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题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通

安徽省黄山市屯溪第一中学2019-2020学年高二上学期英语期中考试试卷

阅读理解

    Many of you may have used Siri, a voice assistant of US tech company Apple. You only have to say "hey Siri" and it will answer to your command. However, we may be sacrificing our privacy to enjoy this convenience.

    According to a recent report by the Guardian, Siri can be accidentally triggered and start recording private conversations, such as discussions between doctors and patients. Some of these recordings are then given to workers outside the company to review.

    Apple claimed the data was used to help Siri improve, but users were not informed of this measure in the first place.

    Apple's Siri is not the only voice assistant to come under fire.

    In 2018, Alexa, a voice assistant developed by US tech company Amazon, recorded a private conversation between a couple and sent it to a stranger without their permission.

    These issues deepened concerns that tech companies are infringing users' rights of privacy.

    Many people have long feared that tech companies are listening and collecting data from private conversations, reported Forbes. Using this data, third party companies could then paint an accurate picture of users' habits and preferences in order to serve them more targeted advertisements, or even worse, sell this private data.

    Despite this risk, the popularity of voice assistant seems to be unstoppable.

    "In the near future, everything from your lighting to your air-conditioning to your refrigerator, your coffee maker, and even your toilet could be wired to a system controlled by voice," commented The Atlantic.

    Colin Horgan wrote on the blog site Medium that he believed people's daily lives will soon become a source of data.

    "The sounds of our homes, the symphony of life – laughing, crying, talking, shouting, sitting in silence – will no longer be considered memories, but data," he wrote.

    To deal with the issue, Blake Morgan, reporter for The Atlantic, believed that the answer is transparency.

    "All companies need to have messaging ready to explain to customers what they do with private data," she wrote on The Atlantic.

(1)、What does the underlined sentence mean?
A、There are other fire-proof voice assistants. B、Other voice assistants are also being developed. C、There are other voice assistants being criticized. D、Other voice assistants also need improvements.
(2)、What seems to be people's biggest concern about voice assistants?
A、Invading their privacy. B、Sending their message. C、Making no improvements. D、Serving them targeted advertisements.
(3)、What should companies do to solve the problem, according to Blake Morgan?
A、To stop collecting data through voice assistant. B、To explain their use of the data to customers. C、To make their data more transparent. D、To slow down the pace of technology advancement.
(4)、What is the author's purpose in writing the text?
A、To show visions of a data world in the future. B、To inform people of what tech companies are really up to. C、To draw attention to the privacy issue voice assistants bring about. D、To criticize companies' invading customers' privacy by collecting data.
举一反三
根据短文内容,选择正确答案。

D

    Taking a shower is relaxing. You can hum a song, daydream or think about nothing, leaving the real world behind you. But did you know that showering can also benefit your mind?

    A research by Scott Barry Kaufman, a psychologist from Yale University in the US interviewed over 3,000 people around the world. It turned out that nearly two-thirds of the interviewees said they had experienced new ideas in the shower and were more likely to have them in the shower than at work.

    So why does a simple shower have such magic power? Science can explain it.

    Showering can help to raise our level of dopamine, a hormone (荷尔蒙) closely related to our creativity. “People vary in terms of their level of creativity according to the activity of dopamine”, explained Alice Flaherty, a famous American neuroscientist. “Taking a warm shower can make us feel relaxed and therefore make the dopamine level rise and bring 'Aha!' moment to us.”

Besides the chemical changes, showering may give you a break from what you feel you have been stuck with. Especially when you have thought hard all day about a problem, jumping into the shower can keep you from the outside world so that you can focus on your inner feelings and memories. In this way, according to American psychologist Shelley H. Carson, author of Your Creative Brain, “a showering hour may turn into an ‘incubation (孵化) period' for your ideas.”

