If you could be anybody in the world, who would it be? Your neighbour or a super
题型：不详难度：来源：
If you could be anybody in the world, who would it be? Your neighbour or a super star? A few people have experienced what it might be like to step into the skin of another person, thanks to an unusual virtual reality（虚拟现实）device. Rikke Wahl, an actress, model and artist, was one of the participants in a body swapping experiment at the Be Another lab, a project developed by a group of artists based in Barcelona. She swapped with her partner, an actor, using a machine called The Machine to Be Another and temporarily became a man. "As I looked down, I saw my whole body as a man, dressed in my partner"s pants," she said. "That"s the picture I remember best."
The set-up is relatively simple. Both users wear a virtual reality headset with a camera on the top. The video from each camera is sent to the other person, so what you see is the exact view of your partner. If she moves her arm, you see it. If you move your arm, she sees it.
To get used to seeing another person"s body without actually having control of it, participants start by raising their arms and legs very slowly, so that the other can follow along. Eventually, this kind of slow synchronised（同步的）movement becomes comfortable, and participants really start to feel as though they are living in another person"s body.
Using such technology promises to alter people"s behaviour afterwards-potentially for the better. Studies have shown that virtual reality can be effective in fighting racism-the bias（偏见）that humans have against those who don"t look or sound like them. Researchers at the University of Barcelona gave people a questionnaire called the Implicit Association Test, which measures the strength of people"s associations between, for instance, black people and adjectives such as good, bad, athletic or awkward. Then they asked them to control the body of a dark skinned digital character using virtual reality glasses, before taking the test again. This time, the participants" bias scores were lower. The idea is that once you"ve "put yourself in another"s shoes" you"re less likely to think ill of them, because your brain has internalised the feeling of being that person.
The creators of The Machine to Be Another hope to achieve a similar result. "At the end of body swapping, people feel like holding each other in their arms," says Arthur Pointeau, a programmer with the project. "It"s a really nice way to have this kind of experience. I would really, really recommend it to everyone."
小题1:The word "swapping" (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to______.| A．building | B．exchanging | C．controlling | D．transplanting |
小题2:We can infer from the experiment at the Be Another lab that______.| A．our feelings are related to our bodily experience | | B．we can learn to take control of other people"s bodies | | C．participants will live more passionately after the experiment | | D．The Machine to Be Another can help people change their sexes |
小题3:In the Implicit Association Test, before the participants used virtual reality glasses to control a dark skinned digital character, ______.| A．they fought strongly against racism | | B．they scored lower on the test for racism | | C．they changed their behaviour dramatically | | D．they were more biased against those unlike them |
小题4:It can be concluded from the passage that______.| A．technology helps people realize their dreams | | B．our biases could be eliminated through experiments | | C．virtual reality helps promote understanding among people | | D．our points of view about others need changing constantly |
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答案
小题1:B
小题2:A
小题3:D
小题4:C |
解析
试题分析：文章介绍了一种Be another lab的体验，可以让人们互换角色，这样可以一定程度上消除人们的偏见，也可以促进人与人的相互理解。
小题1:猜词题：根据第一段的最后的描写：She swapped with her partner, an actor, using a machine called The Machine to Be Another and temporarily became a man. "As I looked down, I saw my whole body as a man, dressed in my partner"s pants," she said. "That"s the picture I remember best."可知女演员和男演员互换角色，所以swapping的意思是“交换”，所以选B。
小题2:推理题：根据文章第三段的最后一句话：Eventually, this kind of slow synchronised（同步的）movement becomes comfortable, and participants really start to feel as though they are living in another person"s body.可知从Be another lab的体验可以推断出我们的感觉和身体的经验有关，所以选A
小题3:细节题：根据文章第四段的句子：Studies have shown that virtual reality can be effective in fighting racism-the bias（偏见）that humans have against those who don"t look or sound like them.可知在the Implicit Association test中，在参与者使用虚拟现实的眼镜控制一个深色皮肤的人物之前，他们对不像他们的人物更有偏见，选D
小题4:推理题：根据文章最后一段的句子："At the end of body swapping, people feel like holding each other in their arms," says Arthur Pointeau, a programmer with the project可知虚拟现实帮助促进人们之间的理解，所以选C |
举一反三
A world-famous Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, has created the world’s first long-distance signing device(装置), the LongPen.
After many tiring……from city to city, Atwood thought there must be a better way to do them . She hired some technical experts and started her own company in 2004. Together they designed the LongPen. Here’s how it works: The author writes a personal message and signature on a computer tablet(手写板) using a special pen. On the receiving end, in another city, a robotic arm fitted with a regular pen signs the book. The author and fan can talk with each other via webcams(网络摄像机) and computer screens。
Work on the LongPen began in Atwood’s basement(地下室). At first, they had no idea it would be as hard as it turned out to be. The device went through several versions, including one that actually had smoke coming out of it. The investing finally completed, teat runs w ere made in Ottawa, and the LongPen was officially launched at the 2006 London Book Fair. From here , Atwood conducted two transatlantic book signings of her latest book for fans in Toronto and New York City.
