The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand—a system of rapid handwriting, and now it’s threatening to finish off handwriting as a whole. When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2012, just 15% of the most1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive(手写体). The rest? Block letters.
And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of US students who no longer get much handwriting instructions in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive.
There are those who say the culture is at a crossing, turning from the written word to the typed one. If handwriting becomes a lost form of communication, does it matter?
It was at University Virginia that researchers recently discovered a previously unknown poem by Robert, written in his unique script. Handwritten documents are more valuable to researchers, historians say, because their authenticity can be confirmed. Students also find them more fascinating.
The loss of handwriting also may be a cognitive(认知的) opportunity missed. Several academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express their thoughts better—a lifelong benefit.
It doesn’t take much to teach better handwriting skills. At some schools in Prince George’s County, elementary school students use a program called Handwriting Without Tears for 15 minutes a day. They learn the correct formation of manuscript (手写的)letters through second grade, and cursive letters in third grade.
1.A poem by Robert mentioned in the passage is used to ____________.
A. prove how valuable handwriting is B. explain what a famous poet he is
C. show how unique his poem is D. stress how fascinating the documents are
2.According to the author, when is a perfect time to learn handwriting?
A. Kindergarten. B. Primary school.
C. High school. D. College.
3.The example of Handwriting Without Tears helps to argue that______.
A. the school are responsible for the loss of handwriting
B. the loss of handwriting is a cognitive opportunity missed
C. the culture is turning from the written word to the typed one
D. it doesn’t take much to teach better handwriting skills
4.What is the author’s attitude towards this debate?
A. Pessimistic B. Sceptical
C. Critical. D. Supportive
Computers have beaten human world champions at chess and, earlier this year, the board game Go(围棋). So far, though, they have struggled at the card table. So we challenged one AI(artificial intelligence) to a game.
Why is poker so difficult? Chess and Go are “information complete” games where all players can see all the relevant information. In poker, other players’ cards are hidden, making it an “information incomplete” game. Players have to guess opponents’ hands from their actions----tricky for computers. Solving poker could lead to many breakthroughs, from cyber security to driverless cars.
Scientists believe it is only a matter of time before AI once again vanquishes humans, so our human-machine match comes up in a game of Texas Hold’s Em Limit Poker. The AI was developed by Johannes Heinrich, a researcher studying machine learning at UCL. It combines two techniques: neural(神经的)networks and reinforcement learning(强化学习).
Neural networks, to some degree, copy the structure of human brains: their processors are highly interconnected and work at the same time to solve problems. They are good at spotting patterns in huge amounts of data. Reinforcement learning is when a machine, given a task, carries it out, learning from mistakes it makes. In this case, it means playing poker against itself billions of times to get better.
Mr Heinrich told Sky News: “Today we are presenting a new procedure that has learned in a different way, more similar to how humans learn. In particular, it is able to learn abstract patterns, represented by its neural network, which allow it to deal with new and unseen situations.”
After two hours of quite defensive play, from the computer at least, we called it a draw.
1.Why can’t the computer beat humans at the poker game?
A. Because humans are cleverer than the computer
B. Because humans practice playing the poker game every day
C. Because the computer can’t learn the regular rules of the poker game
D. Because the computer can’t know the other players’ cards completely
2.What does the underlined word “vanquishes” in Paragraph 3mean?
A. Leaves B. Defeats
C. Cheats D. Serves
3.What do we know about the reinforcement learning of AI?
A. It solves problems correctly every time
B. It is the same as the learning of humans
C. It learns from the mistakes appearing in a task
D. It is more developed than the studying ways of humans
4.What can be inferred from the text?
A. The new procedure of AI has some features of humans
B. Computers are stronger than humans in every aspect
C. Humans will beat computers at playing poker forever
D. Scientists feel unhappy about the result of the poker game
Ben, at the age of 23 ,was the youngest man to ski solo to the North Pole. He dragged a 180-kilogramme sledge (雪橇) over 1,420 miles through the worst Arctic conditions. This year, Ben plans to ski solo from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole and back in the autumn, carrying all his supplies on his sledge.
Ben Saunders was fired after persuading the firm to support his disorganized first adventure. “Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. We didn’t get to the Pole, so we had no media interest. No one heard about it.”
“People said it was impossible for me to get to the Pole. I said, “No, I can get there,” and I did. Self-belief, I see it as being a bit like a muscle — it's my belief that the more you stretch yourself the stronger it gets. If you never do anything that's uncomfortable or risky then your self-belief gets weaker. So that's one of the lessons I’ve figured out along the way.
“My Antarctic adventure is just practicable and that's what is exciting to me. If I knew I could do it without too much bother, I wouldn’t be interested." Why? “Personally I'm attracted by the human performance element to it. Not that long ago, running a marathon was seen as the top point of human attempt, and now I wouldn’t be that surprised if my mum said she was going to run one."
People’s horizons are changing. “I'm not particularly gifted. I’ve just chosen this one goal to achieve and I’ve been working hard to realize it. And that’s the thing that attracts me: with enough training and enough determination, enough focus and preparation, how far can we go? And I don，t think I've found out yet.”
1.What do we know about Ben Saunders’ first adventure?
A. It was ruined by his company.
B. There was no press coverage.
C. It was well planned and organized.
D. He actually reached the North Pole.
2.According to Ben Saunders, if you want to stretch your self-belief, you should______ .
A. often test your confidence
B. try something adventurous
C. aim to reach the North Pole
D. always stretch your muscles
3.Ben Saunders was excited about his Antarctic adventure because_______ .
A. he liked running a marathon
B. he wanted to exercise his body
C. he knew it might be achievable
D. he was sure he could do it easily
4.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. We have to change our views about adventure.
B. We can never know our possibilities and energies.
C. We should have a reason for going on an adventure.
D. We have to be especially talented to have an adventure.
假如你是红星中学的李华，收到来自英国学生Mark的电子邮件，咨询你校暑期为异国学生举办汉语夏令营活动，请通过电子邮件向Mark介绍本次活动，其内容如下：
1.活动时间：7月10日到7月30日：地点：红星中学。
2.活动内容：
•学习日常汉语，可与当地人交流。
•举办各种晚会，了解中国历史和中国传统文化，例如节日…...
•参观博物馆，长城等......
3.活动意义......
注意：
1.词数不少于100；
2.可适当的加入细节，以使内容充实，行文连贯；
3.开头已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Mark,
I feel delighted to get your email,
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
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10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误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：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，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10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
For students learned instruments summer is always a “music season”. During vacation time, we are always busy attending various of lessons, taking exams and participating in competitions. This summer I joined in a music competition but was lucky to get the second place. It was the first time that I have played on the stage. In front of the stage was my excited schoolmates. Facing such many people, I felt very upset at first, but the encourage from my teacher kept me going ahead. Fortunate, I was given a silver medal, that increased my confidence. In short, nothing is impossible to willing heart.
My deskmate admires my fluent English very much and I usually feel 1.(encourage) by his compliments.
One day, 2. we learned the new word “eccentric” in class, we 3. make a sentence with it. I volunteered to do it by saying “My deskmate is an eccentric boy 4. clothe never fit him.” Hearing this, the whole class burst into 5. (laugh) and my deskmate’s face turned red. 6. class, I learned from the teacher that my deskmate 7. (drop) out of school if he hadn’t been helped by others. My mindless words must 8. (hurt) him deeply.
Not until then did 1 realize words could be powerful in 9. positive and negative ways. We should avoid 10. (hurt) others if we can’t always be encouraging them when we speak.