    Compared with sitting in front of a computer, taking a shower is something we do less frequently in our daily life. When showering, we get a fresh experience with the change of location, temperature and humidity. “New and unexpected experiences can lead to positive changes in thinking,” explained Kaufman. “Getting off the couch and jumping in the shower may create a distance and force you to think from a new point of view.”

    Showering allows us to enjoy the creative juices of our minds, but it needn't just be the bathroom where you get your inspiration. For instance, Gertrude Stein, a female American writer and poet, got new ideas by driving around a farm and stopping at different cows until she found the one that most inspired her. So try to create your own way to free your mind, whether it's a walk near the ocean, a country drive or reading a book at home.

阅读理解

Position: Sales Manager

    A Sales Manager with Hilton Hotels and Resorts will develop a sales team and a sales plan that maximizes revenue (收益) by driving the sale of conference facility space and guest rooms.

    What will it be like to work for the Hilton Brand?

    One of the most recognized names in the industry, Hilton Hotels & Resorts offers travelers a world of authentic (可信的) experiences. The brand continues to be innovative and forward-thinking. With products and services that meet the needs of tomorrow's smart global travellers, we share experiences in which every guest feels cared for, valued and respected.

    If you understand the importance of upholding a brand's reputation, you may be just the person we are looking for to work as a Team Member with Hilton Hotels & Resorts.

    What will you be doing?

    As a Sales Manager, you will work with the Conference & Events Sales Department to maximize revenue opportunities. A Sales Manager will be directly responsible for performing the following tasks to the highest standards:

●Maximize all Conference & Events revenue opportunities

●Meet the hotel's set targets

●Understand the marketplace to ensure the hotel stays competitive in the local market

●Ensure the sales team is developed effectively and embraces a culture of high quality

●Work effectively to build relationships with colleagues in the hotel

What are we looking for?

A Sales Manager serving Hilton Worldwide Brand hotels is always working on behalf of our guests and working with other Team Members. To successfully fill this role, you should maintain the following attitude, behavior, skills and values:

● Strong leadership skills that motivate the Sales Team to perform beyond expectations

● Excellent selling capabilities

● Desire to coach the Sales Team in selling techniques

● Excellent organizational and planning skills

What benefits will you receive?

Your benefits will include a competitive starting salary and holiday entitlement. As an employee you will become a member of the Hilton Club, which provides reduced hotel room rates in our hotels worldwide, plus discounts on products and services offered by Hilton Worldwide and its partners.

根据短文内容,选择最佳答案,并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

阅读理解

    Qibao Ancient Village

    Qibao, located in the center of Minhang District, Shanghai, is a village with a history of one thousand years. In the village, wine and tea are served on old-fashioned square tables together with long benches, long-mouth copper pots and flat-end chopstick used. The most famous snacks in old Shanghai are square pastry, rice wine and steamed salted pork in wine.

    Telephone: 021-21087225

    Entrance Ticket: 45 yuan per all-in-one ticket (preferable price of 30 yuan is available now), covering almost all tourist attractions inside the village.

Jinshan Village of Farmer Painting

    Villagers skillfully make good use of folk arts such as printing and dyeing, embroidery (刺绣), wood carving. They take the various folk customs and the busy scenes of labor of villagers in the lower Changjiang valley as the theme of paintings and create farmer paintings in a simple style.

    Telephone: 021-57355555

    Entrance Ticket: 30 yuan/person

    Merry Countryside Tour in Zhonghua Village

    The village provides tourists with accommodations, tours, chess, cards, fitness and entertainment through renting out separate farmhouse and sells tourist products and agricultural by-products related to the merry countryside tour.

    Telephone: 021-57395433

    Entrance Ticket: Free

    Pudong Lingkong Agric Gardening

    It is one of Shanghai countryside tour scenic spots, which features art of teapots, crop plantation and export. The Geological Science Popularization Hall stores up tens of thousands of rare stones collected all over the world.

