Writing one or two articles a day is a fair goal for a human writer. By contrast, the Wordsmith platform can produce up to 2,000 articles a second! Wordsmith is one example of natural language-generation software, often referred to as a robot journalist. To be fair, the software doesn’t start from the beginning, like a human writer might. Instead, the software takes a set of structured data and transforms it into readable text.
Natural language-generation software, such as Wordsmith and Quill, does its work by identifying trends and highlights in sets of data. The software then searches its own dictionary for the words to express its findings.
Why keep human writers around
Although this type of software writes faster than any human, it requires sets of structured data to work. That’s why it’s especially useful for writing earnings reports and other types of “dry” writing. Humans, on the other hand, are good at turning their unstructured thoughts directly into prose. The reports produced by Wordsmith and Quill read naturally, and they can match the tone of human writers. But for now, the robot journalists probably won’t steal many jobs or win any Pulitzer Prizes!（普利策奖）
Current applications of natural language-generation software
Financial reports: The software is commonly used by banks or traders to analyze large amounts of financial data and then produce reports in plain English.
Health and fitness: The software can turn data gathered from wearable devices or fitness trackers into personalized reports. The writing tone can even be adjusted to sound more encouraging!
Sports reporting: The software is often used to turn real baseball, basketball and football statistics into exciting stories.
What does natural Language-generation software refer to?
| A．The Wordsmith platform. |
| B．A robot journalist. |
| C．A special dictionary. |
| D．Articles written by computer. |
Natural language-generation software can_________.
| A．discover the world’s focuses through the Internet |
| B．write well enough to win Pulitzer Prizes |
| C．produce articles in a tone similar to human’s |
| D．write such beautiful prose as human writers |
We can learn from the passage that natural Language-generation software ________.
| A．has taken the place of human writers currently |
| B．is only able to turn structured data into dry reports |
| C．is widely used in all the fields |
| D．works properly only with the help of sets of structured data |
Nowadays Natural language-generation software is seldom used by_________.
| A．schools | B．banks |
| C．hospitals | D．newspapers |
Mr Reese was born in a big city. His father had several companies and got a lot of money. He could give his son all the young man wanted. He was busy with his business and never asked him how he got along with his studies. So the boy spent most time in the restaurants or cinemas. Of course he was weak at his lessons and learned nothing at school. He made many friends but none of them was good and when they knew he came from a rich family, they began to teach him to gamble（赌博）. Of course he lost much money.
Now Mr Reese was twenty and finished middle school. He could not do anything. But his father didn't mind it until one day he found the young man had sold one of his companies. He became so angry that he made him leave his house. The young man couldn't gamble any longer. His friends made him pay his debt. He had to ask his mother to help him and the woman often gave him some money. But one evening his father happened to find it. The old man stopped his wife from doing so. They began to fight in the room. The young man brought out a knife and killed his father. His mother helped him to run away, but soon after that he was caught and sentenced（判刑）to death.
It was a cold and wet day. Suddenly it began to rain hard when Mr Reese was being sent to the execution ground（刑场）. Soon both he and the soldiers were wet through. He said angrily, “Bad luck! I shall be shot in such bad weather!”
“Don't complain（抱怨）, brother, ”said one of the soldiers. ‘You're luckier than us all. We'll have to go back to the city after that!”Old Reese never wanted to know about his son's studies because ____. [ ]
| A．he was sure his son was good at his lessons |
| B．he spent all his energies on his business |
| C．he knew nothing about the education |
| D．his wife looked after their children |
The bad young men taught Young Reese to gamble in order ____. [ ]
| A．to play with him |
| B．to spend spare time |
| C．that the could get much money from him |
| D．that they could find jobs in his father's companies |
Old Reese became angry because ____. [ ]
| A．his son had learned nothing at school. |
| B．his son was weak at all his lessons |
| C．his son couldn't do anything in the companies |
| D．his son had lost one of his companies |
Mr Reese complained ____. [ ]
| A．he was sentenced to death |
| B．he would be shot |
| C．he went to the execution ground on foot |
| D．he would be shot in bad weather |
Paul was a good athlete when he was a middle school student. He liked running and jumping and won some medals at the sports meetings. So he was tall and strong. Suddenly war broke out and the young man joined the army. He was sent to the front and killed several enemy soldiers. Two years later he raturned to his home town and found a job at the police station. People had known about his bravery by then and they all liked the polite young man.
One day a few young men had drunk too much before they came in a cinema. They danced and sang there and the film couldn't be shown. Paul was ill that day and went to the hospital. When he was passing there, the young men were beating an old man. He went to stop them and they began to fight. He caught them all and sent them to the police station. Since then all the bad men in the town were afraid of the brave policeman.
It was a summer evening. The weather was hot and few people could stay indoors. Paul was on duty and sat by the telephone. Suddenly in rushed a beautiful girl with a book in her hand. She stood there, shaking in her shoes.
“What's the matter, madam? ”asked Paul.
“I wish you could protect me sir, ”answered the girl.
“Protect? ”Paul said in surprise. “For what? ”
The girl showed the book to Paul. The young man understood at once: it was a book about Ghosts（鬼）！Paul won some medals because ____. [ ]
| A．he was a middle school student |
| B．he was tall and strong |
| C．he kept doing morning exercises |
| D．he was good at running and jumping. |
Paul was ____ after he joined the army. [ ]
| A．a good athlete |
| B．a brave soldier |
| C．a polite policeman |
| D．a brave policeman |
Paul sent the young men to the police station because ____. [ ]
| A．they made some trouble（闹事）at the cinema |
| B．they drank much in the restaurant |
| C．they wouldn't see the filin |
| D．they wanted to fight with him |
Paul sat by the telephone that evening because ____. [ ]
| A．he was waiting for an important call |
| B．he was going to call somebody |
| C．he was on duty |
| D．he wasn't afraid of hotness |
Ruben lived in a small village. There was no school there and he had to study in a school in the town. It was nearly five kilometres away from his village. His father couldn't buy a bike for him and he had to go to school on foot. He got up early in the morning. Usually he had to run there in order not to miss the first class. He kept running every day and it was helpful to him. He's strong and tall now and he ran faster than any other man in his village. He took part in several sports meetings and won some medals. The young man is proud of（以……自豪）it and always wants to have a race with others.
