cognitive compulsory burdensome trivial insular stubborn I. 1. To some extent, the _ journey is the result of a globalized world and the by-product of the development of science and technology. 2. Getting away from tellous life is an essential way of solving our most _ problems. 3._ things can be grasped from a slightly more interesting and abstract perspective for an open-minded traveler. 4. Cultural contrasts can expand the circumstances of our _ input and make us more open to ambiguity. 5. People who are socially isolated tend to take _ attitude toward fresh insight into a new event. 6. Traveling is not a_ option but a gift that most people don't intend to waste.

Entering the library, the freshman was ______ by the numerous books on shelves, as well as by the students who were studying quietly.A. disruptedB. greetedC. expressedD. welcomed

A new system developed by a University of Washington computer vision researcher called Dreambit lets a person imagine how they would look with a different hairstyle or color, or in a different time period, age, country or anything else. Developer Ira Shlizerman and her team previously developed automated age progression software that focused only on a person’s face. The new system adds varied hairstyle options and other contextual elements. After uploading an input photo, you type in a search term—such as “curly hair,” “India” or “1930s.” The software system analyzes the input photo and minesa set of Internet photographs that fall into the desired category and also match the original photo’s face shape, pose and expression. Then the software’s algorithms (算法) seamlessly map the person’s face onto the results searched from the Internet. “It’s hard to recognize someone by just looking at a face,” said Shlizerman. “With missing children, people often dye their hair or change the style. The new image-processing software not only imagines how a missing person’s facial appearance might change over time, but also enables one to imagine what a child might look five or 10 years into the future under different circumstances—with red hair, curly hair, black hair or even a shaved head.” Another potential application is to picture how a certain actor or actress might appear in a role. For example, the system can match Internet photographs of the actress Cate Blanchett and Bob Dylan, the character archetypes (原型), to predict how she would appear playing the Dylan role in the movie I’m Not There. Dreambit draws on previous research conducted in facial processing, three-dimensional reconstruction and age progression, combining those algorithms in a unique way to create the blended images. Its ability to accurately and automatically synthesize two photographs stems from the combination of algorithms that Shlizerman assembled, as well as the numerous photos available on the Internet. “The key idea is to find photos of people who look similar enough to you that you can copy certain elements of their appearance,” said Shlizerman.1. Dreambit is a new system that ________.A) focuses on a person’s change of facial appearanceB) synthetizes a person’s image under different situations C) changes a person’s nationality as he or she likesD) compares a person’s photo with others’ on the Internet2. According to the passage, the underlined word “mine” in Para. 2 means ________.A) to search through B) to look intoC) to look forD) to go over3. A new blended image of a person is ________.A) drawn by the new system before certain search terms are typed inB) dependent on different facial appearances and hairstylesC) based on similar Internet photos satisfying certain terms D) created by putting the original photo into the desired category4. Which of the following statements about Dreambit is true?A) Dreambit is the first step in trying to imagine human appearance.B) Dreambit can be helpful in finding missing children. C) Dreambit is widely used in filmmaking industry.D) Dreambit can compare one actor with the others.5. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?A) Dreambit is a combination of many kinds of software.B) A lot of latest technologies are involved in Dreambit.C) Two photographs can be blended to be more accurate.D) Effective usage of Dreambit relies on the Internet.

3 Translate the following sentences into English with the words and expressions in parentheses.-|||-1 越来越多的中国年轻人在国际交流中发挥重要作用,他们用生动的故事向世界展现可信、可爱-|||-可敬的中国形象。(international communicati-|||-2作为中华文化的重要组成部分,汉字既是表达思想和感情的工具,也是传承文化的媒介。-|||-(an integral part)-|||-3一百多年前,甲骨文(oracle bone script)的发现为解开汉字起源之谜提供了证据。-|||-(solve a puzzle)-|||-4 通过汉语中的"吉普""芭蕾"等外来词,我们可以窥见中国语言和文化的包容性-|||-(inclusiveness)。(get a glimpse of)

