A study involving 8,500 teenagers from all social backgrounds found that most of them are ignorant when it comes to money. The findings, the first in a series of reports from NatWest that has started a five-year research project into teenagers and money, are particularly worrying as this generation of young people is likely to be burdened with greater debts than any before.
University tuition feesare currently capped at £3,000 annually, but this will be reviewed next year and the Government is under enormous pressure to raise the ceiling.
In the research, the teenagers were presented with the terms of four different loans but 76 per cent failed to identify the cheapest. The young people also predicted that they would be earning on average £31.000 by the age of 25, although the average salary for those aged 22 to 29 is just £17,815. The teenagers expected to be in debt when they finished university or training, although half said that they assumed the debts would be less than £10.000. Average debts for graduates are £12,363.
Stephen Moir, head of community investment at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group which owns NatWest, said. "The more exposed young people are to financial issues, and the younger they become aware of them, the more likely they are to become responsible, forward-planning adults who manage their finances confidently and effectively."
Ministers are deeply concerned about the financial pressures on teenagers and young people because of student loans and rising housing costs. They have just introduced new lessons in how to manage debts. Nikki Fairweather, aged 15, from St Helens, said that she had benefited from lessons on personal finance, but admitted that she still had a lot to learn about money.
Which of the following can be found from the five-year research project?
| A．Students understand personal finances differently. |
| B．University tuition fees in England have been rising. |
| C．Teenagers tend to overestimate their future earnings. |
| D．The students' payback ability has become a major issue. |
The phrase "to raise the ceiling" in paragraph 2 probably means "______".
| A．to raise the student loans | B．to improve the school facilities |
| C．to increase the upper limit of the tuition | D．to lift the school building roofs |
According to Stephen Moir, students _______.
| A．are too young to be exposed to financial issues |
| B．should learn to manage their finances well |
| C．should maintain a positive attitude when facing loans |
| D．benefit a lot from lessons on personal finance |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Many British teenagers do not know money matters well |
| B．Teenagers in Britain are heavily burdened with debts. |
| C．Financial planning is a required course at college. |
| D．Young people should become responsible adults. |
A new commodity brings about a highly profitable,fast-growing industry, urging antitrust（反垄断）regulators to step in to check those who control its flow. A century ago ,the resource in question was oil. Now similar concerns ares being raised by the giants（巨头）that deal in data, the oil of the digital age. The most valuable firms are Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft. All look unstoppable.
Such situations have led to calls for the tech giants to be broken up. But size alone is not a crime. The giants' success has benefited consumers. Few want to live without search engines or a quick delivery, Far from charging consumers high prices, many of these services are free (users pay, in effect, by handing over yet more data). And the appearance of new-born giants suggests that newcomers can make waves, too.
But there is cause for concern. The internet has made data abundant, all-present and far more valuable, changing the nature of data and competition. Google initially used the data collected from users to target advertising better. But recently it has discovered that data can be turned into new services: translation and visual recognition, to be sold to other companies. Internet companies' control of data gives them enormous power. So they have a "God's eye view" of activities in their own markets and beyond.
This nature of data makes the antitrust measures of the past less useful. Breaking up firms like Google into five small ones would not stop remaking themselves: in time, one of them would become great again. A rethink is required-and as a new approach starts to become apparent, two ideas stand out.
The first is that antitrust authorities need to move form the industrial age into the 21st century. When considering a merger(兼并), for example, they have traditionally used size to determine when to step in. They now need to take into account the extent of firms' data assets(资产) when assessing the impact of deals. The purchase price could also be a signal that an established company is buying a new-born threat. When this takes place, especially when a new-born company has no revenue to speak of, the regulators should raise red flags.
The second principle is to loosen the control that providers of on-line services have over data and give more to those who supply them.Companies could be forced to consumers what information they hold and how much money they make from it. Governments could order the sharing of certain kinds of data, with users' consent.
Restarting antitrust for the information age will not be easy But if governments don't wants a data economy by a few giants, they must act soon.
61.Why is there a call to break up giants?
| A． |
They have controlled the data market |
| B． |
They collect enormous private data |
| C． |
They no longer provide free services |
| D． |
They dismissed some new-born giants |
62.What does the technological innovation in Paragraph 3 indicate?
| A． |
Data giants' technology is very expensive |
| B． |
Google's idea is popular among data firms |
| C． |
Data can strengthen giants' controlling position |
| D． |
Data can be turned into new services or products |
63.By paying attention to firms' data assets, antitrust regulators could .
| A． |
kill a new threat |
| B． |
avoid the size trap |
| C． |
favour bigger firms |
| D． |
charge higher prices |
64.What is the purpose of loosening the giants' control of data?
| A． |
Big companies could relieve data security pressure. |
| B． |
Governments could relieve their financial pressure. |
| C． |
Consumers could better protect their privacy. |
| D． |
Small companies could get more opportunities. |
Before birth, babies can tell the difference between loud sounds and voices. They can even distinguish their mother's voice from that of a female stranger. But when it comes to embryonic learning（胎教）, birds could rule the roost. As recently reported in The Auk: Ornithological Adrances, some mother birds may teach their young to sing even before they hatch(孵化). New-born chicks can then imitate their mom's call within a few days of entering the world.
