问答题 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay based on the chart below. You should start your essay with a brief description of the chart and comment on China’s achievements in higher e

问答题Do music lessons really make children smarter? A) A recent analysis found that most research mischaracterizes the relationship between music and skills enhancement. B) In 2004, a paper appeared in the journal Psychological Science, titled "Music Lessons Enhance IQ." The author, composer and psychologist Glenn Schellenberg, had conducted an experiment with 144 children randomly assigned to four groups: one learned the keyboard for a year, one took singing lessons, one joined an acting class, and a control group had no extracurricular training. The IQ of the children in the two musical groups rose by an average of seven points in the course of a year; those in the other two groups gained an average of 4.3 points. C) Schellenberg had long been skeptical of the science supporting claims that music education enhances children’s abstract reasoning, math, or language skills. If children who play the piano are smarter, he says, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are smarter because they play the piano. It could be that the youngsters who play the piano also happen to be more ambitious or better at focusing on a task. Correlation, after all, does not prove causation. D) The 2004 paper was specifically designed to address those concerns. And as a passionate musician, Schellenberg was delighted when he turned up credible evidence that music has transfer effects on general intelligence. But nearly a decade later, in 2013, the Education Endowment Foundation funded a bigger study with more than 900 students. That study failed to confirm Schellenberg’s findings, producing no evidence that music lessons improved math and literacy skills. E) Schellenberg took that news in stride while continuing to cast a skeptical eye on the research in his field. Recently, he decided to formally investigate just how often his fellow researchers in psychology and neuroscience make what he believes are erroneous—or at least premature—causal connections between music and intelligence. His results, published in May, suggest that many of his peers do just that. F) For his recent study, Schellenberg asked two research assistants to look for correlational studies on the effects of music education. They found a total of 114 papers published since 2000. To assess whether the authors claimed any causation, researchers then looked for telltale verbs in each paper’s title and abstract, verbs like "enhance," "promote," "facilitate," and "strengthen." The papers were categorized as neuroscience if the study employed a brain imaging method like magnetic resonance, or if the study appeared in a journal that had "brain," "neuroscience," or a related term in its title. Otherwise the papers were categorized as psychology. Schellenberg didn’t tell his assistants what exactly he was trying to prove. G) After computing their assessments, Schellenberg concluded that the majority of the articles erroneously claimed that music training had a causal effect. The overselling, he also found, was more prevalent among neuroscience studies, three quarters of which mischaracterized a mere association between music training and skills enhancement as a cause-and-effect relationship. This may come as a surprise to some. Psychologists have been battling charges that they don’t do "real" science for some time—in large part because many findings from classic experiments have proved unreproducible. Neuroscientists, on the other hand, armed with brain scans and EEGs (脑电图), have not been subject to the same degree of critique. H) To argue for a cause-and-effect relationship, scientists must attempt to explain why and how a connection could occur. When it comes to transfer effects of music, scientists frequently point to brain plasticity—the fact that the brain changes according to how we use it. When a child learns to play the violin, for example, several studies have shown that the brain region responsible for the fine motor skills of the left hand’s fingers is likely to grow. And many experiments have shown that musical training improves certain hearing capabilities, like filtering voices from background noise or distinguishing the difference between the consonants (辅音) ’b’ and ’g’. I) But Schellenberg remains highly critical of how the concept of plasticity has been applied in his field. "Plasticity has become an industry of its own," he wrote in his May paper. Practice does change the brain, he allows, but what is questionable is the assertion that these changes affect other brain regions, such as those responsible for spatial reasoning or math problems. J) Neuropsychologist Lutz Jancke agrees. "Most of these studies don’t allow for causal inferences," he said. For over two decades, Jancke has researched the effects of music lessons, and like Schellenberg, he believes that the only way to truly understand their effects is to run longitudinal studies. In such studies, researchers would need to follow groups of children with and without music lessons over a long period of time—even if the assignments are not completely random. Then they could compare outcomes for each group. K) Some researchers are starting to do just that. The neuroscientist Peter Schneider from Heidelberg University in Germany, for example, has been following a group of children for ten years now. Some of them were handed musical instruments and given lessons through a school-based program in the Ruhr region of Germany called Jedem Kind ein Instrument, or "an instrument for every child," which was carried out with government funding. Among these children, Schneider has found that those who were enthusiastic about music and who practiced voluntarily showed improvements in hearing ability, as well as in more general competencies, such as the ability to concentrate. L) To establish whether effects such as improved concentration are caused by music participation itself, and not by investing time in an extracurricular activity of any kind, Assal Habibi, a psychology professor at the University of Southern California, is conducting a five-year longitudinal study with children from low-income communities in Los Angeles. The youngsters fall into three groups: those who take after-school music, those who do after-school sports, and those with no structured after-school program at all. After two years, Habibi and her colleagues reported seeing structural changes in the brains of the musically trained children, both locally and in the pathways connecting different parts of the brain. M)That may seem compelling, but Habibi’s children were not selected randomly. Did the children who were drawn to music perhaps have something in them from the start that made them different but eluded the brain scanners? "As somebody who started taking piano lessons at the age of five and got up every morning at seven to practice, that experience changed me and made me part of who I am today," Schellenberg said. "The question is whether those kinds of experiences do so systematically across individuals and create exactly the same changes. And I think that is that huge leap of faith." N) Did he have a hidden talent that others didn’t have? Or more endurance than his peers? Music researchers tend, like Schellenberg, to be musicians themselves, and as he noted in his recent paper, "the idea of positive cognitive and neural side effects from music training (and other pleasurable activities) is inherently appealing." He also admits that if he had children of his own, he would encourage them to take music lessons and go to university. "I would think that it makes them better people, more critical, just wiser in general," he said. O) But those convictions should be checked at the entrance to the lab, he added. Otherwise, the work becomes religion or faith. "You have to let go of your faith if you want to be a scientist."