One day his mother was ill and his father told him to buy some medicine for headache in the town. The young man got there soon. There were many people in the chemist's shop while he was waiting there. And when his turn came, he could't find his money. An old woman hinted（暗示）a young man had stolen it. He saw the thief had already left the shop. He ran towards him quickly. The thief found it and began to run. He was happy and tried to catch up with him.
“Let's have a race and see who will run faster, ”Ruben called out behind.
Soon after that he caught up with the thief. But he didn't stop and went on running. At a crossing one of his friends asked, “What are you running for, Ruben? ”
“I'm running after（追）a thief. ”
“Where's the thief, then? ”
“He wants to show that he'll run faster than me, but he's fallen behind!” Ruben had to run to school because ____. [ ]
| A．he had no bike |
| B．he hoped to win some medals |
| C．his village was a little far from the school |
| D．he was afraid to be late for class |
____ , so he won some medals. [ ]
| A．Ruben is good at running |
| B．Ruben went to school on time |
| C．Ruben often took part in the sports meetings. |
| D．Ruben likes to have a race with others |
The phrase “a chemist's shop”in the story means ____. [ ]
| A．化工商店 | B．药店 | C．化工厂 | D．制药厂 |
Ruben's money was stolen ____. [ ]
| A．on his way to the town |
| B．before he went in the shop |
| C．when he was waiting in the shop |
| D．after he had left the shop |
Ruben was happy because ____. [ ]
| A．he could easily catch the thief |
| B．he had a chance（机会）to have a race |
| C．he knew who had stolen his money |
| D．he would win another medal that day |
Robert was born in a small town in England. His father has a farm and can supply him enough money to finish university where he's studying law. The young man studies hard and hopes to be a famous lawyer.
Last Monday their term was over. Robert said to his father on the telephone that he was going to travel in a small country during his summer holiday. His father agreed to his plan and posted some money to him. So he started four days ago. Their plane landed at the only airport of the country safely. He took a taxi and got to a hotel in the centre of the capital. He felt hungry and tired. So he had a dinner and then a good sleep. This morning he was all right and was going to visit some places of interest. He met an English visitor while he was having breakfast and the man told him to be careful of thieves.
Robert thanked the man and left. But he thought he was smart（机灵的）and strong and he decided to have a try. He brought out a piece of paper and wrote on it, “A pig has stolen my wallet（钱包）!”Then he put the note into his empty wallet. After that he put the wallet into a pocket and set off. He did all carefully and hoped to find out who would steal it.
“Everything went well, ”Robert thought to himself after he had returned to the hotel. He brought out his wallet and put his money into it again. He had a look at the note. To his surprise, it was rewritten. It said, “Your uncle has touched your wallet!” Robert can study in the university because ____. [ ]
| A．he wants to be a lawyer |
| B．his father is a rich farmer |
| C．he's smart and strong |
| D．he keeps his wallet well |
Robert went to the small country to ____. [ ]
| A．make fun of the thieves |
| B．catch some thieves |
| C．visit the places of interest |
| D．have a nice meal and a good sleep there |
The English visitor thought ____. [ ]
| A．there were a lot of thieves in the city |
| B．Robert could deal with the thieves |
| C．it was dangerous to travel in the city |
| D．Robert had to take good care of himself |
International Studies (BA)
Key features
● Recognizes the “global community”（国际社会）
● Has close connections with practical research
● Much of the teaching is done in small discussion groups
About the course
The course gives you chances to know great power polities between nation states. It will provide more space to study particular issues such as relationship among countries in the European Union, third world debt, local and international disagreement, and the work of such international bodies as the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, and the World Bank.
The course puts theories into the working of the international system with close attention to particular countries. You will also have a better knowledge of methods of solving the international problems.
Related（相关的）courses
BA (Hons) Community Management
BA (Hons) Public Policy and Management
Employment possibilities
International organizations
International business
Earth Science (BSc)
Key features
● Based on key courses and the latest research findings
● Pays much attention to practical skills
● Offers chances for fieldwork（实地考察）
About the course
The demand for natural resources is becoming an increasingly serious problem for the future of mankind. Graduates in Earth Science will play an important role in meeting this demand, and in knowing the meaning of using the natural resources.
The course covers geography and geology. You will carry out fieldwork in the UK and possibly overseas, and a research in an area of interest to you in the final year.
Related courses
BSc (Hons) Geograhpy
BSc (Hons) Geology
Employment possibilities
Mineral, oil, water or other related engineering industriesInternational Studies is a course in ________.
| A．international polities | B．international business |
| C．international systems | D．international bodies |
After taking the course of International Studies, the students will _______.
| A．become practical and open-minded |
| B．have a greater ability to discuss theories |
| C．know how to settle international problems |
| D．have good jobs in any international organizations |
Earth Science, as described in the second text, ________.
| A．is attractive because of the chances for fieldwork |
| B．pays more attention to practical skills than theories |
| C．is built on important courses and the results of recent studies |
| D．encourages students to play a role in using natural resources |
It can be inferred that the above two texts are written for the students who _______.
| A．enjoy research work | B．plan to choose courses |
| C．study in the UK | D．are interested in overseas fieldwork |
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