The most complex object known to humanity is the human brain — and not only is it complex, but it is one of the few natural phenomena that science has no consciousness of. To try to replicate (复制) something that is so poorly understood may therefore seem like pride. But you have to start somewhere, and International Business Machines (IBM) and the Ecole Polytechnique Feder
ale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland, propose to start by replicating “in silico”, one of the brain’s building blocks.
In a partnership announced, the two organizations said they would be working together to build a simulation (模拟) of a structure known as a neo-cortical（新大脑皮质的）column on a type of IBM supercomputer that is currently used to study the molecular functioning of genes. If that works, they plan to use more powerful computers to link such simulated columns together into something that mimics（模仿) a brain.
In a real brain, a neo-cortical column is a cylindrical（圆柱形的）element about a third of a millimeter in diameter and three millimeters long. It is these columns, arranged side by side like the cells of a honeycomb, which make up the famous “grey matter” that has become shorthand for human intelligence. The Blue Gene/L supercomputer that will be used for the simulation consists of enough independent processors for each to be programm
ed to mimic an individual nerve cell in a column.
The EPFL’s contribution to the Blue Brain Project will be to create a digital description of how the columns behave. The database from its Brain Mind Institute will provide the raw material for the simulation. Biologists and computer scientists will then connect the artificial nerve cells up in a way that mimics nature. They will do so by assigning electrical properties（电能）to them, and telling them how to communicate with each other and how they should modify their connections with one another depending on their activity.
That will be no mean feat. Even a single nerve cell is complicated, not least because each one has about 10,000 connections with others. And nerve cells come in great variety—relying, for example, on different chemical transmitters to carry messages across those connections. Eventually, however, a digital representation of an entire column Should occur.
Assuming that the growth of computing power continues to follow Moore’s Law, the leader of IBM’s side thinks it should be practical to mimic an entire human brain in silico this way in ten to fifteen years. Such an artificial brain would, of course, be a powerful research tool. It would allow neurological experiments that currently take days in a “web lab” to be conducted in seconds. The researchers hope that their simulated brain will reveal the secrets of how certain psychiatric and neurological, disorders develop. But that is probably not the real reason for doing it. The most interesting question, surely, is whether such an artificial brain will be intelligent, or conscious, or both.In a real brain, a neo-cortical column ____________.
| A．looks like the cells of a honeycomb |
| B．is a simulation of a structure |
| C．is the famous grey matter |
| D．contains a large number of nerve cells |
What does the underlined sentence “That will be no mean feat” in Paragraph 5 indicate?
| A．It is rather difficult to connect the artificial nerve ceils up. |
| B．The function of chemical transmitters is hard to understand. |
| C．A digital representation of an entire column is time-consuming. |
| D．A single nerve cell is complicated to identify across connections. |
The fundamental purpose of doing the research is probably ____________.
| A．to simulate an entire human brain in silico |
| B．to tell us how some certain disorders emerge |
| C．to discover how the artificial brain would work |
| D．to examine whether Moores Law is still functioning |
What type of writing is this passage?
| A．A science fiction |
| B．A research report |
| C．An official document |
| D．A computer advertisement |
Global financial big dogs are no match for China's "Da Ma", or housewives, who have crowded into gold stores across China, buying up 300 tons of gold over the past two weeks. No wonder gold prices have steadied after taking a dive.
During the May Day holiday, gold stores were crowded with mostly female customers. Most of them are middle-aged "Chinese housewives". This group of buyers has risen to fame recently. They are big spenders and are desperate to get their hands on a bargain. "I bought some gold jewellery and kept them as a gift for my son when he gets married," said a buyer from Shanghai.
The gold business is skyrocketing. "Our sales are growing by the day. Yesterday we sold more than ten million yuan of gold products," a gold store salesperson said. The gold rush in China started about two weeks ago thanks to a decline in global gold prices. Media reports suggest that Chinese housewives have spent about 100 billion yuan, or about 16 billion US dollars, purchasing 300 tons of gold since mid-April. That has helped support gold prices.