问答题 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay related to the short passage given below. In your essay, you are to comment on the phenomenon described in the passage and suggest measures

问答题 井冈山地处湖南江西两省交界处，因其辉煌的革命历史被誉为“中国革命红色摇篮”。1927年10月，毛泽东、朱德等老一辈革命家率领中国工农红军来到这里，开展了艰苦卓绝的斗争，创建了第一个农村革命根据地，点燃了中国革命的星星之火，开辟了“农村包围besiege城市，武装夺取政权”这一具有中国特色的革命道路，中国革命从这里迈向胜利。井冈山现有100多处革命旧址，成为一个“没有围墙的革命历史博物馆”，是爱国

问答题Why facts don’t change our minds A) The economist J. K. Galbraith once wrote, "Faced with a choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy with the proof." B) Leo Tolstoy was even bolder: "The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him." C) What’s going on here? Why don’t facts change our minds? And why would someone continue to believe a false or inaccurate idea anyway? How do such behaviors serve us? Humans need a reasonably accurate view of the world in order to survive. If your model of reality is wildly different from the actual world, then you struggle to take effective actions each day. However, truth and accuracy are not the only things that matter to the human mind. Humans also seem to have a deep desire to belong. D) In Atomic Habits, I wrote, "Humans are herd animals. We want to fit in, to bond with others, and to earn the respect and approval of our peers. Such inclinations are essential to our survival. For most of our evolutionary history, our ancestors lived in tribes. Becoming separated from the tribe—or worse, being cast out—was a death sentence." E) Understanding the truth of a situation is important, but so is remaining part of a tribe. While these two desires often work well together, they occasionally come into conflict. In many circumstances, social connection is actually more helpful to your daily life than understanding the truth of a particular fact or idea. The Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker put it this way, "People are embraced or condemned according to their beliefs, so one function of the mind may be to hold beliefs that bring the belief-holder the greatest number of allies, protectors, or disciples (信徒), rather than beliefs that are most likely to be true." F) We don’t always believe things because they are correct. Sometimes we believe things because they make us look good to the people we care about. I thought Kevin Simler put it well when he wrote, "If a brain anticipates that it will be rewarded for adopting a particular belief, it’s perfectly happy to do so, and doesn’t much care where the reward comes from—whether it’s pragmatic (实用主义的) (better outcomes resulting from better decisions), social (better treatment from one’s peers), or some mix of the two." G) False beliefs can be useful in a social sense even if they are not useful in a factual sense. For lack of a better phrase, we might call this approach "factually false, but socially accurate." When we have to choose between the two, people often select friends and family over facts. This insight not only explains why we might hold our tongue at a dinner party or look the other way when our parents say something offensive, but also reveals a better way to change the minds of others. H) Convincing someone to change their mind is really the process of convincing them to change their tribe. If they abandon their beliefs, they run the risk of losing social ties. You can’t expect someone to change their mind if you take away their community too. You have to give them somewhere to go. Nobody wants their worldview torn apart if loneliness is the outcome. I) The way to change people’s minds is to become friends with them, to integrate them into your tribe, to bring them into your circle. Now, they can change their beliefs without the risk of being abandoned socially. J) Perhaps it is not difference, but distance, that breeds tribalism and hostility. As proximity increases, so does understanding. I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s quote, "I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better." K) Facts don’t change our minds. Friendship does. Years ago, Ben Casnocha mentioned an idea to me that I haven’t been able to shake: The people who are most likely to change our minds are the ones we agree with on 98 percent of topics. If someone you know, like, and trust believes a radical idea, you are more likely to give it merit, weight, or consideration. You already agree with them in most areas of life. Maybe you should change your mind on this one too. But if someone wildly different than you proposes the same radical idea, well, it’s easy to dismiss them as nuts. L) One way to visualize this distinction is by mapping beliefs on a spectrum. If you divide this spectrum into 10 units and you find yourself at Position 7, then there is little sense in trying to convince someone at Position 1. The gap is too wide. When you’re at Position 7, your time is better spent connecting with people who are at Positions 6 and 8, gradually pulling them in your direction. M) The most heated arguments often occur between people on opposite ends of the spectrum, but the most frequent learning occurs from people who are nearby. The closer you are to someone, the more likely it becomes that the one or two beliefs you don’t share will bleed over into your own mind and shape your thinking. The further away an idea is from your current position, the more likely you are to reject it outright. When it comes to changing people’s minds, it is very difficult to jump from one side to another. You can’t jump down the spectrum. You have to slide down it. N) Any idea that is sufficiently different from your current worldview will feel threatening. And the best place to ponder a threatening idea is in a non-threatening environment. As a result, books are often a better vehicle for transforming beliefs than conversations or debates. In conversation, people have to carefully consider their status and appearance. They want to save face and avoid looking stupid. When confronted with an uncomfortable set of facts, the tendency is often to double down on their current position rather than publicly admit to being wrong. Books resolve this tension. With a book, the conversation takes place inside someone’s head and without the risk of being judged by others. It’s easier to be open-minded when you aren’t feeling defensive. O) There is another reason bad ideas continue to live on, which is that people continue to talk about them. Silence is death for any idea. An idea that is never spoken or written down dies with the person who conceived it. Ideas can only be remembered when they are repeated. They can only be believed when they are repeated. I have already pointed out that people repeat ideas to signal they are part of the same social group. But here’s a crucial point most people miss: People also repeat bad ideas when they complain about them. Before you can criticize an idea, you have to reference that idea. You end up repeating the ideas you’re hoping people will forget—but, of course, people can’t forget them because you keep talking about them. The more you repeat a bad idea, the more likely people are to believe it. P) Let’s call this phenomenon Clear’s Law of Recurrence: The number of people who believe an idea is directly proportional to the number of times it has been repeated during the last year—even if the idea is false.

