Juili Kale was looking forward to receiving her master’s degree at Arizona State University. She planned to invite her family living in India to the United States for her graduation ceremony. But then, in March, the coronavirus pandemic ended those plans as schools nationwide closed to stop the spread. Kale’s dream came crashing down. Yet the graduation ceremony is taking place—just not as she expected.
University officials have turned to robots so Arizona State graduates and their families can take part in the event online. Cameras recorded images of Kale and about 140 other graduates online this month. They were wearing robes and mortar board caps. They took turns moving a robot at the university that held an eye-level display showing their face. With the help of the robot, they stepped forward to receive their diplomas and take pictures. The robots are from Double Robotics, a company based in Burlingame, California Before the health crisis, they had been used to help people attend funerals and even marriage ceremonies without traveling.
Sanjeev Khagram is dean of Arizona State’s Thunderbird School of Global Management. He told the Reuters news agency the video-a “bittersweet” experience—was recorded and produced over two days. “It may not have been ideal for the students,” Khagram admitted, “but we want to show that we did everything that we could to celebrate them. When the crisis is over, the class of 2020 can do a real-life walk at any future graduation ceremony they choose.”
Kale planned to throw a “watch party” her husband at home and her family in India. Getting used to the online experience was easy for Nancy Sierras Morales. “We have been able to adapt very quickly because we are used to being on a computer and on the phone almost like 24 hours 7 days,” the 22-year-old said. She said that, “while it is not the best, it is cool...to be like the first class ever to do this.”
“I’m disappointed...,” said 41-year-old Douglas Northcott. He is graduating with a master’s degree in applied leadership and management. He looked forward to the real thing.
1.What had the robots mainly been used for before the graduation ceremony?
A.Saving travelling for people to attend ceremonies like wedding.
B.Hosting all kinds of ceremonies for people unable to travel.
C.Helping professors with their teaching plans in universities.
D.Amusing people during their travelling to funerals.
2.According to Sanjeev Khagram, to have a real graduation ceremony, the 2020 graduates can ________.
A.throw an online “watch party”
B.attend any future graduation ceremony
C.hold another real one by themselves
D.do everything they can to celebrate
3.According to the text, ________ made a fast adjustment to the new situation.
A.Juili Kale B.Sanjeev Khagram
C.Nancy Sierras Morales D.Douglas Northcott
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.A disappointing graduation ceremony.
B.A graduation ceremony with the help of robots.
C.multifunctional robot from Double Robotics.
D.A special experience of students in the health crisis.
From Mozart to Metallica, tons of people enjoy listening to various types of music while they paint, write, or draw. Many believe that music helps improve creativity, but an international study conducted by English and Swedish researchers and published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology is challenging that notion. Psychologists from Lancaster University, the University of Gavle, and the University of Central Lancashire say that their findings indicate music actually prevents creativity.
To come to their conclusions, researchers had participants complete verbal problems designed to inspire creativity while sitting in a quiet room, and then again while music played in the background. They found that background music obviously weakened the participants’ ability to complete tasks associated with verbal creativity. The research team also tested background music such as those commonly heard in a library, but found that such music had no impact on participants’ creativity.
The tasks were simple word game. For example, participants were given three words, such as dress, dial, and flower. Then, they were asked to find a single word associated with all three that could be combined to form a common phrase or word. The single word in this case, would be “sun” (sundress, sunflower, etc.). Participants completed the tasks in either a quiet room, or while exposed to three different types of music: music with unfamiliar lyrics (歌词), instrumental music, or music with familiar lyrics.
“We found strong evidence of imperfect performance when playing background music in comparison to quiet background conditions,” said co-author Dr. Neil McLatchie. Dr. McLatchie and his colleagues conclude that music even familiar music with well-known lyrics disturbs the participants’ focus, preventing creativity. Also, as for the library background music having seemingly no effect, the study’s authors believe that was the case because library music creates a “steady state” environment that doesn’t affect concentration.
1.What does the underlines word “notion” in Paragraph mean?
A.suggestion B.opinion C.principle D.theory
2.Except the library background music, how many background conditions were created for the participants?
A.3. B.4. C.5. D.6.
3.What’s the purpose of the study about music?
A.To prove that music is beneficial to people’s health.
B.To make it known that music can improve people’s memory.
C.To test whether music is beneficial for creativity or not.
D.To indicate why background music in library is popular.
4.Which of the following is actually disturbed by background music?
A.Patience. B.Hearing ability. C.Environment. D.Concentration.