So, You Want to Be a Fiction Writer? Honestly, I’m glad to hear that you’re interested in becoming a fiction writer. However, I think there are a number of questions you should ask yourself before you settle on writing as a career. For example, have you consciously considered why it is that you want to be a writer? Is it because you enjoy showing off, maybe? Or is it just an arbitrary choice to avoid getting a real job? Or maybe you’ve dreamed of creating exquisite stories ever since you were an infant. Writing for a living is not an easy undertaking, and before you start, you should be sure that you are doing it for the right reasons. An important facet of being a writer is the ability to deal with the solitude. A professional writer must be ready to spend at least five hours a day alone, often in the lonely environment of a study, in front of the computer. Are you ready for this degree of isolation and confinement’? At the same time, remember that writing is a craft as well, requiring sustained intensity, precision, and extended periods of concentrated effort. No watertight plot was ever created by luck. Fine writing is created through painstaking effort. In addition to the solitude and the hard work, there is still the mysterious question of talent. How can a person know whether he or she has talent or not? Well, there is no foolproof way of detecting talent, but in my experience, people who have talent for writing fiction enjoy telling stories to people around them. They love to talk about the things they’ve done or read, and people like listening to them. It’s an exaggeration to say that all writers do this, but when I hear someone tell a good story that grabs me, I always think, “There goes a potential writer.” Now on to what I consider to be the heart of writing: inspiration and originality. Inspiration comes from inside, and in my opinion it grows out of having survived or overcome certain difficulties in life. People who have suffered seem to have more of a need to speak out. It has been said that happy people don’t make good writers. Although this is undoubtedly exaggerated, there is a grain of truth in it. Why would a completely happy and satisfied person take on the painful task of writing? Someone who wishes to do this in some way needs to do it. I believe this need is born of some kind of suffering. I cannot overstate the importance of originality in fiction writing. It is critical that you don’t let tired old ideas and phrases creep into your writing. Each work of fiction must present something truly new. A successful work is never simply created according to a dusty old diagram or according to a well-used pattern. From the first page, the reader should be greeted by a story like nothing anyone has seen before. Try to surprise your reader at every turn. Imagine making your reader say, “Wow! I never expected that to happen!” Well, if I haven’t been able to dissuade you from becoming a writer by now, it looks like you might have made up your mind to become one. Let me give you a few tips that might help you on your way to a successful writing career. First, remember that your first draft will never be perfect. It will always need work, and sometimes it will need a great deal of work. If the amount of revisions and corrections seems to be growing, don’t be afraid to throw the whole thing out and begin again. The value of that first draft was to start developing and organizing your ideas. Sometimes trying to repair a heavily flawed story is worse than starting again, and it can harm the unity of the story. Another technique I cannot stress enough is to write for a large audience. Make your best effort to be understood by the largest number of people you can. Remember that the most famous artists, writers, musicians, movie makers, etc., in history have been those that people of all types—rich, poor, young, old, well educated and not-so-well educated----have all been able to appreciate and enjoy. When you write, put yourself in the place of the reader. Try to write stories that you would like to read yourself. If you are writing a passage only because you have to or because you can’t think Of anything else, your reader is certainly not going to enjoy it. When you find yourself low on inspiration, take a break, and come back to finish writing after you’ve regained your inspiration and originality. It’s also important to remember that, as a writer, you are a kind of educator. Make sure that you are well-informed about the things you want to write about. Doing research has helped many writers to create more interesting and realistic stories. In conclusion, let me say that writing is different for every individual. I hope you will find the advice I’ve given above useful, but you will undoubtedly make new discoveries about what works best for you as you pursue your new career as a fiction writer! (1) Who did the author probably write this passage for? A. professional fiction writers B. people interested in starting a career in fiction writing C. high school English students D. teachers of fiction writing (2) According to the author, what is the source of inspiration? A. natural talent B. originality C. suffering D. training (3) Which piece of advice would the author give regarding originality? A. Don’t try to be original all the time. B. Don’t be afraid to use a plot pattern that someone has used before. C. Try to be as original as you can possibly be throughout. D. Try to copy a successful piece of fiction. (4) How can putting yourself in the place of the reader help your writing? A. You can write stories that come from your heart, B. You can make your work more original. C. You can check whether you enjoy what you’ve written. D. You can figure out how different readers think. (5) How does the author suggest a fiction writer can write more realistic stories? A. by doing more research before writing B. by spending more time on the writing process C. by only writing about past experiences D. by using language the reader can easily understand