问答题 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay based on the chart below. You should start your essay with a brief description of the chart and comment on China’s achievements in poverty

复合题You can’t see it, smell it, or hear it, and people disagree on how precisely to define it, or where exactly it comes from. It isn’t a school subject or an academic discipline, but it can be learned. It is a quality that is required of artists, but it is also present in the lives of scientists and entrepreneurs. All of us benefit from it and we thrive mentally and spiritually when we are able to wield it. It is a delicate thing, easily stamped out; in fact, it flourishes most fully when people are playful and childlike. Meanwhile, it works best in conjunction with deep knowledge and expertise. This mysterious—but teachable—quality is creativity, the subject of a recently-published report by Durham Commission on Creativity and Education. The report concludes that creativity should not inhabit the school curriculum only as it relates to drama, music, art and other obviously creative subjects, but that creative thinking ought to run through all of school life, infusing (充满) the way humanities and natural sciences are learned. The authors, who focus on education in England, offer a number of sensible recommendations, some of which are an attempt to alleviate the uninspiring and fact-based approach to education that has crept into policy in recent years. When children are regarded as vessels to be filled with facts, creativity does not prosper; nor does it when teachers’ sole objective is coaching children towards exams. One suggestion from the commission is a network of teacher-led creativity collaboratives, along the lines of existing maths hubs (中心) , with the aim of supporting teaching for creativity through the school curriculum. Nevertheless, it is arts subjects through which creativity can most obviously be fostered. The value placed on them by the independent education sector is clear. One only has to look at the remarkable arts facilities at Britain’s top private schools to comprehend this. But in the state sector the excessive focus on English, maths and science threatens to crush arts subjects; meanwhile, reduced school budgets mean diminishing extracurricular activities. There has been a 28.1% decline in students taking creative subjects at high schools since 2014, though happily, art and design have seen a recent increase. This discrepancy between state and private education is a matter of social justice. It is simply wrong and unfair that most children have a fraction of the access to choirs, orchestras, art studios and drama that their more privileged peers enjoy. As lives are affected by any number of looming challenges—climate crisis, automation in the workplace—humans are going to need creative thinking more than ever. For all of our sakes, creativity in education, and for all, must become a priority.

复合题Humansarefascinatedbythesourceoftheirfailingsandvirtues.Thispreoccupationinevitablyleadstoanolddebate:whethernatureornurturemouldsusmore.Arevolutioningeneticshaspoisedthisasamodernpoliticalquestionaboutthecharacterofoursociety:ifpersonalitiesarehard-wiredintoourgenes,whatcangovernmentsdotohelpus?Itfeelsmorallyquestionable,yetclaimsofgeneticselectionbyintelligencearemakingheadlines.Thisisdowntohereditarian(遗传论的)scienceandarecentpaperclaimeddifferencesinexamperformancebetweenpupilsattendingselectiveandnon-selectiveschoolsmirrorthegeneticdifferencesbetweenthem.Withsuchanassertion,theworkwaspredictablygreetedbyalotofabsurdclaimsaboutgeneticsdeterminingacademicsuccess.Whattheresearchrevealedwastheratherlesssurprisingresult:theeducationalbenefitsofselectiveschoolslargelydisappearoncepupils’inbornabilityandsocio-economicbackgroundweretakenintoaccount.Itisaglimpseoftheblindinglyobvious—andthere’snothingtobackstronglyeitherahereditaryorenvironmentalargument.Yetthepaperdoessaychildrenareunintentionallygeneticallyselectedbytheschoolsystem.Centraltohereditarianscienceisatallclaim:thatidentifiablevariationsingeneticsequencescanpredictanindividual’saptnesstolearn,reasonandsolveproblems.Thisisproblematiconmanylevels.Ateachercouldnotseriouslytellaparenttheirchildhasalowgenetictendencytostudywhenexternalfactorsclearlyexist.Unlike-mindedacademicssaytheinheritabilityofhumantraitsisscientificallyunsound.AtbestthereisaweakstatisticalassociationandnotacausallinkbetweenDNAandintelligence.Yetsophisticatedstatisticsareusedtocreateanintimidatoryatmosphereofscientificcertainty.Whilethere’sanundoubtedgeneticbasistoindividualdifference,itiswrongtothinkthatsociallydefinedgroupscanbegeneticallyaccountedfor.Thefixationongenesasdestinyissurelyfalsetoo.MedicalpredictabilitycanrarelybebasedonDNAalone;theenvironmentmatterstoo.Somethingascomplexasintellectislikelytobeaffectedbymanyfactorsbeyondgenes.Ifhereditarianswanttoadvancetheircauseitwillrequiremorebalancedinterpretationandnotjustactsofadvocacy.Geneticselectionisawayofexertinginfluenceoverothers,theultimatecollectivecontrolofhumandestinies,aswriterH.G.Wellsputit.Knowledgebecomespowerandpowerrequiresasenseofresponsibility.Inunderstandingcognitiveability,wemustnotelevatediscriminationtoascience;allowingpeopletoclimbtheladderoflifeonlyasfarastheircellsmightsuggest.Thiswillneedamorescepticaleyeonthescience.Astechnologyprogresses,weallhaveadutytomakesurethatweshapeafuturethatwewouldwanttofindourselvesin.

