1. 阅读理解

We know that artificial intelligence (AI) is smart enough to do a few things our minds cannot, and with incredible accuracy. And now, it seems it also has the capacity to detect loneliness in humans, which is an otherwise challenging task.

A new study, led by researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, US, has shown how AI tools can predict levels of loneliness from a person's speech with an accuracy rate of 94 percent.

The study focused on 80 participants aged 66 to 94, a population particularly vulnerable to loneliness. The subjects were asked 20 questions from the UCLA Loneliness Scale, which uses a four-point rating scale (四分制评价量表) for questions such as "How often do you feel left out?" and "How often do you feel part of a group of friends?"

They were also interviewed in private conversations, which were recorded and transcribed (转 录 ) by researchers. The transcripts (文 字 记 录 ) were then examined using natural language processing tools, including IBM Watson Natural Language Understanding (WNLU) software, to quantify (量化) expressed emotions.

The interesting thing about this system is that it not only uses dictionary-based methods, such as searching for specific words that express fear, but also presents corresponding patterns by testing the words used in the response.

Varsha Badal, the first author of the study, noted that the WNLU software system uses deep learning to extract (提取) data from keywords, categories, emotions and grammar.

"Natural language processing and machine learning can systematically examine long interviews from multiple individuals and explore how subtle speech features such as emotions may indicate loneliness," Badal said. "Similar emotion analyses by humans would be open to bias ( 偏 见 ), lack consistency, and require extensive (大 量 的 ) training to standardize. "

The lonelier a person felt, the longer their responses to direct questions regarding loneliness. The system was capable of not just detecting the degree of loneliness in each subject, but also showing differences between the way men and women spoke about loneliness. The men were found to use more fearful and joyful words in their responses, while the women tended to acknowledge feeling lonely during interviews.

Co-author Dilip Jeste said that the IBM-UC San Diego Center is now exploring natural language patterns of loneliness and wisdom, which are inversely (成反比地) linked in older adults. "Speech data can be combined with our other assessments of cognition (认 知 ), mobility, sleep, physical activity and mental health to improve understanding of aging and to help contribute to successful aging," he said.

(1) What can we know about the study? A. It involved 80 middle-aged participants. B. It could reach as high as 90 percent in accuracy. C. It relied on AI tools from the beginning. D. Its original data was partly from private interviews.
(2) How did the WNLU software system contribute to the loneliness study? A. By detecting speech patterns that show emotion. B. By removing bias from the transcribing process. C. By locating specific words in the dictionary. D. By standardizing the training of emotion analyses.
(3) Which of the following is among the findings? A. The lonelier the person is, the quicker they respond. B. The way we talk about loneliness varies with age. C. Lonelier people had longer responses about loneliness. D. Women tend to be more optimistic about loneliness.
(4) What does Dilip Jeste imply in the last paragraph? A. Further study is needed to improve the system's accuracy. B. AI tools can be applied to solving the problem of aging. C. Speech data is important for assessing cognition. D. The study is helpful for studying aging.
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1. 阅读理解

According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, the number of solar panels installed(安装)has grown rapidly in the past decade, and it has to grow even faster to meet climate goals. But all of that growth will take up a lot of space, and though more and more people accept the concept of solar energy, few like large solar panels to be installed near them.

Solar developers want to put up panels as quickly and cheaply as possible, so they haven't given much thought to what they put under them. Often, they'll end up filling the area with small stones and using chemicals to control weeds. The result is that many communities, especially in farming regions, see solar farms as destroyers of the soil.

"Solar projects need to be good neighbors," says Jordan Macknick, the head of the Innovative Site Preparation and Impact Reductions on the Environment(InSPIRE)project. "They need to be protectors of the land and contribute to the agricultural economy." InSPIRE is investigating practical approaches to "low-impact" solar development, which focuses on establishing and operating solar farms in a way that is kinder to the land. One of the easiest low-impact solar strategies is providing habitat for pollinators(传粉昆虫).

Habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change have caused dramatic declines in pollinator populations over the past couple of decades, which has damaged the U.S. agricultural economy. Over 28 states have passed laws related to pollinator habitat protection and pesticide use. Conservation organizations put out pollinator-friendliness guidelines for home gardens, businesses, schools, cities—and now there are guidelines for solar farms.

Over the past few years, many solar farm developers have transformed the space under their solar panels into a shelter for various kinds of pollinators, resulting in soil improvement and carbon reduction. "These pollinator-friendly solar farms can have a valuable impact on everything that's going on in the landscape," says Macknick.

