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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
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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 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
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Researchers at Oxford University say they have developed a new method that could predict heart attacks years before they happen. They use mathematical algorithms(演算法)to examine CT images of a patient's heart. One report on their study has been published in the medical journal The Lancet.
Most heart attacks result from a build-up of fatty tissue inside arteries(动脉)that carry blood from the heart to other areas of the body. Too much buildup can block this flow of blood and cause a heart attack. Currently, doctors use CT scans to learn when a sticky substance called plaque has already built up inside an artery. The new technology is designed to predict which arteries are at risk for future buildup. How much fat is present around heart arteries also can be measured. That fat changes when an artery becomes inflamed(发炎), serving as an early warning system for heart attacks.
Charalambos Antoniades, a professor of cardiovascula(心血管)medicine at Oxford University, believes the research shows this method could be very effective in getting patients to take early steps to prevent future problems.
“Say your arteries are inflamed and a narrowing will be developed five years down the line. So maybe you can start preventive measures to avoid this formation of plaques,” he said. “If you are able to identify inflammation in the arteries of the heart, then you can say which arteries will cause heart attacks.”
Antoniades added that researchers had yet to estimate exactly how many heart attacks could be prevented. But he said he believes the technique could help identify between 20 to 30 percent of people at risk of having one.
He added that the new technology will make such predictions easier because it works together with existing CT technology.
1.You can identify which arteries will cause heart attacks by .
A. locating where the inflamed arteries are
B. seeing a cardiovascular doctor
C. developing a new method to predict it
D. measuring how much fat is built up
2.This passage is probably from a .
A. medical textbook B. travel brochure
C. graduation paper D. science journal
3.What‟s Artoniades‟ attitude towards the new method?
A. Tolerant. B. Defensive. C. Critical. D. Favorable.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new method that doesn't require any special equipment and works in just minutes to create soft, flexible,3D-prnted robots.
The innovation comes from rethinking the way soft robots are built : instead of figuring out how to add soft materials to a rigid robot body, the UC San Diego researcher started with a soft body and added rigid features to key components. The strictures were inspired by insect exoskeletons,which have both soft and rigid parts — the researchers called their creations
“flexoskeletons (柔性外骨骼）”.The new method allows for the construction of soft components for robots in a small bit of the time previously needed and for a small bit of the cost.
“We hope that these flexoskeletons will lead to the creation of a new class of soft robots, ” said Nick Gravish， a mechanical engineering professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering at the UC San Diego and the paper ’ s senior author. “ We want to make soft robots easier to build for researchers all over the world. ”
The new method makes it possible to build large groups of flexoskeleton robots with little hand assembly (装配）as well as assemble a library of Lego-like components so that robot parts can be easily swapped.
Researchers detail their work in the April 7 issue of the journal Soft Robotics. The team plans to make their designs available to researchers at other institutions as well as high schools.
One flexoskeleton component takes 10 minutes to print and costs less than $1. Flexokeleton printing can be done on most low-cost commercially available printers. Printing and assembling a whole robot takes under two hours.
The final goal is to create an assembly line that prints whole flexoskeleton robots without any need for hand assembly. These small robots could do as much work as one massive robot on its own — or more.
1.What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?
A.The origin of the new method.
B.The function of the new method.
C.The advantages of the new method.
D.The cost of the new method.
2.What’s Nick’s attitude towards flexoskeletons?
A.Indifferent. B.Skeptical.
C.Curious. D.Hopeful.
3.What will researchers intend to do with flexoskeletons?
A.Benefit moss students.
B.Produce a lot of flexoskeleton robots.
C.Build robots by hand.
D.Create many larger ones.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A.New Robos Made of Special Equipment and Materials
B.A New Method of Building Giant,Soft and Flexible Robots
C.Flexoskeletons Make Soft Robots Faster and Cheaper to Make
D.Flexoskeletons Create Lots of Soft Robots with Hand Assembly
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Visitors to the grounds of New College at England’s Oxford University pass under an iron gate with the advice: Manners make the man. Even after an appropriate update to: Manners make the person, it’s thought-provoking(引人深思的)—especially to today’s Americans.
When we think about what makes the person—it’s more likely the degree, the job, the salary. Since when do we count manners as a measure of success?
We do know that these would make life nicer, if more tolerable. Nevertheless, we forget or overlook our manners. So it seems, does everyone else—including, unluckily, our children.