复合题NicolaSturgeon’sspeechlastTuesdaysettingouttheScottishgovernment’slegislativeprogrammefortheyearaheadconfirmedwhatwasalreadyprettyclear.ScottishcouncilsaresettobethefirstintheUKwiththepowertolevychargesonvisitors,withEdinburghlikelytoleadtheway.Touristtaxesarenotnew.TheHimayalankingdomofBhutanhasalongstandingpolicyofchargingvisitorsadailyfee.France’staxonovernightstayswasintroducedtoassistthermalspa(温泉)townstodevelop,andaroundhalfofFrenchlocalauthoritiesuseittoday.Butsuchleviesareontherise.MovesbyBarcelonaandVenicetodealwiththephenomenonofover-tourismthroughtheuseofchargeshaverecentlygainedprominence.JapanandGreeceareamongthecountriestohaverecentlyintroducedtouristtaxes.ThattheUKlagsbehindisduetoourweak,byinternationalstandards,localgovernment,aswellastheoppositiontotaxesandregulationofouraggressivelypro-marketrulingparty.SomeUKcitieshavelobbiedwithoutsuccessforthepowertolevyachargeonvisitors.Suchleviesarenouniversalremedyastheamountsraisedwouldbetinycomparedwithwhathasbeentakenawaybycentralgovernmentsince2010.Still,itistobehopedthattheScottishgovernment’sboldmovewillpromptotherstoact.ThereisnoreasonwhyvisitorstotheUK,ordomestictouristsonholidayinhotspotssuchasCornwall,shouldbeexemptfromtaxation—particularlywhenvitallocalservicesincludingwastecollection,parkmaintenanceandartsandculturespendingareunderunprecedentedstrain.Onthecontrary,compellingtouriststomakeafinancialcontributiontotheplacestheyvisitbeyondtheirpersonalconsumptionshouldbepartofawiderculturalshift.Westernerswithdisposableincomeshaveoftenbehavedasiftheyhavearighttogowherevertheychoosewithlittleregardfortheconsequences.Justastheenvironmentalharmcausedbyaviationandothertransportmustcomeunderfargreaterscrutiny,thesocialcostoftourismmustalsobeconfronted.Thisincludestheimpactofshort-termletsonhousingcostsandqualityoflifeforresidents.SeveralEuropeancapitals,includingParisandBerlin,areleadingacampaignfortougherregulationbytheEuropeanUnion.Italsoincludestheimpactofovercrowding,litterandthekindsofbehaviourassociatedwithnoisyparties.Thereisnoonesizefitsallsolutiontothisproblem.Theexistenceofnewrevenuestreamsforsomebutnotallcouncilsiscomplicated,andbusinessesareoftenopposed,fearinghighercostswillmakethemuncompetitive.Butthoseplacesthatwantthemmustbegiventhechancetomaketouristtaxeswork.

复合题We often think of drawing as something that takes inborn talent, but this kind of thinking stems from our misclassification of drawing as, primarily, an art form rather than a tool for learning. Researchers, teachers, and artists are starting to see how drawing can positively impact a wide variety of skills and disciplines. Most of us have spent some time drawing before, but at some point, most of us stop drawing. There are people who don’t, obviously, and thank god for that: a world without designers and artists would be a very shabby one indeed. Some argue that so many adults have abandoned drawing because we’ve miscategorized it and given it a very narrow definition. In his book, Stick Figures: Drawing as a Human Practice, Professor D. B. Dowd argues that we have misfiled the significance of drawing because we see it as a professional skill instead of a personal capacity. We mistakenly think of good drawings as those which work as recreations of the real world, as realistic illusions. Rather, drawing should be recategorized as a symbolic tool. Human beings have been drawing for 73,000 years. It’s part of what it means to be human. We don’t have the strength of chimpanzees (大猩猩) because we’ve given up animal strength to manipulate subtle instruments, like hammers, spears, and—later—pens and pencils. The human hand is an extremely dense network of nerve endings. In many ways, human beings are built to draw. Some researchers argue that doodling (涂画) activates the brain’s so-called default circuit— essentially, the areas of the brain responsible for maintaining a baseline level of activity in the absence of other stimuli. Because of this, some believe that doodling during a boring lecture can help students pay attention. In one study, participants were asked to listen to a list of names while either doodling or sitting still. Those who doodled remembered 29 percent more of the names than those who did not. There’s also evidence that drawing talent is based on how accurately someone perceives the world. The human visual system tends to misjudge size, shape, color, and angles but artists perceive these qualities more accurately than non-artists. Cultivating drawing talent can become an essential tool to improve people’s observational skills in fields where the visual is important. Rather than think of drawing as a talent that some creative people are gifted in, we should consider it as a tool for seeing and understanding the world better—one that just so happens to double as an art form. Both absent-minded doodling and copying from life have been shown to positively affect your memory and visual perception, so complain loudly the next time your school board slashes the art department’s budget.

复合题Emulating your conversation partner’s actions is a common human behavior classified as mirroring and has been known and studied by psychologists for years. We all tend to subconsciously copy gestures of people we like. But why do we act like this? As a rule, mirroring means that conversationalists enjoy their communication and that there’s a certain level of agreement between them. The topic of discussion is equally interesting for both and they know their interests meet. Repeating someone’s behavior is typical of talented communicators, not always because the person is sympathetic, but because there is a goal to be achieved. This way new idols have been brought to the stage: politicians, celebrities, and other big names. Popular culture makes people want to look popular, and act and speak like popular people. Nowadays celebrities steal lyrics from each other and struggle with copyright violation accusations or straightforwardly claim themselves to be the authors, even though all the work was done by other people. Among celebrities, it’s trendy nowadays to use their own speech writers as politicians do. The so-called ghostwriting can take various forms: books, articles, autobiographies, and even social media posts. Who is a true copycat (抄袭者) and who gets copycatted? Sometimes, it is a hard nut to crack without an expert’s help. But new authorship defending methods based on identifying individual writing patterns are already here. Their aim is to protect intellectual property. Using scientific methods, some of them can define authorship with 85% accuracy. Writing is not an easy craft to master. If you want to write like a professional without plagiarism (抄袭), there are a few lessons to learn and the first one is: Copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from two, it’s research. The correct interpretation of this statement is not about copying, but rather about creating your own style. When you study an author’s writing style, don’t stop on a single one, but explore numerous styles instead. Examine types of sentences they use, pay attention to their metaphors, and focus on stories you feel you could write a pretty cool sequel (续篇) to. Imitation is rather paradoxical. As an integral part of learning, it brings about positive changes, making people develop and grow. However, it may do a lot of harm. Copying someone’s thoughts, ideas or inventions is completely unacceptable. It infringes on intellectual property rights of others. Still, many things we do are about copying others one way or another. So if you want to compliment someone on the work they have done and imitate it, just make sure you do it the right way to avoid committing plagiarism.