This educational method was first z observed in 2012 by Sonia Kieindorfer,a biologist at Flinders University in South Australia,and her colleagues. Femake Australian superb fairy wrens were found to repeat one sound over and over again while hatching their errs, when the errs were hatched, the baby birds made the similar chirp to their mothers-around that served as their regular "feed me!" call.
To find out if the special quality was more widespread in birds, the researchers sought the red-backed fairy wren, another species of Australian songbird. First they collected sound data from 67 nests in four sites in Queensland before and after hatching. Then they identified begging calls by analyzing the order and number of notes. A computer analysis blindly compared calls produced by mothers and chicks, ranking them by similarity.
It turns out that baby red-backed fairy wrens also emerge chirping like their moms. And the more frequently mothers had called to their errs, the more similar were the babies' begging calls. In addition, the team set up a separate experiment that suggested that the baby birds that most closely imitated their mom's voice were rewarded with the most food.
This observation hints that effective embryonic learning could signal neurological(神经系统的) strengths of children to parents. An evolutionary inference can then be drawn." As a parent, do you invest in quality children, or do you invest in children that are in need?" Kleindorfer asks." Our results suggest that they might be going for quality."
58.The underlined phrase in Paragraph 1 means" ".
| A． |
be the worst |
B． |
be the best |
| C． |
be the as bad |
D． |
be just as good |
59.What are Kleindorfer's findings based on?
| A． |
Similarities between the calls moms and chicks. |
| B． |
The observation of fairy wrens across Australia. |
| C． |
The data collected from Queensland's locals. |
| D． |
Controlled experiments on wrens and other birds. |
60.Embryonic learning helps mother birds to identify the baby birds which .
| A． |
can receive quality signals |
B． |
are in need of training |
| C． |
fit the environment better |
D． |
make the loudest call |
CHRONOLOGICA
--The Unbelievable Years that Defined History
DID YOU KNOW…
-
In 105AD paper was invented in China?
When Columbus discovered the New World?
The British Museum opened in 1759?
CHRONOLOGICA is a fascinating journey through time, from the foundation of Rome to the creation of the internet. Along the way are tales of kings and queens, hot air balloons…and monkeys in space.
Travel through 100 of the most unbelievable years in world history and learn why being a Roman Emperor wasn't always as good as it sounds, how the Hundred Years' War didn't actually last for 100 years and why Spencer Perceval holds a rather unfortunate record.
CHRONOLOGICA is an informative and entertaining tour into history, beautifully illustrated and full of unbelievable facts. While CHRONOLOGICA tells the stories of famous people in history such as Thomas Edison and Alexander the Great, this book also gives ab account of the lives of lesser-known individuals including the explorer Mungo Park and sculptor Gutzon Borglum.
This complete but brief historical collection is certain to entertain readers young and old,and guaranteed to present even the biggest history lover with something new!
56.What is CHRONOLOGICA according to the next?
| A． |
A biography. |
B． |
A travel guide. |
| C． |
A history book. |
D． |
A science fiction. |
57.How does the writer recommend CHRONOLOGICA to readers?
| A． |
By giving details of its collection. |
B． |
By introducing some of its contents. |
| C． |
By telling stories at the beginning. |
D． |
By comparing it with other books. |
Hollywood's theory that machines with evil(邪恶) minds will drive armies of killer robots is just silly. The real problem relates to the possibility that artificial intelligence(AI) may become extremely good at achieving something other than what we really want. In 1960 a well-known mathematician Norbert Wiener, who founded the field of cybernetics（控制论）, put it this way "If we use, to achieve our purposes, a mechanical agency with whose operation we cannot effectively interfere(干预), we had better be quite sure that the purpose which we really desire."
A machine with a specific purpose has another quality, one that we usually associate with living things a wish to preserve its own existence. For the machine, this quality is not in-born, nor is it something introduced by humans; it is a logical consequence of the simple fact that the machine cannot achieve its original purpose if it is dead. So if we send out a robot with the single instruction of fetching coffee, it will have a strong desire to secure success by disabling its own off switch or even killing anyone who might interfere with its task. If we are not careful, then, we could face a kind of global chess match against very determined, super intelligent machines whose objectives conflict with our own, with the real world as the chessboard.
