1“Imagine” is a song co-written and performed by E...

1 “Imagine” is a song co-written and performed by English musician John Lennon. The best-selling single of his solo career, its lyrics encourage the listener to imagine a world at peace without the barriers of borders or the divisions of religion and nationality and to consider the possibility that the whole of humanity would live unattached to material possessions. Lennon hoped that the softer and beautiful melody would bring the song to a wider audience, who hopefully would listen to his message. 2 Lennon later felt that this song should have been a Lennon/Ono (Lennon’s wife, a Japanese) collaboration. Shortly before his death, Lennon said that much of the song’s “lyric and content” came from his wife Yoko Ono, and in 2017, she received a co-writing credit. He got the initial idea from Yoko’s book Grapefruit, which is a book of instructions, with things like “Imagine the sky crying...” or “Imagine you're a cloud.” 3 Some people have wondered if Lennon included a message in the video for this song as well. In the video, Lennon is dressed as a cowboy and Yoko Ono is dressed as an Indian squaw. 4 Lennon wrote this on a brown Steinway upright piano. In 2000, George Michael paid over $2 million for the piano that Lennon wrote this on, and then returned it to the Beatles museum in Liverpool. John’s piano has since been “on tour” to various world locations promoting peace. 5 This was not released as a single in the UK until 1975, when it hit #6. Shortly after Lennon’s death in 1980, it was re-released in the UK and hit #1. It was replaced at #1 by Lennon’s “Woman,” marking the first time an artist replaced himself on top of the UK According to this passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A、Imagine hit #1 at its first release.

B、In 1980, Imagine hit #1 in UK.

C、John Lennon’s Imagine, Woman hit #1 in UK.

D、Beatles’ She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand all hit #1 in UK too.

Imagine you found out that ideas invented by a computer were rated higher by independent experts than ideas created by a group of humans asked to perform. the same task. Would you praise the designer of the "creative computer" for a great achievement or would you question why human talent -- usually so potent in coping with complex cognitive challenges -- created such poor ideas? Or maybe you would question your view of the notion of creativity. In fact, such a scenario was played out when we used a simple computerized routine to generate ideas and compared them as superior to human ideas when they performed the same task?

Creativity is considered the ultimate human activity, a highly complex process, difficult to formalize and to control. Although there is a general agreement regarding the distinctive nature of the creative product(idea, painting, poem, and so on). there is a controversy over the nature of the creative process. Some researchers hold that the creative thinking process is qualitatively different from "ordinary" day-to-day thinking, and involves a leap that cannot be formulated, analyzed, or reconstructed -- the creative spark. Others adopt a reductionism view that creative products and the outcome of ordinary thinking, only quantitatively different from everyday thinking.

Because creative ideas are different from those that normally arise, people often believe that such ideas require conditions dramatically different from the usual. The notion goes that, in order to overcome mental barriers and reach creative ideas, total freedom is necessary -- no directional guidance, constraints, criticism, of thinking within bounded scope. Then ideas can be drawn and contemplated from an infinite space during the creativity process. This view prompted the emergence of various idea-generating methods: brainstorming, synectics, lateral thinking, random stimulation, and so on, all of which consist of withholding judgement and relying on analogies from other members in the group of on randomly selected analogies. This family of methods relies on the assumption that enhancing randomness, breaking rules and paradigms, and generating anarchy of thought increase the probability of creative idea emergence.

Do these methods work? A number of researchers indicate that they do not. Ideas suggested by individuals working alone are superior to ideas suggested in brainstorming sessions and the performance of problem solvers instructed to "break the roles, get out of the square, and change paradigms" was not better than that of individuals who were not given any instruction at all.

The failure of these methods to improve creative outcomes has been explained by the unstructured nature of the task. Reitman observed that many problems that lack a structuring framework are ill-defined in that the representations of one or more of the basic components -- the initial state, the operators and constraints, and the goal -- are seriously incomplete, and the search space is exceedingly large. Indeed, many ill-defined problems seem difficult, not because we are swamped by the enormous number of alternative possibilities, but because we have trouble thinking even of one idea worth pursuing.

According to this passage, ideas invented by a computer ______.

A．are never superior to human ideas

B．tend to be superior to human ideas

C．are not necessarily superior to human ideas

D．can no doubt to be invented by human subjects

A．recorded

B．imagined

C．read

D．written

Real-World Robots

When you think of a robot, do you imagine a shiny, metallic device having the same general shape as a human being, performing humanlike functions, and responding to your questions in a monotone (单调的) voice accentuated (强调) by high-pitched tones and beeps? This is the way many of us imagine a robot, but in the real world a robot is not humanoid at all. Instead a robot often is a voiceless, box-shaped machine that efficiently carries out repetitive or dangerous functions usually performed by humans. Today's robot is more than an automatic machine that performs one task again and again. A modern robot is programmed with varying degrees of artificial intelligence, that is, a robot contains a computer program that tells it how to perform. tasks associated With human intelligence, such as reasoning, drawing conclusions, and learning from past experience.

A robot does not possess a human shape for the simple reason that a two-legged robot has great difficulty remaining balanced. A robot does, however, move from place to place on wheels and axles (轮轴) that roll and rotate. A robot even has limbs that turn round and move in combination with joints and motors. To find its way in its surroundings, a robot utilizes various built-in sensors. Antennae attached to the robot's base detect anything they bump into. If the robot starts to shake as it moves on an incline, a gyroscope (陀螺仪) inside it senses the vertical differential. To determine its distance from an object and how quickly it will reach the object, the robot bounces beams of laser light and ultrasonic sound waves off obstructions (障碍物) in its path. These and other sensors constantly feed information to the computer, which then analyzes the information and corrects or adjusts the robot's actions. As science and technology advance, the robot too will progress in its functions and use of artificial intelligence programs.