复合题France’s beloved cathedral only minutes away from complete destructionA) Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of Paris was within 15 to 30 minutes of complete destruction as firefighters battled to stop flames reaching its bell towers on Monday evening, French authorities have revealed. A greater disaster was averted by members of the Paris fire brigade, who risked their lives to remain inside the burning monument to create a wall of water between the raging fire and the two towers on the west of the building.B) The revelation of how close France came to losing its most famous cathedral emerged as police investigators questioned workers involved in the restoration of the monument to try to establish the cause of the devastating blaze. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said that an initial fire alert was sounded at 6:20 pm on Monday evening but no fire was found. The second alert was sounded at 6:43 pm, and the blaze was discovered on the roof.C) More than € 650 million was raised in a few hours on Tuesday as French business leaders and global corporations announced they would donate to a restoration campaign launched by the president, Emmanuel Macron. But as the emergency services picked through the burnt debris, a row was resurfacing over accusations that the beloved cathedral, immortalised in Victor Hugo’s novel, was already crumbling before the fire.D) The cathedral is owned by the French state and has been at the centre of a years-long dispute over who should finance restoration work of the collapsing staircases, crumbling statues and cracked walls. Jean-Michel Leniaud, the president of the scientific council at the National Heritage Institute, said: What happened was bound to happen. The lack of adequate maintenance and daily attention to such a majestic building is the cause of this catastrophe. After the blaze was declared completely extinguished, 15 hours after it started, the junior interior minister, Laurent Nunez, said the structure had been saved but remained vulnerable. He praised the actions of the firefighters but admitted the fate of the cathedral had been uncertain. They saved the main structure, but it all came down to 15 -30 minutes, Nunez said.E) In a surprise televised address on Tuesday evening, Macron said he wanted to see the cathedral rebuilt within five years. The fire at Notre Dame reminds us that we will always have challenges to overcome, Macron said, Notre Dame is our history, our literature, the centre of our life. It is the standard by which we measure our distances. It’s so many books, so many paintings. It’s the cathedral of every French person, even those who have never visited it. This history is ours and so we will rebuild Notre Dame. It is what the French people expect; it is what our history deserves. It is our deep destiny. We will rebuild Notre Dame so it is even more beautiful than before. I want it done in the next five years. We can do it. After the time of testing comes a time of reflection and then of action.F) The fire, which had started at the base of the 93-metre spire (尖塔) at about 6:40 pm on Monday, spread through the cathedral’s roof, made up of hundreds of oak beams, some dating back to the 13th century. These beams, known as la forêt (the forest) because of their density, formed the cross-shaped roof that ran the length of the central part of the cathedral. As hundreds of tourists and Parisians stood and watched the flames leaping from the roof, there was shock and tears as the cathedral spire caught fire, burned and then collapsed into itself.G) A collection of dramatic videos and photos quickly spread across social media, showing the horrifying destruction, and attracting emotional responses from people all over the world. Indeed, within minutes the fire occupied headlines of every major global newspaper and television network. This is not surprising given Notre Dame Cathedral, meaning Our Lady, is one of the most recognised symbols of the city of Paris attracting millions of tourists every year.H) While the world looked on, the 500 firefighters at the scene then battled to prevent the flames from reaching the two main towers, where the cathedral bells hang. If the wooden frame of the towers had caught fire, it could have sent the bells—the largest of which, the Emmanuel Bell, weighs 13 tons— crashing down, potentially causing the collapse of both towers. Police and fire services will spend the next 48 hours assessing the security and safety of the 850-year-old structure. Nunez said: We have identified vulnerabilities throughout the structure, all of which still need securing. As a result, residents of five buildings around the northern side of the cathedral were being temporarily evacuated, he added. Architects have identified three main holes in the structure, in the locations of the spire, the main hall and the upper rooms to the north of the central aisle. Most of the wooden roof beams have been burned, and parts of the concrete holding up the roof have collapsed.I) The interior minister, Christophe Castaner, visited the cathedral on Tuesday afternoon to see the extent of the devastation. Ash covered the marble diamond-patterned floor and floated in large pools of grey water from the fire hoses. Behind a heap of blackened oak beams that lay piled up where they had fallen, daylight from vast holes in the cathedral roof lit a golden cross over a statue by Nicolas Coustou, which appeared to have escaped damage. Preliminary inspections also suggested the three ornate (装饰华丽的) stained glass rose windows appeared to have survived the fire, officials said. However, fire officers have said a complete inventory of the damage will not be possible until the cathedral structure has been deemed safe.J) The culture minister, Franck Riester, said religious relics saved from the cathedral were being securely held at the Hotel de Ville, and works of art that sustained smoke damage were being taken to the Louvre, the world’s largest art museum, where they would be dried out, repaired and stored. Sixteen copper statues that decorated the spire had been removed for restoration only a few days before the fire. Relics at the top of the spire are believed lost as the spire was destroyed. As well as damage from the heat, which firefighters said reached more than 800 ℃, experts also need to assess damage from the vast quantities of water firefighters poured into the cathedral. One casualty of this was The Great Organ constructed in the 1730s, which was said to have escaped the flames but been significantly damaged by water.K) French political commentators noted the devastating fire had succeeded where Macron had failed in uniting the country. But criticism over the original state of the building is likely to intensify over coming days. Leniaud told La Croix newspaper: This is not about looking for people to blame. The responsibility is collective because this is the most loved monument in the country. Alexandre Gady, an art historian, agreed. We’ve been saying for years that the budget for maintaining historic monuments is too low, Gady said. The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an inquiry into involuntary destruction by fire, indicating they believe the cause of the blaze was accidental rather than criminal.

