After many years on the endangered list of animals, Japan’s Amami Black rabbit can finally breathe a sigh of relief — That’s because this year, the rare animal is no longer in danger of dying out!
The effort to save the dark-furred rabbit, often called “a living fossil”, began in 1921, when the Japanese government promoted it to the status of “natural monument”. This meant that it could not be hunted down for food. However, when that did not work, it got yet another promotion to “special natural monument”, which meant that the rabbit could not be trapped or hunted.
While that helped, it was not enough — By 2004 with only 2,000-5,000 specimen (样本) left in the wild, the Amami rabbit was officially declared endangered! The reason for the serious population decrease was due to loss of habitat caused by forest clearing for home and agriculture use and the introduction of a new species not native to the island — the Mongoose. Brought in to get rid of the snake population, the Mongoose instead seemed to prefer the black rabbit. In 2005, the government carried out a strict mongoose capture (捕获) order and slowly but surely, the rabbit started to come back.
This rabbit live in a rather unusual lifestyle. Its ideal habitat is a forest that features both trees and large grasses — the former to find acorns (橡树子) to feed on and the latter, to hide its babies. That's because to protect them from being eaten by their enemies, the Amami rabbit buries them deep into the ground among the grasses and covers them up with dirt during the day. Then, in the middle of the night, still keeping a vigilant eye out for their enemies, it digs them out from their hiding place and feeds them. No wonder the animal is sometimes called “midnight rabbit”.
Though many measures have been taken to stop this furry animal from being wiped out from the world, there are many more that are still in danger. We surely hope that officials in other parts of the world try their best to save the endangered species.
1.The status of “natural monument” means ________.
A. you can’t kill them
B. you can’t capture them
C. you can’t catch them for food
D. you can’t trap or hunt them
2.Why was the rabbit still in danger after it was promoted to “special natural monument”?
A. Because it was always eaten by snakes.
B. Because people still wanted to capture it for food.
C. Because the rabbit lives in a rather unusual lifestyle.
D. Because of loss of habitat and a new species.
3.In Amami rabbit’s ideal habitat, large grasses are used ________.
A. to feed on
B. to protect its babies
C. to hide themselves
D. to give birth to babies
4.The underlined word “vigilant” in the fourth paragraph can be replaced by ________.
A. watchfulB. uninterestedC. fearfulD. shiny
5.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A. Many officials don’t pay attention to the black Amami rabbit.
B. The black Amami rabbit was no longer endangered.
C. Saving the black Amami rabbit still has a long way to go.
D. The measures taken to protect the black Amami rabbit were useless.
As Artificial Intelligence（AI） becomes increasingly sophisticated, there are growing concerns that robots could become a threat. This danger can be avoided, according to computer science professor Stuart Russell, if we figure out how to turn human values into a programmable code.
Russell argues that as robots take on more complicated tasks, it’s necessary to translate our morals into AI language.
For example, if a robot does chores around the house, you wouldn’t want it to put the pet cat in the oven to make dinner for the hungry children. “You would want that robot preloaded with a good set of values,” said Russell.
Some robots are already programmed with basic human values. For example, mobile robots have been programmed to keep a comfortable distance from humans. Obviously there are cultural differences, but if you were talking to another person and they came up close in your personal space, you wouldn’t think that’s the kind of thing a properly brought-up person would do.
It will be possible to create more sophisticated moral machines, if only we can find a way to set out human values as clear rules.
Robots could also learn values from drawing patterns from large sets of data on human behavior. They are dangerous only if programmers are careless.
The biggest concern with robots going against human values is that human beings fail to so sufficient testing and they’ve produced a system that will break some kind of taboo（禁忌）.
One simple check would be to program a robot to check the correct course of action with a human when presented with an unusual situation.
If the robot is unsure whether an animal is suitable for the microwave, it has the opportunity to stop, send out beeps(嘟嘟声), and ask for directions from a human. If we humans aren’t quite sure about a decision, we go and ask somebody else.
The most difficult step in programming values will be deciding exactly what we believe in moral, and how to create a set of ethical rules. But if we come up with an answer, robots could be good for humanity.
1.What does the author say about the threat of robots?
A. It may constitute a challenge to computer progranmers.
B. It accompanies all machinery involving high technology.
C. It can be avoided if human values are translated into their language.
D. It has become an inevitable peril as technology gets more sophisticated.
2.What would we think of a person who invades our personal space according to the author?
A. They are aggressive.B. They are outgoing.
C. They are ignorant.D. They are ill-bred.
3.How do robots learn human values?
A. By interacting with humans in everyday life situations.
B. By following the daily routines of civilized human beings.
C. By picking up patterns from massive data on human behavior.
D. By imitating the behavior of property brought-up human beings.
4.What will a well-programmed robot do when facing an unusual situation?
A. keep a distance from possible dangers.
B. Stop to seek advice from a human being.
C. Trigger its built-in alarm system at once.
D. Do sufficient testing before taking action.
5.What is most difficult to do when we turn human values into a programmable code?
A. Determine what is moral and ethical.
B. Design some large-scale experiments.
C. Set rules for man-machine interaction.
D. Develop a more sophisticated program.
Why do some people live to be older than others? You know the standard explanations: keeping a moderate diet, engaging in regular exercise, etc. But what effect does your personality have on your longevity（长寿）? Do some kinds of personalities lead to longer lives? A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society looked at this question by examining the personality characteristics of 246 children of people who had lived to be at least 100.
