阅读理解

    The values of artistic works, according to cultural relativism(相对主义), are simply reflections of local social and economic conditions. Such a view, however, fails to explain the ability of some works of art to excite the human mind across cultures and through centuries.

    History has witnessed the endless productions of Shakespearean plays in every major language of the world. It is never rare to find that Mozart packs Japanese concert halls, as Japanese painter Hiroshige does Paris galleries, Unique works of this kind are different from today's popular art, even if they began as works of popular art. They have set themselves apart in their timeless appeal and will probably be enjoyed for centuries into the future.

    In a 1757 essay, the philosopher David Hume argued that because" the general principles of taste are uniform(不变的) in human nature," the value of some works of art might be essentially permanent. He observed that Homer was still admired after two thousand years. Works of this type, he believed, spoke to deep and unvarying features of human nature and could continue to exist over centuries.

    Now researchers are applying scientific methods to the study of the universality of art. For example, evolutionary psychology is being used by literary scholars to explain the long-lasting themes and plot devices in fiction. The structures of musical pieces are now open to experimental analysis as never before. Research findings seem to indicate that the creation by a great artist is as permanent an achievement as the discovery by a great scientist.

每句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。

听录音，回答问题。

Why did the man miss the football game?

If you happen to get lost in the wild, you'd better stay ______ you are and wait for help.

Last Sunday, I met my beloved math teacher in the mall .

Why will Jack go to Anna's office?

阅读理解

Too many people want others to be their friends, but they don't give friendship back. That is why some friendships don't last very long. To have a friend, you must learn to treat your friend the way you want your friend to treat you. Learning to be a good friend means learning three rules: be honest; be generous; be understanding.

Honesty is where a good friendship starts. Friends must be able to trust one another. If you don't tell the truth, people usually find out. If a friend finds out that you haven't been honest, you may lose your friend's trust. Good friends always count on one another to speak and act honestly.

Generosity means sharing and sharing makes a friendship grow. You don't have to give your lunch money or your clothes, or enjoy, like our hobbies and your interests. Naturally you will want to share your ideas and feelings. These can be very valuable to a friend. They tell your friend what is important to you. By sharing them you help your friend know you better.

Sooner or later everyone needs understanding and help with a problem. Something may go wrong at school. Talking about the problem can make it easier to solve. Turning to a friend can be a first step in solving the problem. So to be a friend you must listen and understand. You must try to put yourself in your friend's place so you can understand the problem better.

No two friendships are ever exactly alike. But all true friendships have three things in common. If you plan to keep your friendships, you must practice honesty. Generosity and understanding.

任务型阅读

When the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, the resulting view of the Sun is called a solar eclipse(日食). Solar eclipses are beautiful astronomical events and many people across the world travel to faraway places to get a clear view of the phenomenon.  Others choose special eyewear.

It is believed that a pregnant woman with a baby should not view a solar eclipse. They are often told that their child will be badly formed if they view a solar eclipse. However, various scientific authorities have stated over and over again that there is no harm at all in viewing a solar eclipse with the right eye gear.

It is important, however, that you view a solar eclipse with the right eye gear. Staring right at the sun could permanently damage the eyes. It is wrong to assume that the sun can be looked at after the moon blocks out a majority of it.

If you want to view the eclipse, you have to get special glasses. As opposed to popular belief, sunglasses and dark films do NOT protect our eyes. You can do this by fixing a telescope and focusing the image onto a sheet of paper. You can clearly see the eclipse on the sheet of paper. You should never look directly at the eclipse through the telescope.

Similarly, you can make a tiny hole on an opaque(不透明的) sheet of paper and let the light passing through fall on a sheet of paper. Alternatively, you can watch it live on TV which is the safest way of viewing a solar eclipse!

