on the very day and for two days more afterwards,” said an alcoholic beverage company.

1.Which of the following was most possibly taken from the website BuyMyFace.co.uk.?

A.               B.                 C.                  D.

2. Harper and Moyse go to highly populated areas to _____.

A. have fun B. make friends C. show their faces  D. find new customers

3.We can infer from the article that the two men _____.

A. must have earned more than $40,000

B. aren’t getting on well with their project

C. may close their site next month

D. always work hard except on holidays

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

THE BRONTE FAMILY

Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels (小说) of the 19th century. These were Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The youngest sister, Anne, was also a gifted novelist, and her books have the same extraordinary quality as her sisters’.

Their father was Patrick Bronte, born in Ireland. He moved with his wife, Maria Bronte, and their six small children to Haworth in Yorkshire in 1820. Soon after, Mrs. Bronte and the two eldest children died, leaving the father to care of the remaining three girls and a boy.

Charlotte was born in 1816. Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. Left to themselves, the children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls were determined to earn money for his art education. They took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes.

As children they had all written many stories. Charlotte, as a young girl, alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty Anne and Emily found a publisher(出版商), but there was no interest shown in Charlotte’s book. (It was not published until 1859.) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her works. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.

Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. People did not like Wuthering Heights. They said it was too wild, too animal-like. But gradually it came to be considered one of the finest novels in the English language. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of the book, and Anne died in 1849.

Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis(肺结核) as her sisters had.

1.We know from the text that      .

2.The underlined words “the other two” in the 5 th paragraph refer to      .

3. What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Mr. Joe, ________ professor at the University of Fribourg, is famous for his academic achievements in ________ World History.

A．the; /　     B．the; a　

C．a; the　     D．a; /

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

(2013·江苏苏北三市一模)Mr. Joe, ________ professor at the University of Fribourg, is famous for his academic achievements in ________ World History.

A．the; /　     B．the; a

C．a; the　     D．a; /

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Researchers with the University of Cambridge say they have the first real evidence of a new state of matter, some 40 years after it was first theorized.

Known as “quantum spin liquid(量子旋转水)”, the matter state causes normally unbreakable electrons to break into pieces called “Majorana fermions.” These fermions are an important discovery. Physicists believe the material is vital to further develop quantum computing. Computers employing Majorana femuons would be able to carry out calculations beyond the scale of modern computers quickly, they say.

Quantum spin liquid explains some of the eccentric behaviors inside magnetic(磁性的) materials. In these materials, the electrons should behave like small bar magnets, all adjusting towards magnetic north when a material is cooled. But not all magnetic materials do this—if the material contains quantum spin liquid, the electrons don’t all line up and become involved.

“Until recently, we didn’t even know what the experimental fingerprints of a quantum spin liquid would look like,” researcher Dr.Dmitry Kovrizhin says. “That created a challenge for the researchers, so they decided to employ neutron scattering(神经扫描) techniques to look for evidence of break”. What they found surprised them. The features matched nearly exactly with quantum spin liquid models theorized by physicist Phil Anderson in 1973. The results of their breakthrough were then published in the scientific journal Nature Materials on Monday.

Don’t get too excited just yet on its applications, though. Kovirzhin’s work is only the beginning and as we’ve seen with quantum computing there is a lot of work to be done. But it’s still exciting regardless.

“It’s an important step for our understanding of quantum matter,” Kovrizhin says. “It’s fun to have another new quantum state that we’ve never seen before—it presents us with new possibilities to try new things.”

1.What can we learn about “Majorana fermion” according to Paragraph 2?

A. It is an important discovery 40 years ago.

B. It is a surprising theory raised by Phil Anderson.

C. It is a key piece in developing quantum computer.

D. It is an unbreakable electrons employing computer.

2.Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “eccentric” in Paragraph 3?

A. Strange.　　 B. Complex.　　 C. Permanent.　　 D. Obvious.

3.How did the researchers make the breakthrough?

A. By adjusting magnetic materials.

B. By using neutron scattering techniques.

C. By repeating maths calculations.

D. By changing electronic structure.

4.What is the author’s tone about the future of quantum matter?

A. Negative.　　 B. Doubtful.　　 C. Indifferent.　　 D. Optimistic.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

According to new research from the University of Cambridge in England, sheep are able to recognize human faces from photographs.

The farm animals, who are social and have large brains, were previously known to be able to recognize one another, as well as familiar humans. However, their ability to recognize human faces from photos alone is novel.

The recent study, the results of which were published in the journal Royal Society; Open Science, show the woolly creatures could be trained to recognize still images of human faces, including those of former President Barack Obama and actress Emma Watson.

Initially, the sheep were trained to approach certain images by being given food rewards. Later, they were able to recognize the images for which they had been rewarded. The sheep could even recognize images of faces shown at an angle, though their ability to do so declined by about 15 percent—the same rate at which a human’s ability to perform the same task declines,

“Anyone who has spent time working with sheep will know that they are intelligent and individual animals who are able to recognize their handlers.” said Professor Jenny Morton,　 who led the Cambridge study. “We’ve shown with our study that sheep have advanced face-recognition abilities, close to those of humans and monkeys.”