(1) What do solar developers often ignore? A. The decline in the demand for solar energy. B. The negative impact of installing solar panels. C. The rising labor cost of building solar farms. D. The most recent advances in solar technology.
(2) What does InSPIRE aim to do? A. Improve the productivity of local farms. B. Invent new methods for controlling weeds. C. Make solar projects environmentally friendly. D. Promote the use of solar energy in rural areas.
(3) What is the purpose of the laws mentioned in paragraph 4? A. To conserve pollinators. B. To restrict solar development. C. To diversify the economy. D. To ensure the supply of energy.
(4) Which of the following is the best title for the text? A. Pollinators: To Leave or to Stay B. Solar Energy: Hope for the Future C. InSPIRE: A Leader in Agriculture D. Solar Farms: A New Development
阅读理解 普通
2. 阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。

"What would the world be if there were no hunger?" It's a question that Professor Crystal would ask her students. They found it hard to answer, she wrote later, because imagining something that isn't part of real life—and learning how to make it real—is a rare skill. It is taught to artists and engineers, but much less often to scientists. Crystal set out to change that, and helped to create a global movement. The result一an approach known as systems thinking—is now seen as essential in meeting global challenges.

Systems thinking is crucial to achieving targets such as zero hunger and better nutrition because it requires considering the way in which food is produced, processed, delivered and consumed, and looking at how those things intersect (交叉) with human health, the environment, economics and society. According to systems thinking, changing the food system—or any other network- requires three things to happen. First, researchers need to identify all the players in that system, second, they must work out how they relate to each other, and third, they need to understand and quantify the impact of those relationships on each other and on those outside the system.

Take nutrition. In the latest UN report on global food security, the number of undernourished (营养不良) people in the world has been rising, despite great advances in nutrition science. Tracking of 150 biochemicals in food has been important in revealing the relationships between calories, sugar, fat and the occurrence of common diseases. But using machine learning and artificial intelligence, some scientists propose that human diets consist of at least 26,000 biochemicals—and that the vast majority are not known. This shows that we have some way to travel before achieving the first objective of systems t hinking - which,in this example, is to identify more constituent parts of the nutrition system.

A systems approach to creating change is also built on the assumption that everyone in the system has equal power. But as some researchers find, the food system is not an equal one. A good way to redress (修正) such power imbalance is for more universities to do what Crystal did and teach students how to think using a systems approach.

More researchers, policymakers and representatives from the food industry must learn to look beyond their direct lines of responsibility and adopt a systems approach. Crystal knew that visions alone don't produce results, but concluded that "we'll never produce results that we can't envision".

(1) The author uses the question underlined in Paragraph Ⅰ to     . A. illustrate an argument B. highlight an opinion C. introduce the topic D. predict the ending
(2) What can be inferred about the field of nutrition? A. The first objective of systems thinking hasn't been achieved. B. The relationships among players have been clarified. C. Machine learning can solve the nutrition problem. D. The impact of nutrition cannot be quantified.
(3) As for systems thinking, which would the author agree with? A. It may be used to justify power imbalance. B. It can be applied to tackle challenges. C. It helps to prove why hunger exists. D. It goes beyond human imagination.
阅读理解 普通
3. 阅读理解

Over the last seven years, most states have banned texting by drivers, and public service campaigns have tried a wide range of methods to persuade people to put down their phones when they are behind the wheel.

Yet the problem, by just about any measure, appears to be getting worse. Americans are still texting while driving, as well as using social networks and taking photos. Road accidents, which had fallen for years, are now rising sharply.

That is partly because people are driving more, but Mark Rosekind, the chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said distracted (分心) driving was "only increasing, unfortunately."

"Big change requires big ideas." he said in a speech last month, referring broadly to the need to improve road safety. So to try to change a distinctly modern behavior, lawmakers and public health experts are reaching back to an old approach: They want to treat distracted driving like drunk driving.

An idea from lawmakers in New York is to give police officers a new device called the Textalyzer. It would work like this: An officer arriving at the scene of a crash could ask for the phones of the drivers and use the Textalyzer to check in the operating system for recent activity. The technology could determine whether a driver had just texted, emailed or done anything else that is not allowed under New York's hands-free driving laws.

"We need something on the books that can change people's behavior," said Félix W. Ortiz, who pushed for the state's 2001 ban on hand-held devices by drivers. If the Textalyzer bill becomes law, he said, "people are going to be more afraid to put their hands on the cell phone."

(1) Which of the following best describes the ban on drivers' texting in the US? A. Ineffective. B. Unnecessary. C. Inconsistent. D. Unfair.
(2) What can the Textalyzer help a police officer find out? A. Where a driver came from. B. Whether a driver used their phone. C. How fast a driver was going. D. When a driver arrived at the scene.
(3) What does the underlined word "something" in the last paragraph refer to? A. Advice. B. Data. C. Tests. D. Laws.
(4) What is a suitable title for the text? A. To Drive or Not to Drive? Think Before You Start B. Texting and Driving? Watch Out for the Textalyzer C. New York Banning Hand-Held Devices by Drivers D. The Next Generation Cell Phone: The Textalyzer
阅读理解 普通