John Sand was one of the most influential teachers I have ever met. During high school, he taught me more than any other teacher has been able to.
His unusual attitude reflects his methods of teaching. He was often trying to push us out of our comfort zones with video projects we did about once a month. He wanted us to face and accept how other people saw us to prepare us for the real world. He was always making colorful Power Points to teach us the latest topic instead of standing in front of us lecturing for a period, putting us to sleep like many teachers do. He did not give us homework one day and have it due the next, but instead gave us a schedule of the homework and left the responsibility up to us to remember to do it. Having that prepares us for life after high school, life less organized, where the responsibility is all on us.
Mr. Sand is a responsible family man. He took whatever time we had left in class to show us his newest vacation videos or his children's sports videos. He balances his family and his career so nicely.
Mr. Sand always encouraged us to explore the cultures of the world. He would tell us stories of his travels across Europe and his adventures around the US, while many teachers just force the idea of college.
Many people may not ever get to have the experience of having Mr. Sand as a teacher or ever be affected by him like I was. But for them, I feel sorry. Putting aside that he was my teacher, he was one person who influenced me greatly and taught me things that went beyond the school courses.
One day, Nick invited his friends to supper. He was cooking some delicious food in the kitchen. Suddenly, he (find) that he had run out of salt. So Nick called to his son, "Go to the village and buy some salt, but pay a fair price for it: neither too much too little.
His son looked surprised. "I can understand why I shouldn't pay too much, Father, but if I can pay less, not save a bit of money?
"That would be a very (reason) thing to do in a big city, but it could destroy a small village like (us), Nick said.
Nick's guests, had heard their conversation, asked why they should not buy salt more cheaply if they could. Nick replied, "The only reason a man would sell salt a lower price would be because he was desperate for money. And anyone who took advantage of that situation would be showing a lack of respect for the sweat and struggle of the man who worked very hard to produce it."
"But such a small thing couldn't (possible) destroy a village."
"In the beginning, there was only very small amount of unfairness in the world, but everyone added a little, always (think) that it was only small and not very important, and look where we have ended up today."
If you can remember it, .
－Did you see a girl in red pass by just now?
－No, sir. I __________ a newspaper.
A. was reading B. read C. had read D. would read
Artificial intelligence，or AI，has been applied in a wide range of fields to perform specific tasks，including education, finance, heavy industry, transportation, and so on．
Education
There are a number of companies that create robots to teach subjects to children ranging from biology to computer science，though such tools have not become widespread yet．Advancements in natural language processing，combined with machine learning，have also enabled automatic grading of assignments．AI has also led to an explosion in popularity of MOOCs，or Massive Open Online Courses，which allows students from around the world to take classes online．
Finance
Use of AI in banking can be tracked back to 1987．Banks use artificial intelligence systems to organize operations，maintain book-keeping，invest in stocks，and manage properties．Also，systems are being developed，like Atria，to translate complex data into simple and personable language．There are also wallets，like Wallet AI，which monitor an individual’s spending habits and provides ways to improve them．
Heavy industry
Robots have become common in many industries and are often given jobs that are considered dangerous to humans．Robots have proven effective in jobs that are very repetitive which may lead to mistakes or accidents due to failure in concentration and other jobs which humans may find degrading．
Transportation
Today’S cars can have AI-based driver assist features such as self-parking and advanced cruise controls．AI in transportation is expected to provide safe，efficient，and reliable transportation while minimizing the impact on the environment and communities．
Toys and games
Companies like Mattel have been creating AI-enabled toys for kids as young as age three．Using proprietary AI engines and speech recognition tools，they are able to understand conversations，give intelligent responses and learn quickly．AI has also been applied to video games，for example video game bots，which are designed to stand in as opponents where humans aren’t available or desired．
1. Which is true about AI and education?
A. Robots have been widely used to teach children．
B. AI has been used to grade students’homework．
C. AI has enabled more students to receive education at school．
D. Education was the first field where A1 was used．
2. Which can be inferred from the passage?
A. Atria can help people understand complex data．
B. Wallet AI can help people make more money．
C. Robots’jobs are considered dangerous to humans．
D. Robots can help people concentrate．
3. From the last two paragraphs we can know that_______________.
A. Today’s drivers needn’t learn to park their cars
B. AI ensures safe, efficient, and reliable transportation
C. AI-enabled toys is designed to improve kids’intelligence
D. Video game bots can fight against you in video games
4. What is the passage mainly about?
A. The latest progress in AI．
B. AI is of great use．
C. Some applications of AI．
D. AI is used in all fields．
They____on the program for almost one month before l was arranged to help them. Now, we____on it as no result has come out.