Recognizing faces is one of his most important social skills for human beings, and some disorders of the brain, including Huntington’s disease, affect this ability.

“Sheep are long-lived and have brains that are similar in size and complexity to those of some monkeys. That means they can be useful models to help us understand disorders of the brain, such as Huntington’s disease that develop over a long time and affect cognitive (认识的) abilities. Our study gives us another way to monitor how these abilities change.” Morton said.

1.According to the new research, what’s unusual about sheep?

A. They have large brains.

B. They can recognize their owners.

C. They can tell animals from humans.

D. They can recognize human faces from photographs.

2.How did the researchers train the sheep?

A. By giving food rewards.

B. By showing photos of famous people.

C. By guiding them to follow their handlers.

D. By showing photos of humans and monkeys by turns.

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A. Sheep have a higher face-recognition ability than monkeys.

B. The new discovery is of great benefit to the study of cognitive ability changes.

C. The sheep’s face-recognition ability may prevent some disorders of the brain.

D. The sheep’s face-recognition ability stays the same when shown photos at any angle.

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

A. A Wonderful Scientist

B. The Life of Sheep

C. A New Discovery about Sheep

D. How Sheep Recognize Each Other

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

According to new research from the University of Cambridge in England, sheep are able to recognize human faces from photographs.

The farm animals, who are social and have large brains, were previously known to be able to recognize one another, as well as familiar humans. However, their ability to recognize human faces from photos alone is novel.

The recent study, the results of which were published in the journal Royal Society: Open Science, show the woolly creatures could be trained to recognize still images of human faces, including those of former President Barack Obama and actress Emma Watson.

Initially, the sheep were trained to approach certain images by being given food rewards. Later, they were able to recognize the images for which they had been rewarded. The sheep could even recognize images of faces shown at an angle, though their ability to do so declined by about 15 percent — the same rate at which a human’s ability to perform the same task declines.

“Anyone who has spent time working with sheep will know that they are intelligent, individual animals who are able to recognize their handlers,” said Professor Jenny Morton, who led the Cambridge study. “We’ve shown with our study that sheep have advanced face-recognition abilities, comparable with those of humans and monkeys.”

Recognizing faces is one of the most important social skills for human beings, and some disorders of the brain, including Huntington’s disease, affect this ability.

“Sheep are long-lived and have brains that are similar in size and complexity to those of some monkeys. That means they can be useful models to help us understand disorders of the brain, such as Huntington’s disease, that develop over a long time and affect cognitive abilities. Our study gives us another way to monitor how these abilities change,” Morton said.

1.According to the new research, what’s unusual about sheep?

A. They have large brains.

B. They can recognize their owners.

C. They can tell animals from humans.

D. They can recognize human faces from photographs.

2.How did the researchers train the sheep?

A. By guiding them to follow their handlers.

B. By giving food rewards.

C. By showing photos of humans and monkeys by turns.

D. By showing photos of famous people.

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A. Sheep have a higher face-recognition ability than monkeys.

B. The sheep’s face-recognition ability stays the same when shown photos at any angle.

C. The new discovery is beneficial to the study of cognitive ability changes.

D. The sheep’s face-recognition ability may prevent some disorders of the brain.

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

A. A New discovery about Sheep.　　 B. How Sheep Recognize Each Other.

C. A Wonderful Scientist.　　 D. The Life of Sheep.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A boy of 14 has become the youngest student to win a place at Cambridge University. Arran Fernandez, who was 16at home by his father, Neil, will 17  a mathematics degree at Fitzwilliam College next month and he hopes to have a career as a research mathematician to 18  the Riemann hypothesis(黎曼猜想) that has confused the brightest minds. It will make him the youngest Cambridge student 19 14-year-old William Pitt the Younger studied there in 1773.

Last night the child genius said: “I am looking forward to going to the 20  . I have started the first-year books 21   and it is all right, not too 22  . I can understand it. I am excited about going to Cambridge, 23  I am used to making records about being the youngest in education. It isn’t the youngest moment that is so important to me-- 24  I’m more interested in going to Cambridge than comparing 25  with other people who go there.”

But26his age he will not be able to 27  many of the alcohol-fuelled festivities(庆典) traditionally 28to Freshers’ Week. “I don’t think I’m missing too much fun,” he insisted. “Even if I was 18, I wouldn’t want to go out 29 . ”

Arran, 30   plans to join the bird-watching society instead and go boating while at university, was five when he 31 the youngest person to be 32   a GCSE (General Certificated of Secondary Education), after passing maths. He was offered the   33 to learn at Cambridge in 2010, when he was 14, on the condition he gained an A-level in physics, which he 34  with an A+ grade. Arran had already gained an A grade in further maths last year.

Cambridge also asked him to attend three GCSEs in subjects which were not related to maths and physics to 35   his knowledge. He gained A+s in English literature and French and an A in English language this summer.

高三英语完型填空困难题查看答案及解析