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题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通

江苏省如皋市2019-2020学年高一上学期英语期末考试试卷

阅读理解

    Robots have taken over many of America's factories. But can they pick a strawberry? "It's really hard for robots to match what humans can do," says Bob Pizter, an expert on robots.

    Any 4-year-old kid can pick a strawberry, but machines can't seem to figure it out. Pizter says the hardest thing for them is finding the fruit. Pizter's strawberry-picking robot is rolling into a strawberry field. This well-designed device drives itself. It's as big as a bus, long enough to straddle (跨越) a dozen rows of strawberries at once. Powerful computers are sitting on top. Underneath, there are high-definition cameras to find the berries, and robotic claws ready to pick them.

    "Nobody's telling it what to do," explains Paul Bissett, the chief operating officer of Harvest CROO Robotics. "It's remembering its path down the row. It's remembering where all these plants are." It knows all this, thanks to the super-accurate GPS. Its computer brain contains a map showing the locations of every strawberry plant in the field. The action of machinery is truly impressive, but the baskets are still practically empty. Pitzer says the robots are able to find and pick more than 50 percent of ripe berries. That's not yet up to human standards. A typical worker, he says, manages to pick anywhere from 60 to 90 percent of the berries. Also, he admits, the machine is slower than human hands. On the other hand, it has some advantages. It can work right through the night. Two years later, he says, this machine will be in the fields working for real. "There are weaknesses to work out, but it's getting there. We're close." he says.

    Strawberry companies are putting millions of dollars into this project. The reason, Gary Wishnatzki, the owner of Wish Farms says, is that it's getting more and more difficult to find enough people to pick his berries. "The fact of the matter is, if we don't solve the problem of this labor shortage with automation, the industry is facing a big challenge ahead. The price of fruit is going to be much higher," Jose Santos, the leader of the farm, says.

    Jose is pretty convinced, though, that picking strawberries will always require people. The machines will break down, he points out. In fact, he's looking on the bright side. "You could afford to give people a day off if you have machines behind you,”" he says.

(1)、According to the passage, the strawberry-picking robot __________.
A、can work extra hours B、relies on GPS only to find berries C、runs on petrol just like a bus D、picks both ripe and unripe berries
(2)、What do people mentioned in the passage think of the strawberry-picking robot?
A、It will lead to the price of strawberries rising. B、It keeps human workers working through night. C、It is not very efficient at the moment but promising. D、It will completely take the place of human workers.
(3)、We know from the article that __________.
A、robots have been widely used in farming B、it seems hard for robots to exactly locate strawberries now C、robots can surely perform any work better than human workers D、with the help of robots, strawberry companies have already earned much
(4)、What does the passage mainly talk about?
A、The working principle of strawberry-picking robots. B、Farmers' expectations for strawberry-picking robots. C、The present state of strawberry-picking robots. D、The differences between humans and strawberry-picking robots.
举一反三
任务型阅读

    To forgive is a virtue, but no one has ever said it is easy. When someone has deeply hurt you, it can be extremely difficult to let go of your hate. However, forgiveness is possible, and it can be surprisingly beneficial to your physical and mental health. People who forgive show less sadness, anger and stress and more hopefulness, according to a recent research.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Try the following steps:

    Calm yourself. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}You can take a couple of breaths and think of something that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature, or someone you love. Don't wait for an apology. Many times the person who hurt you does not intend to apologize. They may have wanted to hurt you or they just don't see things the same way. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Keep in mind that forgiveness does not necessarily mean becoming friends again with the person who upset you.

    Take the control away from your offender(冒犯者). Rethinking about your hurt gives power to the person who causes you pain. Instead of focusing on your wounded feelings, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you understand your offender, you may realize that he or she was acting out of unawareness, fear, and even love. You may want to write a letter to yourself from your offender's point of view.

    Don't forget to forgive yourself. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} But it can rob you of your self-confidence if you don't do it.

A. Why should you forgive?

B. How should you start to forgive?

C. Recognize the benefits of forgiveness.

D. Try to see things from your offender's angle.

E. For some people, forgiving themselves is the biggest challenge.

F. To make your anger die away, try a simple stress-management technique.

G. If you wait for people to apologize, you could be waiting an awfully long time.

阅读理解

    Cleaning your plate may not help feed hungry children today, but the timeworn advice of mothers everywhere may help reduce food waste from the farm to the fork, help the environment and make it easier to feed the world's growing population.

    Hard data still being collected, but experts in Chicago said about 30% to 50% of the food produced in the world goes uneaten. The average American throws away 33 pounds of food each month—about $40 worth, which means each person throws away almost 400 pounds of food. The US Department of Agriculture says that 23% of eggs and an even higher percentage of produce ends up in the trash.

"We forget we have all these fresh fruits and vegetables, and at the end of the week we have to throw them away", said Esther Gove, a mother of three young children in South Berwick, Maine. "Now, I don't buy as much fresh produce as I used to."

    But the effect of food waste arrives far beyond the kitchen. Agriculture is the world's largest user of water, a big consumer of energy and major emitter of greenhouse gases during production. Experts say reducing waste is a simple way to cut stress on the environment and can ease pressure on farmers, who will be called on to feed an expected 9 billion people around the world in 2050, compared with nearly 7 billion today.

    No matter how sustainable (可持续的) farming is, if the food's not getting eaten, it's not sustainable and it's not a good use of our resources. In richer nations, fruit and vegetables end up in the trash because they aren't pretty enough to meet companies' standards, have gone bad in a home refrigerator or aren't eaten at a restaurant. In developing countries, much food spoils before it gets to market due to poor roads and lack of refrigeration. High food prices are another reason, since some people can't afford the food that's produced.