复合题I’m always baffled when I walk into a pharmacy and see shelves bursting with various vitamins, extracts and other supplements, all promising to accelerate or promote weight loss. Aisles of marketing genius belie (掩饰) the fact that, 【C1】 ________ weight loss is dictated by the laws of arithmetic. Economist Jessica Irvine wrote a book about how she used math to help her lose more than 18 kilograms. If calories taken in are less than calories 【C2】 ________ , weight shall be lost, and so it is with money. Despite the 【C3】 ________ of financial products, services and solutions geared towards accumulating wealth, if all begins with the same 【C4】 ________ : getting ahead financially requires a reduction of spending, so that income is greater than expenses. I was reminded of this again recently listening to an interview with Nicole Haddow, the author of Smashed Avocado, explaining how she cracked the property market at 31. It was quite a 【C5】 ________ , given where she had been two years earlier. Nicole didn’t celebrate her 30th birthday as she had 【C6】 ________ . She was sobbing at the dinner table with her parents, with whom she had just moved back in. She had no stable income, $ 12,000 in credit-card debt and no plan, but to her 【C7】 ________ , her father, an accountant, told her that her financial 【C8】 ________ wasn’t as bad as she thought. He said, on her income, with some changes, she would be able to buy an investment unit within two years, which she did. Nicole admitted she was fortunate, as she was able to live with her parents and 【C9】 ________ her spending— and life—to get herself on track financially. Creating a gap between her income and spending required a paradigm shift and 【C10】 ________ sacrifice and commitment, but by going into financial lockdown, Nicole gained financial independence.A) abundanceB) astonishmentC) entailedD) envisagedE) equationF) expendedG) featH) fiscallyI) impetusJ) overhaulK) permanently L) plight M) prosper N) shatter O) ultimately

复合题The car has reshaped our cities. It seems to offer autonomy for everyone. There is something almost delightful in the detachment from reality of advertisements showing mass-produced cars marketed as symbols of individuality and of freedom when most of their lives will be spent making short journeys on choked roads. For all the fuss made about top speeds, cornering ability and acceleration, the most useful gadgets on a modern car are those which work when you’re going very slowly: parking sensors, sound systems, and navigation apps which will show a way around upcoming traffic jams. This seems to be one of the few areas where the benefit of sharing personal information comes straight back to the sharer: because these apps know where almost all the users are, and how fast they are moving almost all the time, they can spot traffic congestion (堵塞) very quickly and suggest ways round it. The problem comes when everyone is using a navigation app which tells them to avoid everyone else using the same gadget. Traffic jams often appear where no one has enough information to avoid them. When a lucky few have access to the knowledge, they will benefit greatly. But when everyone has perfect information, traffic jams simply spread onto the side roads that seem to offer a way round them. This new congestion teaches us two things. The first is that the promises of technology will never be realised as fully as we hope; they will be limited by their unforeseen and unintended consequences. Sitting in a more comfortable car in a different traffic jam is pleasant but hardly the liberation that once seemed to be promised. The second is that self-organisation will not get us where we want to go. The efforts of millions of drivers to get ahead do not miraculously produce a situation in which everyone does better than before, but one in which almost everyone does rather worse. Central control and collective organisation can produce smoother and fairer outcomes, though even that much is never guaranteed. Similar limits can be foreseen for the much greater advances promised by self-driving cars. Last week, one operated by the taxi company Uber struck and killed a woman pushing her bicycle across a wide road in Arizona. This was the first recorded death involving a car which was supposed to be fully autonomous. Experts have said that it suggests a catastrophic failure of technology. Increasingly, even Silicon Valley has to acknowledge the costs of the intoxicating (令人陶醉的) hurry that characterises its culture. What traffic teaches us is that reckless and uncontrolled change is as likely to harm us as it is to benefit us, and that thoughtful regulation is necessary for a better future.