"Gold prices depressed since the middle of last month but have risen gradually. That is mainly due to the strong demand from Asian markets," said foreign trader Zhang Chen from Industrial & Commercial Bank of China. "Some people even joked that Chinese housewives have beaten Wall Street analysts." For Chinese people, with limited investment options, the only thing better than buying gold is buying gold at discount prices.What does the author indicate(表明;预示)in the first sentence of the first paragraph?
| A．The global big dogs can’t match with Chinese housewives. |
| B．Chinese housewives spend a great deal of money on gold |
| C．China's "Da Ma" help a lot to support the global economic crisis |
| D．Chinese housewives have a better consumption idea than global financial big dogs . |
We can infer from the passage that_______________
| A．China’s "Da Ma" become the largest gold buyers due to a decline in global gold prices. |
| B．China's "Da Ma" crowded into stores to get gold as the best gifts for sons when they get married. |
| C．China's "Da Ma" are bigger spenders and cleverer than global financial big dogs. |
| D．Chinese housewives are most willing to spend money in buying gold . |
In the writer’s view, Chinese housewives are desperate to get their hands on a bargain because_____.
A. it is worthy to buy gold.
B .they have a strong demand
C. it is at discount prices.
D they have unlimited investment options The author’s description about the passage is ______.
| A．doubtful | B．subjective | C．objective | D．Negative |
A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, that’s not really true. Words have the power to build us up or tear us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves — the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.
We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We’re usually too embarrassed to admit it, though. In fact, we really shouldn’t be because more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.
This “self-talk” helps us motivate ourselves, remember things, solve problems, and calm ourselves down. Be aware, though, that as much as 77% of self-talk tends to be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words of encouragement to ourselves. We should also be quick to give ourselves a pat on the back. The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finally clean your room, join me in saying “Good job!”
Often, words come out of our mouths without us thinking about the effect they will have. But we should be aware that our words cause certain responses in others. For example, when returning an item to a store, we might use warm, friendly language during the exchange. And the clerk will probably respond in a similar manner. Or harsh (刻薄的) and critical language will most likely cause the clerk to be defensive.
Words possess power because of their lasting effects. Many of us regret something we once said. And we remember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always ask ourselves: Is it true? Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn’t pass this test, then it’s better left unsaid.
Words possess power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem (自尊) and motivate others to do their best. Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or to heal? The choice is ours.There is no need for us to feel embarrassed when we talk to ourselves because _________.
| A．almost everybody has the habit of talking to themselves |
| B．talking to ourselves always gives us courage |
| C．we can benefit from talking to ourselves |
| D．it does no harm to have “self-talk” when we are alone |
The underlined part in the third paragraph means that we should also timely ________.
| A．remind ourselves | B．praise ourselves |
| C．make ourselves relaxed | D．give ourselves amusement |
The author would probably hold the view that _________.
| A．encouraging words are sure to lead to kind offers |
| B．negative words may motivate us to make more progress |
| C．people tend to remember friendly words |
| D．it is better to think twice before talking to others |
In which column of the newspaper can you most likely read this passage?
| A．News. | B．Advice column. | C．Health. | D．Language. |
With the start of the new term, students around the country exchange their fun and fashionable clothes for boring school uniforms. But not all campuses are fashion deserts. Colorful sports shoes, school bags, T-shirts and even drink containers are breathing life into campuses.
“The uniform makes us look like a bunch of clones, especially when we are doing morning exercises on the playground,” and Qing Pei, a Senior 2 students from Shanghai Qibao High School. “But boys wear different sports shoes and girls have different decorations(装饰品) in their hair. These are the areas where you can express yourself,” said Qing.
Although it might be strange for boys to talk about fashion, they do care about what they wear in school, especially shoes, according to Qing.
“Nike and Adidas basketball shoes, although they are still the must-have items for many of my friends, are becoming out-of-date,” Qing added. He explained, “Since Liu Xiang ran so fast in Athens, running shoes are becoming popular in this autumn.”
“Still in fashion are the various baseball caps and American-style T-shirts with some English words printed on them,” said Qing. Besides sports shoes and T-shirts, styles and colors of schoolbags are another chance for students to express their taste in fashion. Some bags are made more eye-catching by decorating them with small dolls.
Other fashionable items are colorful drink containers, which are now popular with girls this term.