The study shows that those living the longest are more outgoing, more active and less neurotic （神经质的) than other people. Long-living women are also more likely to be sympathetic and cooperative than women with a normal life span. These findings are in agreement with what you would expect from the evolutionary theory: those who like to make friends and help others can gather enough resources to make it through tough times.
Interestingly, however, other characteristics that you might consider advantageous had no impact on whether study participants were likely to live longer. Those who were more self-disciplined, for instance, were no more likely to live to be very old. Also, being open to new ideas had no relationship to long life, which might explain all those bad-tempered old people who are fixed in their ways.
Whether you can successfully change your personality as an adult is the subject of a longstanding psychological debate. But the new paper suggests that if you want long life, you should strive to be as outgoing as possible.
Unfortunately, another recent study shows that your mother’s personality may also help determine your longevity. That study looked at nearly 28,000 Norwegian mothers and found that those moms who were more anxious, depressed and angry were more likely to feed their kids unhealthy diets. Patterns of childhood eating can be hard to break when we’re adults, which may mean that kids of depressed moms end up dying younger.
Personality isn’t destiny（命运), and everyone knows that individuals can learn to change. But both studies show that long life isn’t just a matter of your physical health but of your mental health.
1.The aim of the study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society is ________.
A. to see whether people’s personality affects their life span
B. to find out if one’s lifestyle has any effect on their health
C. to investigate the role of exercise in living a long life
D. to examine all the factors contributing to longevity
2.What does the author imply about outgoing and sympathetic people?
A. They have a good understanding of evolution.
B. They are better at negotiating an agreement.
C. They generally appear more resourceful.
D. They are more likely to get over hardship.
3.What finding of the study might prove somewhat out of our expectation?
A. Easy-going people can also live a relatively long life.
B. Personality characteristics that prove advantageous actually vary with times.
C. Such personality characteristics as self-discipline have no effect on longevity.
D. Readiness to accept new ideas helps one enjoy longevity.
4.What does the recent study of Norwegian mothers show?
A. Children’s personality characteristics are invariably determined by their mothers.
B. People with unhealthy eating habits are likely to die sooner.
C. Mothers’ influence on children may last longer than fathers’.
D. Mothers’ negative personality characteristics may affect their children’s life spans.
5.What can we learn from the findings of the two new studies?
A. Anxiety and depression more often than not cut short one’s life span.
B. Longevity results from a combination of mental and physical health.
C. Personality plays a decisive role in how healthy one is.
D. Health is in large part related to one’s lifestyle.
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从31—50各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
I Was Forced to Find My Gifts
I was a pretty typical 17-year-old with a strong interest in painting when something happened. One Sunday, I went to an old swimming hole and dove in. I ________ something under the water head-on and broke a couple of vertebrae（椎骨）of my neck.
For five months I stayed at the hospital, feeling like a ________ to my family. My self-image was instantly ________. I was described with terms like “disabled” or “crippled.” I was angry and ________ after I failed so many times at some ________ task—dropping something on the floor and trying to get it back up again.
Near the end of my stay in the hospital, my doctor almost forcibly tied a ________ to my hand. He had seen my paintings I’d done before and ________ me to paint. Fortunately, I found that I ________ had this artistic ability left. It was like a big weight had been ________. At least I could do something worthwhile again, and it became a ________ part of my recovery.
After I left the hospital, I stayed at home, feeling desperately ________. It seemed like I was cut off from ________. No one can get along ________ love and acceptance. So that fall, I started at the University of Texas, majoring in graphic design.
One day a man happened to see one of my paintings. He had a great ________ for it and asked if I ever did art shows. So I was given a(n) ________. Much to my surprise, I found that people liked my paintings and would pay for them. That was about 11 years ago. Today, 1,500 ________ have carried my work.
It was the art that provided the ________ for me to get up every morning and do something, ________ sitting in front of the television. Society has such ________ expectations of the disabled person, so it’s very easy to get sucked into a dependency routine — you know, the “give me” kind of attitude. And that’s what I take the most ________ in — the fact that what I’m doing today is well received all over.
1.A. sawB. hitC. touchedD. picked
2.A. burdenB. failureC. jokeD. patient
3.A. improvedB. createdC. changedD. judged
4.A. helplessB. carelessC. nervousD. tired
5.A. difficultB. specialC. simpleD. important
6.A. bandageB. towelC. ropeD. paintbrush
7.A. allowedB. taughtC. orderedD. encouraged
8.A. alreadyB. stillC. evenD. always
9.A. gainedB. carriedC. liftedD. measured
10.A. vitalB. strangeC. boringD. different
11.A. lonelyB. weakC. frightenedD. guilty
12.A. successB. classmatesC. societyD. treatment
13.A. inB. forC. behindD. without
14.A. sympathyB. fondness
C. talentD. responsibility
15.A. exhibitionB. challengeC. permissionD. message
16.A. hospitalsB. galleriesC. schoolsD. families
17.A. imaginationB. chanceC. motivationD. curiosity
18.A. instead ofB. apart fromC. due toD. but for
19.A. highB. lowC. enoughD. unrealistic
20.A. powerB. prideC. comfortD. advantage
—Sorry I’m late. I got stuck in traffic.
—________. You’re here now. Come in and sit down.
A．You are welcomeB．That’s right
C．I have no ideaD．Never mind
________ the opportunity provided by Professor Lee, Charlie finally went to China to study.
A. Instead ofB. In case ofC. Thanks toD. as well as