复合题HowMarconiGaveUstheWirelessWorldA)AhundredyearsbeforeiconicfigureslikeBillGatesandSteveJobspermeatedourlives,anIrish-Italianinventorlaidthefoundationofthecommunicationexplosionofthe21stcentury.GuglielmoMarconiwasarguablythefirsttrulyglobalfigureinmoderncommunication.Notonlywashethefirsttocommunicateglobally,hewasthefirsttothinkgloballyaboutcommunication.Marconimaynothavebeenthegreatestinventorofhistime,butmorethananyoneelse,hebroughtaboutafundamentalshiftinthewaywecommunicate.B)Today’sgloballynetworkedmediaandcommunicationsystemhasitsoriginsinthe19thcentury,when,forthefirsttime,messagesweresentelectronicallyacrossgreatdistances.Thetelegraph,thetelephone,andradioweretheobviouspredecessorsoftheInternet,iPods,andmobilephones.Whatmadethelinkfromthentonowwasthedevelopmentofwirelesscommunication.Marconiwasthefirsttodevelopandperfectthissystem,usingtherecently-discoveredairwavesthatmakeuptheelectromagneticspectrum.C)Between1896,whenheappliedforhisfirstpatentinEnglandattheageof22,andhisdeathinItalyin1937,Marconiwasatthecenterofeverymajorinnovationinelectroniccommunication.Hewasalsoaskilledandsophisticatedorganizer,anentrepreneurialinnovator,whomasteredtheuseofcorporatestrategy,mediarelations,governmentlobbying,internationaldiplomacy,patents,andprosecution.Marconiwasreallyinterestedinonlyonething:theextensionofmobile,personal,long-distancecommunicationtotheendsoftheearth(andbeyond,ifwecanbelievesomereports).Someliketorefertohimasagenius,butiftherewasanygeniustoMarconiitwasthisvision.D)In1901hesucceededinsignalingacrosstheAtlantic,fromthewestcoastofEnglandtoNewfoundlandintheUSA,despitetheclaimsofsciencethatitcouldnotbedone.In1924heconvincedtheBritishgovernmenttoencircletheworldwithachainofwirelessstationsusingthelatesttechnologythathehaddevised,shortwaveradio.TherearesomewhosayMarconilosthisedgewhencommercialbroadcastingcamealong;hedidn’tseethatradiocouldorshouldbeusedtofrivolous(无聊的)ends.Inoneofhislastpublicspeeches,aradiobroadcasttotheUnitedStatesinMarch1937,hedeploredthatbroadcastinghadbecomeaone-waymeansofcommunicationandforesawitmovinginanotherdirection,towardcommunicationasameansofexchange.Thatwasvisionarygenius.E)Marconi’scareerwasdevotedtomakingwirelesscommunicationhappencheaply,efficiently,smoothly,andwithanelegancethatwouldappeartobeintuitiveanduncomplicatedtotheuser—user-friendly,ifyouwill.ThereisadirectconnectionfromMarconitotoday’ssocialmedia,searchengines,andprogramstreamingthatcanbestbesummedupbyanadmittedlyprovocativeexclamation:the20thcenturydidnotexist.Inasense,Marconi’svisionjumpedfromhistimetoourown.F)Marconiinventedtheideaofglobalcommunication—or,morestraightforwardly,globallynetworked,mobile,wirelesscommunication.Initially,thiswaswirelessMorsecodetelegraphy(电报通讯),theprincipalcommunicationtechnologyofhisday.Marconiwasthefirsttodevelopapracticalmethodforwirelesstelegraphyusingradiowaves.Heborrowedtechnicaldetailsfrommanysources,butwhatsethimapartwasaself-confidentvisionofthepowerofcommunicationtechnologyontheonehand,and,ontheother,ofthestepsthatneededtobetakentoconsolidatehisownpositionasaplayerinthatfield.TracingMarconi’slifelineleadsusintothestoryofmoderncommunicationitself.Therewereotherimportantfigures,butMarconitoweredoverthemallinreach,power,andinfluence,aswellasinthegriphehadonthepopularimaginationofhistime.Marconiwasquitesimplythecentralfigureintheemergenceofamodernunderstandingofcommunication.G)Inhislifetime,Marconiforesawthedevelopmentoftelevisionandthefaxmachine,GPS,radar,andtheportablehand-heldtelephone.Twomonthsbeforehedied,newspaperswerereportingthathewasworkingonadeathray,andthathehadkilledaratwithanintricatedeviceatadistanceofthreefeet.Bythen,anythingMarconisaidordidwasnewsworthy.Stockpricesroseorsankaccordingtohispronouncements.IfMarconisaidhethoughtitmightrain,therewaslikelytobearunonumbrellas.H)Marconi’sbiographyisalsoastoryaboutchoicesandthemotivationsbehindthem.Atonelevel,Marconicouldbefiercelyautonomousandindependentoftheconstraintsofhisownsocialclass.Onanotherscale,hewasaperpetualoutsider.Whereverhewent,hewasneverofthegroup;hewasalwaystheother,consideredforeigninBritain,BritishinItaly,andnotAmericanintheUnitedStates.Atthesametime,healsosufferedtremendouslyfromaneedforacceptancethatdrove,andsometimesstained,everyoneofhisrelationships.I)Marconiplacedapermanentstamponthewaywelive.Hewasthefirstpersontoimagineapracticalapplicationforthewirelessspectrum,andtodevelopitsuccessfullyintoaglobalcommunicationsysteminbothtermsoftheword;thatis,worldwideandall-inclusive.Hewasabletodothisbecauseofacombinationoffactorsmostimportant,timingandopportunity—butthesingle-mindednessanddeterminationwithwhichhecarriedouthisself-imposedmissionwasfundamentallycharacter-based;millionsofMarconi’scontemporarieshadthesameclass,gender,race,andcolonialprivilegeashe,butonlyahandfuldidanythingwithit.Marconineededtoachievethegoalthatwassetinhismindasanadolescent;bythetimehereachedadulthood,heunderstood,intuitively,thatinordertohaveanimpacthehadtobothdevelopanindependenteconomicbaseandalignhimselfwithpoliticalpower.Disciplined,uncriticalloyaltytopoliticalpowerbecamehiscompassforthechoiceshehadtomake.J)Atthesametime,Marconiwasuncompromisinglyindependentintellectually.ShortlyafterMarconi’sdeath,thenuclearphysicistEnricoFermi—soontobethedeveloperoftheManhattanProject—wrotethatMarconiprovedthattheoryandexperimentationwerecomplementaryfeaturesofprogress.Experiencecanrarely,unlessguidedbyatheoreticalconcept,arriveatresultsofanygreatsignificance…ontheotherhand,anexcessivetrustintheoreticalconvictionwouldhavepreventedMarconifrompersistinginexperimentswhichweredestinedtobringaboutarevolutioninthetechniqueofradio-communications.Inotherwords,Marconihadtheadvantageofnotbeingburdenedbypreconceivedassumptions.K)ThemostcontroversialaspectofMarconi’slife—andthereasonwhytherehasbeennosatisfyingbiographyofMarconiuntilnow—washisuncriticalembraceofBenitoMussolini.Atfirstthiswasnotproblematicforhim.Butastheregressive(倒退的)natureofMussolini’sregimebecameclear,hebegantosufferacrisisofconscience.However,afteralifetimeofmovingwithinthecirclesofpower,hewasunabletobreakwithauthority,andservedMussolinifaithfully(aspresidentofItaly’snationalresearchcouncilandroyalacademy,aswellasamemberoftheFascistGrandCouncil)untilthedayhedied—conveniently—in1937,shortlybeforehewouldhavehadtotakeastandintheconflictthatconsumedaworldthathehad,inpart,created.