    Telephone: 021-33935557

    Entrance Ticket: 50 yuan /person

阅读理解

    TED is a non-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Since then it has stepped into more and more fields. It includes two annual ( 年度的) conferences-the TED Conference on the North American West Coast each spring, and the TED Global Conference in Edinburgh UK each summer, which bring together the world's most excellent thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives ( in 18 minutes or less).

    On ted.com, we make the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 1, 200 TED talks are now available,' with more added each week, which cover almost all topics from science to business to global issues- in more than 110 languages. They really help share ideas in communities around the world.

    We believe in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and eventually, the world. So we' re building here a clearinghouse (信息交流中心 ) that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. Have an idea? We want to hear from you.

    Today, TED is best thought of as a global community. It's a community welcoming people from every field and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world.

    Want to follow TED? Here are the ways to connect:

    Get TED news and conference coverage ( 新闻报道) on the TED Blog.

    Follow TED on Twitter:

    @TED News for all TED news and information

    @TED Talks for daily TED Talk release only

    See photos from TED events on Flicker.

阅读理解

    Chris Mazdzer won a silver medal in a men's luge (无舵雪橇) singles event at 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, South Korea — equaling the best finish ever for any member of the US Olympic luge team. In the luge, competitors lie flat, feet first, on a small sled (雪橇). They can travel around an icy track at speeds up to 140 kilometers an hour. The riders control the sled's speed by changing the position of their feet or by moving their shoulders.

    So why did the US luge team win a medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics? Most credit must go to Chris Mazdzer himself. The American said his win was a product of 16 years of preparation and intense training. But another reason for Mazdzer's success could have been the 3-D printing technology, which his team used to make its equipment.

    The term 3-D is short for three dimensional, meaning an object with length, width and height. In 3-D printing, 3-D models are first created as files, or documents, on a computer. The printer then uses a substance (物质) like plastic or metal to create physical objects. The process involves making one layer of material at a time until the objects reach full form.

    The US luge team worked with an American company called Stratasys on the designing and manufacturing process for the sleds. First, the company made a scan, or image, of the body of every member of the luge team. Then, 3-D printing technology was used to create tools for making molds (模子) in the shape of Olympians on top of a sled. The process of designing and tooling sled parts is highly complex and can take several weeks. Officials from the US luge team say 3-D printing can greatly simplify the process, speeding up the production of parts.

    Jon Owen, says the use of 3-D printing has made the team more competitive. It helps the team “continuously adjust designs and run the sleds on the track much faster than traditional processes,” he said. He added that the technology also provides a way to perfectly fit each rider to the sled, while cutting production time and costs.

阅读理解

    It has been described as art by some people, but to others it's an ugly part of modern life. What is it? Graffiti (涂鸦), of course. Look around cities in the UK today and you can see graffiti on buildings, walls, doors and even on buses or trains that have stayed in one place for too long. But where modern technology creates a problem, it also finds a way to deal with it. Last week, The Weekend West was shown around the factory of a small but successful company, Hubdean.

    Hubdean's achievement is a series of special paints which are graffiti-resistant. How do they work? It couldn't be simpler. Take any graffiti-covered surface. First, a treatment called Agproclear is used. Then, using a very hot pressure jet (压力喷嘴), this treatment is taken away and the graffiti disappears at the same time. Now you have a clean wall. But before this clean wall can be painted on by graffiti lovers, a new product, Agproshield, is used. This paint has a special surface which gives it two important advantages. Firstly, spray paint (喷雾颜料) won't stick to the surface very well, and secondly, the whole surface can be cleaned very easily, just using water. Once the surface is painted, no specialist equipment is needed to keep the area clean and graffiti-free.

    Not surprisingly, Hubdean's products are used by both local governments and private companies all over the UK, and now orders are being received from around the world. This brings the company a problem, however. Can they increase production to satisfy the needs? Of course, they can build a second factory or work with a large international company to make their products. The future is looking good for Hubdean!

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