The possibility of entering into and losing such a match should concentrating the minds of computer scientists. Some researchers argue that we can seal the machines inside a kind of firewall, using them to answer difficult questions but never allowing them to affect the real world. Unfortunately, that plan seems unlikely to work we have yet to invent a firewall that is secure against ordinary humans, let alone super intelligent machines.
Solving the safety problem well enough to move forward in AI seems to be possible but not easy. There are probably decades in which to plan for the arrival of super intelligent machines. But the problem should not be dismissed out of hand, as it has been by some AI researchers. Some argue that humans and machines can coexist as long as they work in teams-yet that is not possible unless machines share the goals of humans. Others say we can just "switch them off" as if super intelligent machines are too stupid to think of that possibility. Still others think that super intelligent AI will never happen. On September 11, 1933, famous physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, with confidence, "Anyone who expects a source of power in the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine." However, on September 12, 1933, physicist Leo Szilard invented the neutron-induced(中子诱导) nuclear chain reaction.
67.Paragraph 1 mainly tells us that artificial intelligence may .
| A． |
run out of human control |
| B． |
satisfy human's real desires |
| C． |
command armies of killer robots |
| D． |
work faster than a mathematician |
68.Machines with specific purposes are associated with living things partly because they might be able to .
| A． |
prevent themselves from being destroyed |
| B． |
B achieve their original goals independently |
| C． |
do anything successfully with given orders |
| D． |
beat humans in international chess matches |
69.According to some researchers, we can use firewalls to .
| A． |
help super intelligent machines work better |
| B． |
be secure against evil human beings |
| C． |
keep machines from being harmed |
| D． |
avoid robot's affecting the world |
70.What does the author think of the safety problem of super intelligent machines?
A．It will disappear with the development of AI．
B．It will get worse with human interference.
C．It will be solved but with difficulty.
Measles(麻疹), which once killed 450 children each year and disabled even more, was nearly wiped out in the United States 14 years ago by the universal use of the MMR vaccine(疫苗). But the disease is making a comeback, caused by a growing anti-vaccine movement and misinformation that is spreading quickly. Already this year, 115 measles cases have been reported in the USA, compared with 189 for all of last year.
The numbers might sound small, but they are the leading edge of a dangerous trend. When vaccination rates are very high, as they still are in the nation as a whole, everyone is protected. This is called "herd immunity", which protects the people who get hurt easily, including those who can't be vaccinated for medical reasons, babies too young to get vaccinated and people on whom the vaccine doesn't work.
But herd immunity works only when nearly the whole herd joins in. When some refuse vaccination and seek a free ride, immunity breaks down and everyone is in even bigger danger.
That's exactly what is happening in small neighborhoods around the country from Orange County, California, where 22 measles cases were reported this month, to Brooklyn, N.Y., where a 17-year-old caused an outbreak last year.
The resistance to vaccine has continued for decades, and it is driven by a real but very small risk. Those who refuse to take that risk selfishly make others suffer.
Making things worse are state laws that make it too easy to opt out(决定不参加) of what are supposed to be required vaccines for all children entering kindergarten. Seventeen states allow parents to get an exemption（豁免), sometimes just by signing a paper saying they personally object to a vaccine.
Now, several states are moving to tighten laws by adding new regulations for opting out. But no one does enough to limit exemptions.
Parents ought to be able to opt out only for limited medical or religious reasons. But personal opinions? Not good enough. Everyone enjoys the life-saving benefits vaccines provide, but they'll exist only as long as everyone shares in the risks.
63．The first two paragraphs suggest that ____________.
| A． |
a small number of measles cases can start a dangerous trend |
| B． |
the outbreak of measles attracts the public attention |
| C． |
anti-vaccine movement has its medical reasons |
| D． |
information about measles spreads quickly |
64．Herd immunity works well when ____________.
| A． |
exemptions are allowed |
| B． |
several vaccines are used together |
| C． |
the whole neighborhood is involved in |
| D． |
new regulations are added to the state laws |
65．What is the main reason for the comeback of measles?
| A． |
The overuse of vaccine. |
| B． |
The lack of medical care. |
| C． |
The features of measles itself. |
| D． |
The vaccine opt-outs of some people. |
66．What is the purpose of the passage?
| A． |
To introduce the idea of exemption. |
| B． |
To discuss methods to cure measles. |
| C． |
To stress the importance of vaccination. |
| D． |
To appeal for equal rights in medical treatment. |
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