As a university president, one of my great joys is to visit our campuses and see our students though we’re separated by different generations, interests, and, of course dressing, each student tells me something within the first few minutes that we meet: whether he or she has been taught manners. I sense this in different ways: through her words or her gestures, in the way she listens or how he refers to friends and faculty, how she greets and says goodbye, how he responds when an elderly person enters the room.
In the absence of manners, however, I make some allowances. For instance, the many ethnic(种族的)groups that students represent often have different explanations of what makes up good manners. In other cases, some students may reject what they’ve learned to break from their parents and be accepted by other students. Whether students are being different or openly opposing, a recent experience I had with them tells me that there’s some hope for reviving and good manners.
Good manners don’t just guarantee acceptance. Good manners open doors to deeper connections and more meaningful roles in our society. Good manners are gentle signals that show we care about one another and allow us to relate to another person in a thoughtful way but at a respectable distance.
1.Which of the following is seldom a mark of success to people today?
A. Handsome income. B. Polite behavior.
C. An academic degree. D. High ranks in the office
2.The main idea of paragraph 4 is more likely that ________.
A. manners can be taught in different ways
B. how the president of New College cares about his students
C. generation gap does exist between students and faculty members
D. what students say and do can indicate if they have mannered behavior
3.From the last paragraph we can learn that the biggest benefit by good manners would be that ________.
A. good manners guarantee acceptance of others
B. good manners inspire students to study harder
C. good manners help deeper connections with others
D. good manners guarantee students to get whatever they want
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
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Visitors to the grounds of New College at England’s Oxford University pass under an iron gate with the advice: Manners make the man. Even after an appropriate update to: Manners make the person, it’s thought-provoking(引人深思的)—especially to today’s Americans.
When we think about what makes the person—it’s more likely the degree, the job, the salary. Since when do we count manners as a measure of success?
We do know that these would make life nicer, if more tolerable. However, we forget or overlook our manners. So , it seems, does everyone else—including, unluckily, our children.
As a university president, one of my great joys is to visit our campuses and see our students, though we’re separated by different generations, interests, and, of course dressing, each student tells me something within the first few minutes that we meet: whether he or she has been taught manners. I sense this in different ways: through her words or her gestures, in the way she listens or how he refers to friends and faculty, how she greets and says goodbye, how he responds when an elderly person enters the room.
In the absence of manners, however, I make some allowances. For instance, the many ethnic(种族的)groups that students represent often have different explanations of what makes up good manners. In other cases, some students may reject what they’ve learned to break from their parents and be accepted by other students. Whether students are being different or openly opposing, a recent experience I had with them tells me that there’s some hope for reviving and good manners.
Good manners don’t just guarantee acceptance. Good manners open doors to deeper connections and more meaningful roles in our society. Good manners are gentle signals that show we care about one another and allow us to relate to another person in a thoughtful way but at a respectable distance.
1.Which of the following is seldom a mark of success to people today?
A. Handsome income. B. An academic degree.
C. High ranks in the office D. Polite behavior.
2.What does the underlined part “make some allowances” in Paragraph 4 probably mean ?
A. treat the absence of manners differently
B. reject the absence of manners
C. oppose bad manners somehow
D. partly permit being in the absence of manners
3.Which of the following is the benefit by good manners?
A. Good manners makes people thoughtful
B. Good manners help deeper connections with others
C. Good manners guarantee acceptance of ourselves
D. Good manners inspire people to care about one another
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Scientists have developed a new type of smart bandage (绷带) that can signal the type of bacterial (细菌的) infection it’s protecting, just like a traffic light, as well as release the right type of drugs on demand. The traffic light system works just like this: Green means no bacteria or a low concentration of bacteria, yellow means drug-sensitive (DS) bacteria responsive to standard antibiotics (抗生素) and causes antibiotic release, and red means drug-resistant (DR) bacteria that need extra help to be wiped out.
In testing the bandage on mice, the research team was able to successfully treat both DS and DR infections using the new method. However, the common methods of sensing resistance are limited by time, the requirement for professional personnel, and expensive instruments. Moreover, the abuse of antibiotics causes the accelerated process of bacterial resistance.
It’s easy to see how a simple bandage and light could overcome some of these limitations. Treatment doesn’t have to wait for a doctor to make a diagnosis, and the bandage can get the right sort of drugs applied at the earliest opportunity. What’s more, the person wearing the bandage gets real-time feedback on what’s happening with the infection, if there’s an infection at all. The researchers say it offers numerous benefits over existing treatments that make use of light, including photodynamic therapy or PDT.