复合题What Are the Ethics of CGI Actors And Will They Replace Real Ones?A) Digital humans are coming to a screen near you. As computer-generated imagery (CGI) has become cheaper and more sophisticated, the film industry can now convincingly recreate people on screen— even actors who have been dead for decades. The technology’s ability to effectively keep celebrities alive beyond the grave is raising questions about public legacies and image rights.B) Late in 2019, it was announced that US actor James Dean, who died in 1955, will star in a Vietnam War film scheduled for release later this year. In the film, which will be called Finding Jack, Dean will be recreated on screen with CGI based on old footage (影片镜头) and photographs, with another actor voicing him. The news was met with excitement by those keen to see Dean digitally brought back to life for only his fourth film, but it also drew sharp criticism. This is puppeteering the dead for their fame alone, actress Zelda Williams wrote on Twitter. It sets such an awful precedent for the future of performance. Her father, Robin Williams, who died in 2014, was keen to avoid the same fate. Before his death, he filed a deed protecting the use of his image until 2039, preventing others from recreating him using CGI to appear in a film, TV show or as a hologram (全息影像).C) The James Dean film is a way to keep the actor’s image relevant for younger generations, says Mark Roesler of CMG Worldwide, the firm that represents Dean’s estate. I think this is the beginning of an entire wave, says Travis Cloyd, CEO of Worldwide XR, one of the companies behind the digital recreation of Dean. Moving into the future, we want James Dean to be brought into different gaming environments, or different virtual reality environments, or augmented reality environments, he says.D) Other actors have been revived, with the permission of their estates, for advertising purposes: for example, a 2011 advertisement for Dior featured contemporary actress Charlize Theron alongside iconic 20th-century stars Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Marlene Dietrich. Later, Audrey Hepburn was digitally recreated for a chocolate commercial in 2013. In the same year, a CGI Bruce Lee appeared in a Chinese-language ad for a whisky brand, which offended many fans because Lee was widely known not to drink alcohol at all. In the last five years, it’s become more affordable and more achievable in a whole movie, says Tim Webber at UK visual effects firm Framestore, the company behind the Hepburn chocolate ad. Framestore used body doubles with resemblance to Hepburn’s facial structure and body shape as a framework for manual animation. The process was extremely difficult and expensive, says Webber, but the technology has moved on.E) Now, a person can be animated from scratch. If they’re alive today, you can put them in scanning rigs, you can get every detail of their body analysed very carefully and that makes it much easier, whereas working from available photographs is tricky, says Webber, who won an Academy Award for his visual effects work on the 2013 film Gravity. I also see a lot of actors today who will have the desire to take advantage of this technology: to have their likeness captured and stored for future content, says Cloyd. They foresee this being something that could give their estates and give their families the ability to make money from their likeness when they’re gone.F) A hidden hazard of digitally recreating a deceased (已故的) celebrity is the risk of damaging their legacy. We have to respect the security and the integrity of rights holders, says John Canning at Digital Domain, a US firm that created a hologram rapper (说唱艺人) Tupac Shakur, which appeared at the Coachella music festival in 2012, 15 years after his death.G) Legally, a person’s rights to control the commercial use of their name and image beyond their death differ between and even within countries. In certain US states, for example, these rights are treated similarly to property rights, and are transferable to a person’s heirs. In California, under the Celebrities Rights Act, the personality rights for a celebrity last for 70 years after their death. We’ve got a societal debate going on about access to our public commons, as it were, about famous faces, says Lilian Edwards at Newcastle University, UK. Should the public be allowed to use or reproduce images of famous people, given how iconic they are? And what is in the best interest of a deceased person’s legacy may conflict with the desires of their family or the public, says Edwards.H) A recreation, however lifelike, will never be indistinguishable from a real actor, says Webber. When we are bringing someone back, representing someone who is no longer alive on the screen, what we are doing is extremely sophisticated digital make-up, he says. A performance is a lot more than a physical resemblance.I) As it becomes easier to digitally recreate celebrities and to entirely manufacture on-screen identities, could this kind of technology put actors out of jobs? I think actors are worried about this, says Edwards. But I think it will take a very long time. This is partly because of the risk that viewers find virtual humans scary. Edwards cites widespread backlash to the digital recreation of Carrie Fisher as a young Princess Leia in Rogue One, a trick later repeated in the recent Star Wars. The Rise of Skywalker, which was filmed after Fisher’s death in 2016. People didn’t like it, she says. They discovered the uncanny valley (诡异谷).J) This refers to the idea that when objects trying to resemble humans aren’t quite perfect, they can make viewers feel uneasy because they fall somewhere between obviously non-human and fully human. That’s always a danger when you’re doing anything human or human-like, says Webber. There’re a thousand things that could go wrong with a computer-generated facial performance, and any one of those could make it fall into the uncanny valley, he says. Your brain just knows there’s something wrong. The problem often arises around the eyes or mouth, says Webber. They’re the areas that you look at when you’re talking to someone.K) An unfamiliar digital human that has been created through CGI will also face the same challenge as an unknown actor: they don’t have the appeal of an established name. You have to spend substantial capital in creating awareness around their likeness and making sure people are familiar with who they are, says Cloyd. This is now starting to happen. The way you pre-sell a movie in a foreign market is based on relevant talent, he says. I think we’re a long way away from having virtual beings that have the ability to pre-sell content.L) Webber expects that we will see more digital humans on screen. It’s happening because it can happen, he says. Referring to a line from Jurassic Park (侏罗纪公园), he adds: People are too busy thinking about what they can do to think about whether they should do it.

复合题At 43, I’ve reached the stage where women are warned to watch out for the creeping sadness of middle age. We’re served up an endless stream of advice on how to survive your 40s, as if we’re in the endurance stage of a slow limp toward 【C1】 ________ This is the age women start to become invisible—our value, attractiveness and power supposedly 【C2】 ________ by the vanishing of youth. But I don’t feel like I’m fading into 【C3】 ________ I feel more seen than I ever have, and for the first time in my life, I have a clear-eyed view of myself that is 【C4】 ________ , compassionate and accepting. When I look in the mirror, I’m proud of who I am—even those broken parts that for so long seemed impossible to love. So when advertisers try to sell me ways to turn back the clock, I have to【C5】________ a laugh. I wouldn’t go back to the crippling self-consciousness of my youth if you paid me. This hard-won sense of self-acceptance is one of the joys of being an older woman. But it’s a narrative often【C6】 ________ out by the shame that marketers rely on to peddle us their diet pills, miracle face creams and breathable yoga pants—as if self-love is a 【C7】 ________ commodity. For some women I know, this sense of trust and self-belief later in life gave them the courage to leave dysfunctional relationships or 【C8】 ________ on new career paths. Others talked about enjoying their own company, of growth through 【C9】 ________ , deepening bonds of friendships, the ability to be more compassionate, less judgmental and to listen more and appreciate the small pleasures. Life past 40 is far from smooth sailing, but it’s so much more than the reductive 【C10】 ________ we see in women’s magazines and on the Hollywood big screen.A)adversityB)authenticC)ConveyD)DepictionsE)DiminishedF)DrownedG)EmbarkH)FragilityI)NeglectedJ)ObscurityK)OutlinesL)PrevalentM)PurchasableN)SubmitO) suppress