The writer begins the passage by comparing

A．the shape of a human being with a box.

B．a real-life robot with a fictional robot.

C．an imaginary machine with a human.

D．a robot with a computer program.

Real-World Robots

When you think of a robot, do you imagine a shiny, metallic device having the same general shape as a human being, performing humanlike functions, and responding to your questions in a monotone (单调的) voice accentuated (强调) by high-pitched tones and beeps? This is the way many of us imagine a robot, but in the real world a robot is not humanoid at all. Instead a robot often is a voiceless, box-shaped machine that efficiently carries out repetitive or dangerous functions usually performed by humans. Today's robot is more than an automatic machine that performs one task again and again. A modern robot is programmed with varying degrees of artificial intelligence, that is, a robot contains a computer program that tells it how to perform. tasks associated With human intelligence, such as reasoning, drawing conclusions, and learning from past experience.

A robot does not possess a human shape for the simple reason that a two-legged robot has great difficulty remaining balanced. A robot does, however, move from place to place on wheels and axles (轮轴) that roll and rotate. A robot even has limbs that turn round and move in combination with joints and motors. To find its way in its surroundings, a robot utilizes various built-in sensors. Antennae attached to the robot's base detect anything they bump into. If the robot starts to shake as it moves on an incline, a gyroscope (陀螺仪) inside it senses the vertical differential. To determine its distance from an object and how quickly it will reach the object, the robot bounces beams of laser light and ultrasonic sound waves off obstructions (障碍物) in its path. These and other sensors constantly feed information to the computer, which then analyzes the information and corrects or adjusts the robot's actions. As science and technology advance, the robot too will progress in its functions and use of artificial intelligence programs.

The writer begins the passage by comparing

A．the shape of a human being with a box.

B．a real-life robot with a fictional robot.

C．an imaginary machine with a human.

D．a robot with a computer program.

第二篇

Real-World Robots

When you think Of a robot, do you imagine a shiny ,metallic device having the same general shape as a human being, performing humanlike functions, and responding to your questions in a monotone（单调的）voice accentuated（强调）by high-pitched tones and beeps This is the way many of US imagine a robot, but in the real world a robot is not humanoid at all. Instead, a robot often is a voiceless box-shaped machine that efficiently carries out repetitive or dangerous functions usually performed by humans. Today’s robot is more than an automatic machine that performs one task again and again. A modern robot is programmed with varying degrees of artificial intelligence, that is, a robot contains a computer program that tells it how to perform. tasks associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning, drawing conclusions, and learning from past.

A robot does not possess a human shape for the simple reason that a two-legged robot has great difficulty remaining balanced. A robot does, however, move from place to place on wheels and axles（轮轴）that roll and rotate. A robot even has limbs that turn round and move in combination with joints and motors. To find its way in its surroundings, a robot utilizes various built -in sensors. Antennae attached to the robot's base detect anything they bump into. If the robot starts to shake as it moves on an incline, a gyroscope（陀螺仪）inside it senses the vertical differential. To determine its distance from an object and how quickly it will reach the object, the robot bounces beams of laser. light and ultrasonic sound waves off obstructions（障碍物）in its path. These and other sensors constantly feed information to the computer, which then analyzes the information and corrects or adjusts the robot’s actions. As science and technology advance the robot too will progress in its functions and use of artificial intelligence programs.

36 The writer begins the passage by comparing

A a real-life robot with a fictional robot.

B the shape of a human being with a box.

C an imaginary machine with a human.

D a robot with a computer program.

根据下列材料请回答 36～40 题：Real-World Robots

When you think Of a robot，do you imagine a shiny ,metallic device having the same general shape as a human being，performing humanlike functions，and responding to your questions in a monotone(单调的)voice accentuated(强调)by high-pitched tones and beeps This is the way many of US imagine a robot，but in the real world a robot is not humanoid at all.instead，a robot often is a voiceless ,box- shaped machine that efficiently carries Out repetitive or dangerous functions usually performed by humans. Today" s robot is more than an automatic machine that performs one task again and again. A modern robot is programmed with varying degrees of artificial intelligence，that is，a robot contains a computer program that tells it how to perform. tasks associated with human intelligence，such as reasoning，drawing conclusions，and learning from past.

A robot does not possess a human shape for the simple reason that a two-legged robot has great difficulty remaining balanced.A robot does，however，move from place to place on wheels and axles(轮轴)that roll and rotate.A robot even has limbs that turn round and move in combination with joints and motors.To find its way in its surroundings, a robot utilizes various built -in sensors.Antennae attached to the robot's base detect anything they bump into.If the robot starts to shake as it moves on an incline，a gyroscope(陀螺仪)inside it senses the vertical differential .TO determine Its distance from an object and how quickly it will reach the object，the robot bounces beams of laser. light and ultrasonic sound waves off obstructions(障碍物)in its path.These and other sensors constantly feed information to the computer，which then analyzes the information and corrects or adjusts the robot’s actions.As science and technology advance the robot too will progress in its functions and use of artificial intelligence programs.

第36题：The writer begins the passage by comparing

A．a real-life robot with a fictional robot.

B．the shape of a human being with a box.

C．an imaginary machine with a human.

D．a robot with a computer program.

A．expected

B．supposed

C．imagined

D．doubted