Many healthy women in their late 70s tie up their walking shoelaces (鞋带) or hiking boots to stay active. But not Suzelle Poole. Six days week, the willowy (苗条的) 78-year-old Dallas ballet instructor laces up her dance shoes and teaches classical ballet, as she’s done for decades.
Madame Poole, as her students call her, also regularly performs ballet throughout the Dallas area as a guest artist with local dance companies. And she dances at the assisted-living centers along with her students. “People in care centers can relate to me because I’m about the same age.” Poole said, “I hope to get them interested in exercise. Plus, I enjoy showing them that it is never too late to do something you love.”
Ballet has always seemed as natural to her as breathing, she said, beginning with the first day when she took lessons at age 7 in London, where she was born. “I loved it from the start,” she said. “and when my parents took me to watch the well-known Margot Fonteyn in a ballet, I just knew it was something wanted to be a part of forever.”
Because 30 is the average age for most dancers to retire, Poole said, she thought she would be lucky to continue performing into her late 20s. Nobody was more surprised than she was when she continued to dance into her 40s, 50s and beyond. “I didn’t set out to be dancing ballet in my 70s,” she said, “but I’m certainly happy that it turned out that way. I have strong feet, strong knees and very strong back.” she added.
1.How is Suzelle Poole different from those of her age?
A.She often goes for walk. B.She starts learning ballet late.
C.She keeps fit through dancing. D.She loves collecting hiking boots.
2.Why does Suzelle Poole dance in care centers?
A.To meet dance companies’ requirement. B.To motivate people there to stay active.
C.To support her students’ volunteer work. D.To make friends with some people there.
3.According to the text, we know that Margot Fonteyn ________.
A.informed Suzelle Pooles’ parents about her talent
B.continued dancing ballet with Suzelle Poole on stage
C.taught Suzelle Poole to dance ballet for several years
D.inspired Suzelle Poole to devote her whole life to ballet
4.What can we say about Suzelle Poole’s dancing ballet in her 70s?
A.It is out of her expectation. B.It is her original dream.
C.It earns her nothing but reputation. D.It has little to do with her health.
Pet Therapy Program
Our program involves trained volunteers and their dogs who visit the children at CHOP. This program gives the children the opportunity to interact safely with the dogs and receive their unconditional love and acceptance in the hope of making the hospital environment more comfortable and less stressful and helping them recover.
For the safety of our patients and their families, we ask all possible volunteers to meet the following requirements:
● Age. You must be 188 years or older, and your dog must be at least one year old.
● Certification. We require all therapy dogs and handlers have a current therapy certification through Delta Society or Therapy Dogs International.
● Time commitment. We ask pet therapy volunteers to commit to a minimum of one two-hour shift (轮班) per month.
● Health. All volunteers and their dogs are required to be healthy. Volunteers have to receive the seasonal flu vaccine (疫苗), which is provided free of charge at CHOP. Dogs cannot be on a raw food diet at any time during their participation in the program. Dogs must be washed within 24 hours of the visit and dry upon entering the hospital.
● Restrictions. Volunteers must obey all patient confidentiality (隐私) guidelines and hospital policies. Dogs must be on leash (皮带). For identification purposes, your dog must wear a piece of colored cloth at all times while in the hospital.
If you’re interested in our program, please call 215-590-2001 or e-mail PPPTP@email. chop. edu.
1.What is CHOP?
A.A pet hospital. B.A medical school.
C.A children’s hospital. D.A volunteer organization.
2.What is the main purpose of the program?
A.To reduce patients’ pain caused by their diseases.
B.To train therapy dogs well enough to serve the patients.
C.To make child patients feel comfortable and recover soon.
D.To do some research on dogs’ contribution to medical science.
3.What can we learn about the dogs that work for the program?
A.They must be on a diet.
B.They must be kept clean and dry.
C.They are allowed to walk around freely in the hospital.
D.They must wear colored clothes to attract people’s attention.
最近央视节目《朗读者》掀起了一股全民读书潮，假定你是李华，你和你的朋友在学校创办了一个英文读书俱乐部（English Reading Club）。请你在社团艺术节上做一个演讲，介绍一下俱乐部的一些情况并招募会员。内容包括：1.创办目的；2.活动安排；3.会员条件。
注意：1.词数100左右，文章开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数；2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Hello, boys and girls!
I’m Lihua, a senior two student.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you!
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有5处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词；
删除:把多余的词用(\)划掉；
修改:在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:
1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改5处，多者(从第6处起)不计分
Tommy is four years old, an age that children usually have a lot of questions. Every time when he goes out with parents, he asks a million questions. Some are embarrassed. Last week he asked a middle-aged woman, “How old are you?” She didn’t answer. Maybe when he grew up, he won’t ask so many questions.