A．had been working: are still working
B．had worked; were still working
C．have been working; have worked
D．have worked; are still working
The last class finished an hour ago but quite a few students still ____ in the classroom.
A. left B. remained C. delayed D. advanced
Polar bears are one of the most popular animals for people. Polar bears are different from every other bear in the world. This is because polar bears have white fur. However, there are many facts about polar bears that people might not be aware of .年
The skin of polar bears is black, which according to thinkquest.org allows them to absorb more heat from the sun. Polar bear fur is transparent , because it is made up of hollow guard hairs. Loc.gov explains that the reason polar bears display white fur is that when the sun hits the fur ,the hollow spaces in the hair scatter the light. Since none of the light is absorbed, the light reflected back appears white to human eyes.
Polar bears’ conservation status is considered close to extinction. Global warming is considered the main cause of the decline in polar population. Polar bears use ice floats to hunt for their food. However, these ice floats are melting so polar bears are starting to drown in the search for food ,and the food is becoming more difficult to get. Contrary to popular belief, polar bears do not eat penguins ,because polar bears are not found in the Antarctic region of the world. Polar bears are only found around the Arctic Circle. Polar bears do not drink water. They get all the water they need from the prey they eat.
FES. Gov specifies that polar bears are considered the largest land carnivores(食肉动物) in the world. The polar bear weight ranges between 700--1,500 pounds. Since the polar bear habitat is melting away, their main evolutionary advantages are fading. Polar bears are not able to use their camouflage(伪装) to find prey in habitats not covered with snow. Polar bears do not hibernate(冬眠). However, when the weather gets uncomfortable, or mothers give birth, polar bears will dig themselves a hidden home.
What can we do to help save the polar bears? We can donate to organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, reduce our carbon footprint, and send letters to politicians explaining to them that we need to set up more preserves to help save the polar bear habitat.
12. What do we know about the fur of the polar bears?
A. It absorbs more heat from the sun.
B. It is black and hollow.
C. Light can pass through it.
D. It is white actually.
13. What does “main evolutionary advantages” in Paragraph 4 refer to？
A. Hibernation habit B. The function of their fur
C. Eating meat D. Their weight
14. What do we know from the passage?
A. Polar bears face danger due to the melting of ice floats.
B. The biggest polar bears weigh about 1,000 pounds.
C. Polar bears never hibernate and do not need water.
D. Polar bears are the largest carnivores in the world.
15. Which of the following ways is NOT the measure used to protect polar bears according to the passage?
A. Donating to wildlife conservation organizations.
B. Trying our best to reduce greenhouse gases.
C. Writing letters to make people protect polar bears.
D. Setting up more polar bear conservation organizations.
On one of her trips to New York several years ago, Eudora Welty decided to take a couple of New York friends out to dinner. They settled in at a comfortable East Side cafe and within minutes, another customer was approaching their table.
“Hey, aren’t you from Mississippi?” the elegant, white-haired writer remembered being asked by the stranger. “I’m from Mississippi too.”
Without a second thought, the woman joined the Welty party. When her dinner partner showed up, she also pulled up a chair.
“They began telling me all the news of Mississippi,” Welty said. “I didn’t know what my New York friends were thinking.”
Taxis on a rainy New York night are rarer than sunshine. By the time the group got up to leave, it was pouring outside. Welty’s new friends immediately sent a waiter to find a cab. Heading back downtown toward her hotel, her big-city friends were amazed at the turn of events that had changed their Big Apple dinner into a Mississippi.
“My friends said: ‘Now we believe your stories,’” Welty added. “And I said: ‘Now you know. These are the people that make me write them.’”
Sitting on a sofa in her room, Welty, a slim figure in a simple gray dress, looked pleased with this explanation.
“I don’t make them up,” she said of the characters in her fiction these last 50 or so years. “I don’t have to.”
Beauticians, bartenders, piano players and people with purple hats, Welty’s people come from afternoons spent visiting with old friends, from walks through the streets of her native Jackson, Miss., from conversations overheard on a bus. It annoys Welty that, at 78, her left ear has now given out. Sometimes, sitting on a bus or a train, she hears only a fragment(片段) of a particularly interesting story.
25. What happened when Welty was with her friends at the cafe?
A. Two strangers joined her.
B. Her childhood friends came in.
C. A heavy rain ruined the dinner.
D. Some people held a party there.
26. The underlined word “them” in Paragraph 6 refers to Welty’s .
A. readers B. parties C. friends D. stories
27. What can we learn about the characters in Welty’s fiction?
A. They live in big cities.
B. They are mostly women.
C. They come from real life.
D. They are pleasure seekers.
Fu Zuoyi began his military career in the service of Yan Xishan, and he was widely praised_____ his defense of Suiyuan from the Japanese．
A．with B．beyond C．over D．for