The LongPen produces a unique signature each time because it copies the movement of the author in real time. It has several other potential applications. It could increase credit card security and allow people to sign contracts from another province. The video exchange between signer and receiver can be recorded on DVD for proof when legal documents are used.
“It’s really fun”, said the owner of a bookstore, who was present for one of the test runs. “Obviously you can’t shake hands with the author but there are chances for a connection that you don’t get from a regular book signing..
The response to the invention has not been all favorable. Atwood has received criticism from authors who think she is trying to end book tours. But she said, “It will be possible to go to places that you never got sent to before because the publishers couldn’t afford it.”
小题1:Why did Atwood decide to invent the LongPen?
A. To set up her own company
B. To win herself greater popularity
C. To write her books in a new way
C. To make book signings less tiring
小题2:How does the LongPen work?| A．I copies the author’s signature and prints it on a book. | | B．It signs a book while receiving the author’s signature. | | C．The webcam sends the author’s signature to another city. | | D．The fan uses it to copy the author’s signature himself. |
小题3:What do we know about the invention of the LongPen?| A．It has been completed but not put into use. | | B．The basement caught fire by accident. | | C．Some versions failed before its test run. | | D．The designers were well-prepared for the difficulty. |
小题4:How could the LongPen be used in the future?| A．To draft legal documents. | | B．To improve credit card security | | C．To keep a record of the author’s ideas. | | D．To allow author and fan to exchange videos |
小题5:What could be inferred from Paragraphs 5 and 6?| A．Atwood doesn’t mean to end book tours. | | B．Critics think the LongPen is of little use | | C．Bookstore owners do not support the LongPen | | D．Publishers dislike the LongPen for its high cost |
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Passenger pigeons（旅鸽）once flew over much of the United States in unbelievable numbers. Written accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries described flocks（群）so large that they darkened the sky for hours.
It was calculated that when its population reach its highest point, there were more than 3 billion passenger pigeons – a number equal to 24 to 40 percent of the total bird population in the United States, making it perhaps the most abundant birds in the world. Even as late as 1870 when their numbers had already become smaller, a flock believed to be 1 mile wide and 320 miles (about 515 kilometers) long was seen near Cincinnati.
Sadly, the abundance of passenger pigeons may have been their undoing. Where the birds were abundant, people believed there was an ever-lasting supply and killed them by the thousands. Commercial hunters attracted them to small clearings with grain, waited until pigeons had settled to feed, then threw large nets over them, taking hundreds at a time. The birds were shipped to large cities and sold in restaurants.
By the closing decades of the 19th century, the hardwood forests where passenger pigeons nested had been damaged by Americans’ need for wood, which scattered（驱散）the flocks and forced the birds to go farther north, where cold temperatures and spring storms contributed to their decline. Soon the great flocks were gone, never to be seen again.
In 1897, the state of Michigan passed a law prohibiting the killing of passenger pigeons, but by then, no sizable flocks had been seen in the state for 10 years. The last confirmed wild pigeon in the United States was shot by a boy in Pike County, Ohio, in 1900. For a time, a few birds survived under human care. The last of them, known affectionately as Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden in September 1, 1914.
小题1:In the 18th and early 19th centuries, passenger pigeons _______.| A．were the biggest bird in the world | | B．lived mainly in the south of America | | C．did great harm to the natural environment | | D．Were the largest population in the US |
小题2:The underlined word “undoing” probably refers to the pigeons’ _______.| A．escape | B．ruin | C．liberation | D．evolution |
小题3:What was the main reason for people to kill passenger pigeons?| A．To seek pleasure. | B．To save other birds. | | C．To make money. | D．To protect crops. |
小题4:What can we infer about the law passed in Michigan?| A．It was ignored by the public. | B．It was declared too late. | | C．It was unfair. | D．It was strict. |
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Last summer, two nineteenth-century cottages were rescued from remote farm fields in Montana, to be moved to an Art Deco building in San Francisco. The houses were made of wood. These cottages once housed early settlers as they worked the dry Montana soil; now they hold Twitter engineers.
The cottages could be an example of the industry’ s odd love affair with “low technology,” a concept associated with the natural world, and with old-school craftsmanship (手艺) that exists long before the Internet era. Low technology is not virtual (虚拟的) —so, to take advantage of it, Internet companies have had to get creative. The rescued wood cottages, fitted by hand in the late eighteen-hundreds, are an obvious example, but Twitter’s designs lie on the extreme end. Other companies are using a broader interpretation (阐释) of low technology that focuses on nature.
Amazon is building three glass spheres filled with trees, so that employees can “work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting.” At Google’s office, an entire floor is carpeted in glass. Facebook’s second Menlo Park campus will have a rooftop park with a walking trail.
Olle Lundberg, the founder of Lundberg Design, has worked with many tech companies over the years. “We have lost the connection to the maker in our lives, and our tech engineers are the ones who feel impoverished (贫乏的) , because they’re surrounded by the digital world,” he says. “They’re looking for a way to regain their individual identity, and we’ve found that introducing real crafts is one way to do that.”