Many people enjoy listening to sad music. Why? A new study by Japanese researchers, published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology, reveals sad music might actually evoke positive emotions.Kawakami and colleagues, from Tokyo University of the Arts and the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, asked 44 volunteers, including both musicians and non-specialists, to listen to two pieces of sad music and one piece of happy music. Each participant was required to use a set of keywords to rate both their perception of the music and their own emotional state.The sad pieces of music included Glinka’s “La Séparation” in F minor and Blumenfeld’s “Sur Mer” in G minor. The happy music piece was Granados’s Allegro de Concierto in G major. To control for the “happy” effect of major key, they also played the minor-key pieces in major key, and vice versa.The researchers explained that sad music evoked contradictory emotions because the participants of the study tended to feel sad music to be more tragic, less romantic, and less joyful than they felt themselves while listening to it. “In general, sad music induces sadness in listeners, and sadness is regarded as an unpleasant emotion. If sad music actually evokes only unpleasant emotion, we would not listen to it,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Music that is perceived as sad actually induces romantic emotion as well as sad emotion. And people, regardless of their musical training, experience this conflictive emotion to listen to the sad music,” added the researchers.Also, unlike sadness in daily life, sadness experienced through art actually feels pleasant, possibly because the latter does not pose an actual threat to our safety. This could help people to deal with their negative emotions in daily life, concluded the authors. “Emotion experienced by music has no direct danger or harm unlike the emotion experienced in everyday life. Therefore, we can even enjoy unpleasant emotion such as sadness. If we suffer from unpleasant emotion evoked through daily life, sad music might be helpful to alleviate negative emotion,” they added.1. Which of the following statements is true about the study?A) The study intends to prove different music has different usage.B) More than forty participants are involved in the study. C) Musicians and amateurs are the main research targets.D) Participants are asked to write articles about their feelings.2. It can be inferred from Para. 3 that ________.A) there are always more pieces of sad music than happy musicB) happy music is often played in G majorC) sad music should be played in minor keyD) “La Séparation” was played in major key in the study 3. The “contradictory emotions” in Para. 4 may refer to ________.A) tragic feelings as well as sad feelingsB) sad feelings as well as unpleasant feelingsC) sad feelings as well as romantic feelings D) pleasant feelings as well as joyful feelings4. What’s the function of sad music according to the study?A) Sad music can help people feel less unpleasant. B) Sad music can make people enjoy negative emotions.C) Sad music can remind people of actual threat in life.D) Sad music can create romance in daily life.5. What is the best title for this passage?A) Sad music, sadness in life.B) Different music reflecting different life attitudes.C) Introduction of sad music and happy music.D) Why do people enjoy listening to sad music?

Entering the library, the freshman was ______ by the numerous books on shelves, as well as by the students who were studying quietly.A. expressedB. welcomedC. greetedD. disrupted

The explorers, ______ all the necessary safety equipment, entered a huge cave.A. wornB. wearingC. to wearD. wore

Entering the library, the freshman was ______ by the numerous books on shelves, as well as by the students who were studying quietly.A. welcomedB. disruptedC. greetedD. expressed

The police set a ______ to catch the thieves.（ ）A. planB. deviceC. trapD. trick