We’ve been seeing quite a few upgrades to the traditional bandage in recent years, thanks to advances in science — like the nanofiber mesh that attracts bacteria and draws some of it out, speeding up the healing process. Then there’s the novel bandage for treating burns, which stops bacteria from multiplying and lowers the risk of infection.
The more work that a bandage can do while it’s protecting a wound, the better. Efforts to improve bandages continue and now we've got a bandage that not only releases antibiotics, but also tells the patient exactly what’s going on too.
1.What is the smart bandage mainly designed to do?
A.Avoid the use of antibiotics. B.Clear out harmful bacteria.
C.Detect bacterial infections. D.Increase treatment options.
2.What is the advantage of the smart bandage?
A.It saves much time and cost. B.It removes the risk of infection.
C.It prevents the bacterial resistance. D.It improves doctor-patient relationship.
3.What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?
A.Traditional bandages are out of use now.
B.More smart bandages will be developed.
C.Progress in science calls for more research.
D.People are urged to study medical science.
4.What does the text focus on?
A.A successful test on mice. B.A colour-changing bandage.
C.Sensing drug-resistant bacteria. D.Preventing abuse of antibiotics.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Scientists from the University of East Anglia have identified four new man-made gases that are contributing to the damage to the ozone(臭氧) layer. Two of the gases are accumulating at a rate that is causing concern among researchers.
Worries over the growing ozone hole have seen the production of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases restricted since the mid 1980s. But the precise origin of these new, similar substances remains a mystery.
Lying in the atmosphere, the ozone layer plays a critical role in blocking harmful UV rays, which cause cancers in humans and reproductive problems in animals.
Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey were the first to discover a huge “hole” in the ozone over Antarctica in 1985. The evidence quickly pointed to CFC gases, which were invented in the 1920s, and were widely used in refrigeration. Extraordinarily, global action was rapidly agreed to deal with CFCs and the Montreal Protocol to limit these substances came into being in 1987. A total global ban on production came into force in 2010.
Now, the newly discovered four new gases can destroy ozone and are getting into the atmosphere from as yet unidentified sources. Three of the gases are CFCs and one is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC), which can also damage ozone.
The research has shown that four gases were not around in the atmosphere at all until the 1960s, which suggests they are man-made. The scientists discovered the gases by analyzing polar snow pack. Air from this snow is a natural archive of what was in the atmosphere up to 100 years ago. There searchers also looked at modern air samples, collected at remote Cape Grim in Tasmania.
They estimate that about 74,000 tonnes of these gases have been released into the atmosphere. Two of the gases are accumulating at significant rates. However, they don’t know where the new gases are being released from and this should be investigated. Possible sources include chemicals for insecticide (杀虫剂)production and solvents (溶液) for cleaning electronic components. The three CFCs are being destroyed very slowly in :the atmosphere—so even if emissions (散发)were to stop immediately, they will still be around for many decades to come.
Of the four species identified, CFC-113a seems the most worrying as there is a very small but growing emission source somewhere, maybe from agricultural insecticides. We should find it and take it out of production.
1.What do we know about the newly discovered gases?
A. Some are surely produced by the development of agriculture.
B. The CFCs will have a long impact once they are released.
C. They gather together in the atmosphere at a medium speed.
D. Their amounts are not large enough to cause damage to us.
2.The underlined word “archive” in Paragraph 6 is closest to the meaning of “ ”.
A. state
B. resource
C. phenomenon
D. storeroom
3.What will the scientists probably attempt to do about the gases next?
A. Find out what can replace things like insecticides and put them into use.
B. Find out how they destroy ozone and get rid of those in the atmosphere.
C. Find out where they are exactly from and stop them from being released.
D. Find out if HCFC is more harmful than CFCs and take proper measures.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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An early invention by Albert Einstein has been rebuilt by scientists at Oxford University. They are trying to develop an environmentally friendly refrigerator that runs without electricity.
We all know that modern fridges cause damage to the environment. They work by using a kind of man-made greenhouse gas called Freon (氟里昂), which is far more damaging than carbon dioxide.
Now Malcolm McCulloch, an electrical engineer at Oxford, is leading a three-year project to develop appliances that can be used in places without electricity.