“Some teachers are surprised to see a teenager sucking a bottle like this at school and criticize it as childish regression(退化). But some girls just love it,” said Yang Rui, a Senior 3 student.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．All the students are clones. |
| B．All the exercises are the same. |
| C．All the students look the same in uniform. |
| D．All the students have similar fashions. |
How do girls express themselves on campus?
| A．They wear different spots shoes. |
| B．They wear school uniforms. |
| C．They have different decorations in their hair. |
| D．They drink coffee from colorful drink containers. |
What are becoming fashionable for schoolboys according to the passage?
| A．Nike and Adidas basketball shoes. |
| B．Baseball caps and Korean-style T-shirts. |
| C．Colorful drink containers. |
| D．Running shoes. |
The writer wants to .
| A．call for people to pay attention to students’ wear |
| B．report students’ great love for fashion |
| C．criticize childish regression on campus |
| D．discuss about school uniforms |
| Is veg food healthier than non-veg food? I feel this is a very common topic that people speak on．Please give me your opinions on this topic． |
|
| Rao 12-18-08 |
So far as veg food is concerned, it is also proved to be a healthy and nutritious diet, but has very few items which can provide us with proteins, but if you see non-veg food like eggs, chicken, and many more, such foods have a large content of proteins in them. |
| Sai 12-19-08 |
Man basically is herbivorous（食草的）. If we look at the animal kingdom We can see that all the herbivorous animals have the similar dental（牙齿的） structure, which clearly shows that the human being also ought to be vegetarian by birth. It is only the living conditions that make man carnivorous（食肉的）. The vegetarian foods are easily digestible. |
| Santos 12-20-08 |
Non-veg food items are better than veg items. A healthy person requires complete diet and veg + meat makes the diet complete. The only caution that needs to be taken is not to have non-veg items on a daily basis. Once in a week or couple of weeks will be best. |
| Krishna 01-03-09 |
When we eat non-veg, we are all veg by nature. The chicken that we eat feeds on grains, the mutton that we eat feeds on grass, and the fish that we eat feeds on simple plants. So non-veg food by logic（逻辑）is better and suited for hauman beings. |
| Khan 01-05-09 |
Non-veg food is equally important in our diet as it helps in many ways, especially fish and other seafood as fish contains omega 3 which makes our immune system（免疫系统）stronger. Do you know that most of the veg food put together does not contain as much omega 3 as fish alone contains! |
According to Rao, what is the problem with veg food?
| A．It damages our immune system. | B．It has few nutrients. |
| C．It contains too much omega 3. | D．It is lacking in protein. |
In the opinion of Sai, humans are born vegetarian because humans .
| A．have the same teeth structure as plant-eating animals |
| B．believe that veg foods are good for their teeth |
| C．belong to the plant-eating animal family |
| D．can adapt to the living conditions like plant-eating animals |
What advice is given by Santos?
| A．To have a daily veg + meat diet. |
| B．Not to eat non-veg food every day. |
| C．To eat digestible food every day. |
| D．Not to eat food without protein. |
If you want to get the most out of the study of a language, you must also read for pleasure: novels, plays, travel books, and so on. And in reading books of this kind the important thing is to get on with the reading; to try to grasp what the writer is going to tell you in the book as a whole. This is impossible if you stop and think over the meaning of every single word which happens to be unfamiliar (不熟悉). You can not enjoy a story if you stop half a dozen times on every page in order to look up words in the dictionary. You may even prevent yourself from understanding the story as a whole by doing this.
When you are reading books of this kind, therefore, you will usually have to rely mainly on (依靠) the context (上下文) to help you. If you meet an unfamiliar word, do not let it take too much of your attention from the main thread (主线) of the story. In all probability (可能) you will meet the same word again a few pages later on in a slightly different context, and each time you see it that your understanding of it will become more exact.The phrase “to get on with reading” in the passage has the same meaning as “______”.
| A．to try to grasp the meaning of every sentence in the book |
| B．to try to catch the meaning of every word in the book |
| C．to try to understand all the writer is going to tell you |
| D．to try to understand the main idea of the book |
When you meet new words in reading such kinds of books, you’d better ______.
| A．stop and look them up in a dictionary |
| B．stop and think them over |
| C．try to guess their meanings from the context |
| D．have none of them |
From the passage the best way to read novels, plays and travel books is ______.
| A．to read very slowly |
| B．to read quickly and not too carefully |
| C．to read very carefully |
| D．to read very seriously |
The best title for this passage is “______”.
| A．Read for Pleasure | B．Get on with the Books |
| C．Reading Skills | D．The Importance of Reading |
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