阅读理解

    ARNOLD Schwarzenegger is back, once again taking on his iconic killer robot role, the T-800, in August's new movie Terminator Genisys. While the T-800 model—even if it can be evil—has a fond place in moviegoers' hearts, the reality of autonomous machines is no joke, according to scientists.

    Autonomous weapons use artificial intelligence (AI) to choose targets without human help. They were described as “the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms” in an open letter signed by over 1,000 important technology figures in July. The list included British scientist Stephen Hawking and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. They asked governments around the world to ban autonomous weapons, warning that killer robots could start ethnic cleansings and an arms race.

     “They will look like tanks. They will look like battleships. They will look like jet fighters,” UK robotics professor Noel Sharkey told CNET, a leading technology website.

    But unlike these machines, which require a human hand in their action, so-called “killer robots” would have some decision-making abilities and the ability to act on their own.

     “If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is almost inevitable,” said the letter released at the 2015 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

    The idea of an automated killing machine was made famous by Schwarzenegger's first Terminator movie in 1984. While no red-eyed robots have been sent after human beings, the idea of AI being used as a weapon has gotten much more likely in the years ever since. The US military is already developing autonomous flying vehicles that can carry out all the steps of a strike mission without a human controlling them, according to a May report in Nature magazine.

    Scientists have even painted a destructive picture of autonomous weapons falling into the hands of terrorists or warlords hoping to carry out ethnic cleansings.

     “The development of full artificial intelligence could lead to the end of the human race,” Hawking said to the BBC in 2016.

Authorities are gradually waking up to the risk of robot wars. Last May, for the first time, the United Nations brought governments together to begin talks on autonomous weapons systems.

    Still, a ban on autonomous weapons is “easier said than done”, commented The Guardian. The dual (双重的) uses of the AI technology—for harm and for good—is difficult to manage. This is because the exact same technology can be used in a wide range of ways, the paper said.

阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。

    It was rainy, and I had no desire to drive up the winding mountain road to my daughter Carolyn's house. But she had insisted that I come to see something at the top of the mountain.

    So here I was, reluctantly making the two-hour journey through fog that hung like veils. By the time I saw how thick it was near the summit, I'd gone too far to turn back.

    Nothing could be worth this, I thought as I inched along the dangerous highway.

    "I'll stay for lunch, but I' m heading back down as soon as the fog lifts," I announced when I arrived.

    "But I need you to drive me to the garage to pick up my car," Carolyn said, "Could we at least do that?"

    "How far is it?" I asked.

    "About three minutes," she said, "I'll drive—I'm used to it."

    After ten minutes on the mountain road, I looked at her anxiously. "I thought you said three minutes."

    She grinned. "This is a detour."

    Turning down a narrow track, we parked the car and got out. We walked along a path that was thick with old pine needles. Huge black-green evergreens towered over us. Gradually, the peace and silence of the place began to fill my mind.

    Then we turned a comer and stopped—and I gasped in amazement.

    From the top of the mountain, sloping for several acres across the mountain side and valleys, were rivers of flowers in numerous colors. It looked as though the sun had tipped over and spilled gold down the mountainside.

    A series of questions filled my mind. Who created such beauty? Why? How?

    As we approached the home that stood in the center of the property, we saw a sign that read: "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking."

    The first answer was: "One Woman—Two Hands, Two Feet, and Very Little Brain." The second was: "One at a Time." The third: "Started in 1958."

    As we drove home, I was so moved by what we had seen. I could scarcely speak. "She changed the world." I finally said, "one bulb (球茎) at a time. She started almost 40 years ago, probably just the beginning of an idea, but she kept at it."

    The wonder of it would not let me go. "Imagine," I said, "if I'd had a vision and worked at it, just a little bit every day, what might I have accomplished?"

    Carolyn looked at me sideways, smiling. "Start tomorrow," she said. "Better yet, start today."

阅读理解

    I began smoking at 13, with a friend in the evenings when we were out. I never thought of the damage it brought me. But I had a bad cough after a cold, and my teeth weren't as white as my sister's, who never smoked. I no longer played any sports. Since all my friends smoked, I never felt different.

    I met and married my husband Paul when we were 22,both smoking like chimneys (烟囱). I had two children by the time I was 26, and life went on as normal. We smoked around our children, never thinking it would be doing them any harm. They both begged us to stop when they learned about the hazards of smoking. We just rolled our eyes at each other.

    My parents quit smoking, and my aunts quit smoking, but they were older. I had lots of time to quit in my life. Paul's mother died of a heart attack at only 55, after suffering two diseases caused by smoking. And still we smoked.

    At the age of 36, I had a child with a breathing problem. We moved outside to smoke, as she had such trouble breathing, and we didn't want to add to that!

    Then my father died a few years later of cancer throughout his body. Still I smoked, even as he asked me on his deathbed to try to stop. I did mean to, but I thought that I had too many worries to deal with. How would I face them without a smoke? Little did I know then that the smoking was only adding to my inability (无能) to deal with trouble, clouding my whole world in smoke.

    Then Paul had an extremely serious problem in his heart because of a condition caused by smoking. Finally, I decided to quit smoking. I knew I'd suffer greatly too if I kept smoking. Paul decided to join me, of course. He had no choice if he didn't want to die.

    Luckily, we made it. Now I have enough energy, a joy in living, and more confidence than ever before.

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