His team has completed a prototype (样机) of a fridge patented in 1930 by Einstein. It used only pressurized gases to keep things cold. The design was partly used in the first refrigerators, but the technology was dropped when more efficient compressors (压缩机) became popular in the 1950s. That meant a switch to using Freon.
Einstein's idea uses butane (丁烷) and water and takes advantage of the fact that liquids boil at lower temperatures, when the air pressure around them is lower.
"If you go to the top of Mount Qomolangma, water boils at a much lower temperature than it does when you're at sea level and that's because the pressure is much lower up there," said McCulloch.At one side is the evaporator (蒸发器), a bottle that contains liquid butane. "If you introduce a new vapor above the butane, the liquid boiling temperature decreases and, as it boils off, it takes energy from the surroundings to do so," says McCulloch. "That's what makes it cold."
The gas fridges based on Einstein's design were replaced by Freon-compressor fridges partly because Einstein's design was not very efficient. But McCulloch thinks that by changing the design and replacing the types of gases used it will be possible to quadruple (翻两番) the efficiency.
However, McCulloch's fridge is still in its early stages. "It's very much a prototype," he said. "Give us another month and we'll have it working."
1. According to the passage, an early invention by Albert Einstein _______.
A．has been rediscovered because it costs much less and works more efficiently
B．is being redesigned because it could be used in places without electricity
C．has just been found to be energy-saving and environmentally friendly
D．will be fully made use of and become the fridge of the future
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
A．Freon was used in fridges long before the 1950s.
B．Freon is what makes current fridges big polluters.
C．McCulloch thinks he could improve Einstein's design by using other types of vapors.
D．The fridge Malcolm McCulloch and his team designed will be put into production soon.
3.We can learn from the text that the prototype completed _______.
A．changed the air pressure around it
B．was tested on the top of Mount Everest
C．increased the liquid boiling temperature
D．used only pressurized gases to keep things cold
4.McCulloch's words in Paragraph 6 _____.
A．serve as an explanation for the principle behind Einstein's fridge
B．give you the reason why Einstein's fridge was not efficient
C．tell you how to take advantage of low air pressure
D．show you how Einstein's fridge works
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London and Queen Mary, University of London have discovered that bees learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers even if they discover the flowers in a different order. Bees are effectively solving the “traveling salesman problem”, and they are the first creatures found to do this.
The traveling salesman must find the shortest route that allows him to visit all locations on his route. Computers solve it by comparing the length of all possible routes and choosing the shortest, and it can keep computers busy for days. However, bees solve it without computer assistance using a brain the size of grass seed. Dr. Nigel Raine, from the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway explains, “Bees solve traveling salesman problems every day. They visit flowers at multiple locations and because bees use lots of energy to fly, they find a route which keeps flying to a minimum. ”
The team used the computer to control artificial flowers to test whether bees would follow a route defined by the order in which they discovered the flowers or if they would find the shortest route. After exploring the location of the flowers, bees quickly learned to fly the shortest route.
As well as improving our understanding of how bees move around the landscape pollinating(授粉)crops and wild flowers, this research, which is due to be published in The American Naturalist, has other applications. Our lifestyle relies on networks such as traffic on the roads, information flow on the Web and business supply chains. By understanding how bees can solve their problems with such a tiny brain, we can improve our management of these everyday networks without needing lots of computer time. Dr. Raine adds, “Despite their tiny brains, bees are capable of extraordinary feats of behavior. We need to understand how they can solve the traveling salesman problem without a computer. ”
1. What would be the best title of the passage?
A. Bees help salesmen travel
B. Tiny-brained bees solve a complex mathematical problem
C. How bees discover the flowers
D. How to solve the “traveling salesman problem”
2.We may infer from the second paragraph that the “traveling salesman problem” .
A. can be solved by a computer easily
B. can’t even be solved by a computer
C. can puzzle both people and computers
D. remains to be solved by scientists
3. The main purpose of the last paragraph is to .
A. provide further proof for the research
B. tell us how bees can fly the shortest route between flowers
C. tell us how the research about bees’ flying route was conducted
D. explain the importance of the research
4. It can be concluded from the passage that .
A. all creatures are smarter than computers
B. the research about bees’ flying route can be applied to many fields
C. our networks are more complex than bees’ ones
D. with the help of the computer we can find out how bees can solve the “traveling salesman problem”
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析