A. It is best if you purchase eye wear.

B. So they need not worry to view a solar eclipse.

C. Viewing a solar eclipse directly is a strict no-no.

D. Some of them watch the event through special, telescopes.

E. This method is an effective way to watch an eclipse as well.

F. To safely watch a solar eclipse, wear protective eclipse glasses.

G. The best way to see a solar eclipse is by viewing its projected image.

听材料，回答问题。

The new research (预示着) that the seagulls staying here come from Spain.

阅读理解

        In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity (繁荣). Others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.

       I have taught many children who held the belief that their self­worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life­and­death affairs. In their single­minded pursuit(追求)of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.

       However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which only values the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among those who are against competition are young people who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn't matter because I really didn't try.” What is not usually admitted by them is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot.

        Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one's self­respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to disappear can we discover a new meaning in competition. 

In 1993, China used 1.2 billion tons of coal for heating and g electricity.

—It's amazing that Beijing and Zhangjiakou have won the bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics!

—Sure it is! The government ________ have made great efforts!

阅读理解

    Pocket Tape-Recorders “Family and Home Magazine” test what's on the market now.

1）Pearlcorder S702 $64

    This simple model at the bottom of the Olympus range scored the most points for its excellent quality of recording. Background noise hardly affects the sound and recording from a pocket is perfectly possible, but it doesn't turn off automatically.

Tape length: 30 minutes per side. Weight:240g.

2）Sony M9 $49.95

    Small and very good looking, sony's latest offering scored most for appearance. Sounds clear, but there is slight machine noise. The big control buttons are a great improvement on some of the complicated little controls on other tape-recorders. Doesn't switch off automatically but a red light shows if the machine is still running.

   Tape length: 60 minutes per side. Weight: 195g.

3）Sony M400 $115

    Lots of little control buttons that make a noise and are difficult to use . Recording was good but machine noise lost points. Tape counter and automatic switch-off when tape has finished recording or rewinding are useful Tape length: 60 minutes per side. Weight: 230g.

4）Imperial OEM. MC $29.95

    Cheap and simple compared with the rest, but recording was good as long as there was no background noise. Use only its own make of cassette. No light to show it is on; no fast forward button and the record button makes a loud noise.

    Tape length: 30 minutes per side. Weight: 285g.

5）Philips 585 $80

    Handsome and simple to use, but recording is very poor at more than the recommended distance of 5 cm-designed for dictation. No recording light. Tape length: 15 minutes per side. Weight: 220g.

Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

    For several decades, various types of artificial intelligence kept shocking the world. Robots could people in highly competitive games and then quickly destroyed their human competitors.

    AI long ago mastered chess, the Chinese board game Go and even the Rubik's cube, which it managed to solve in just 0. 38 second.

    Now machines have a new game that will allow them to humans: Jenga, the popular game in which players remove pieces from an increasingly unstable tower of 54 blocks, placing each one on top until the entire structure would .

    A newly released video from MIT shows a robot developed by the school's engineers playing the game with surprising accuracy. The machine is equipped with a soft gripper (夹子), a force-sensing wrist and an external camera, allowing the robot to detect the tower's the way a human might do

    Unlike in purely recognitive tasks or games such as chess or Go, playing the game of Jenga also requires mastery of physical acts such as pushing, pulling, placing, and arranging pieces. It must interactive physical operation, where you have to touch the tower to learn how and when to move blocks.

    Imitating it is rather difficult, so the robot has to learn in the real world, by working with the real Jenga tower. Recently, a relevant research was published in the journal Science Robotics. Researchers say the robot demonstrates that machines can learn how to perform certain tasks through actual touching instead of relying heavily on visual . That physical is significant, researchers say, because it provides further proof that robots can be used to perform tasks, such as separating recyclable objects from landfill trash and assembling consumer products.

    In a cellphone assembly line, the felling of any component is coming from force and touch rather than vision. To become an accomplished Jenga player, the robot did not require as much repetitive practice as you might imagine. Hoping to avoid reconstructing a Jenga tower thousands of times, researchers developed a method that allowed the robot to be trained on about 300 games. Researchers say the robot has already begun facing off against humans, who remain players—for now.