This craft based theory is rooted in history, William Morris, the English artist and writer, turned back to pre-industrial arts in the eighteen-sixties, just after the Industrial Revolution. The Arts and Crafts movement defined itself against machines. “Without creative human occupation, people became disconnected from life,” Morris said.
Research has shown that natural environments can restore(恢复) our mental capacities. In Japan, patients are encouraged to “forest-bathe,” taking walks through woods to lower their blood pressure.
These health benefits apply to the workplace as well. Rachel Kaplvin, a professor of environmental psychology, has spent years researching the restorative effects of natural environment. Her research found that workers with access to nature at the office—even simple views of trees and flowers—felt their jobs were less stressful and more satisfying. If low-tech offices can potentially nourish the brains and improve the mental health of employees then, fine, bring on the cottages.
小题1:The writer mentions the two nineteenth-century cottages to show that ________.| A．Twitter is having a hard time | | B．old cottages are in need of protection | | C．early settlers once suffered from a dry climate in Montana | | D．Internet companies have rediscovered the benefits of low technology |
小题2:Low technology is regarded as something that _______.| A．is related to nature | B．is out of date today | | C．consumes too much energy | D．exists in the virtual world |
小题3:The main idea of Paragraph 5 is that human beings ________.| A．have destroyed many pre-industrial arts | | B．have a tradition of valuing arts and crafts | | C．can become intelligent by learning history | | D．can regain their individual identity by using machines |
小题4:The writer’s attitude to “low technology” can best be described as ________.| A．positive | B．defensive | C．cautious | D．doubtful |
小题5:What might be the best title for the passage?| A．Past Glories, Future Dreams | | B．The Virtual World, the Real Challenge | | C．High-tech Companies, Low-tech Offices | | D．The More Craftsmanship, the Less Creativity |
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The idea of being able to walk on water has long interested humans greatly. Sadly, biological facts prevent us ever accomplishing such a thing without artificial aid --- we simply weigh too much, and all our mass pushes down through our relatively small feet, resulting in a lot of pressure that makes us sink.
However, several types of animals can walk on water. One of the most interesting is the common basilisk Basilicus basilicus, a lizard（蜥蜴）native to Central and South America. It can run across water for a distance of several meters, avoiding getting wet by rapidly hitting the water’s surface with its feet. The lizard will take as many as 20 steps per second to keep moving forward. For humans to do this, we’ll need huge feet that we could bring up to our ears in order to create adequate “hitting.”
But fortunately there is an alternative: cornflour. By adding enough of this common thickening agent to water (and it does take a lot), you can create a “non-Newtonian” liquid that doesn’t behave like normal water. Now if the surface of the water is hit hard enough, particles（粒子）in the water group together for a moment to make the surface hard. Move quickly enough and put enough force into each step, and you really can walk across the surface of an adequately thick liquid of cornflour.
Fun though all this may sound, it’s still rather messy and better read about in theory than carried out in practice. If you must do it, then keep the water wings handy in case you start to sink --- and take a shower afterward!
小题1:Walking on water hasn’t become a reality mainly because humans _______.| A．are not interested in it | | B．have biological limitations | | C．have not invented proper tools | | D．are afraid to make an attempt |
小题2:What do we know about Basilicus basilicas from the passage?| A．It is light enough to walk on water. | | B．Its huge feet enable it to stay above water. | | C．It can run across water at a certain speed | | D．Its unique skin keeps it from getting wet in water |
小题3:What is the function of the cornflour according to the passage?| A．To create a thick liquid. | | B．To turn the water into solid. | | C．To help the liquid behave normally. | | D．To enable the water to move rapidly. |
小题4:What is the author’s attitude toward the idea of human’s walking on water?| A．It is risky but beneficial. | | B．It is interesting and worth trying | | C．It is crazy and cannot become a reality | | D．It is impractical; though theoretically possible |
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It’s generally believed that people act the way they do because of their personalities and attitudes. They recycle their garbage because they care about the environment. They pay $5 for a caramel brulee latte because they like expensive coffee drinks.
It’s undeniable that behavior comes from our inner dispositions（性情）, but in many instances we also draw inferences about who we are, as suggested by the social psychologist Daryl Bern, by observing our own behavior. We can be strangers to ourselves. If we knew our own minds, why should we need to guess what our preferences are from our behavior? If our minds were an open book, we would know exactly how much we care about the environment or like lattes. Actually, we often need to look to our behavior to figure out who we are.
Moreover, we don’t just use our behavior to learn about our particular types of character --- we infer characters that weren’t there before. Our behavior is often shaped by little pressures around us, which we fail to recognize. Maybe we recycle because our wives and neighbors would disapprove if we didn’t. Maybe we buy lattes in order to impress the people around us. We should not mistakenly believe that we always behave as a result of some inner disposition.
Whatever pressures there can be or inferences one can make, people become what they do, though it may not be in compliance（符合）with their true desires. Therefore, we should all bear in mind Kurt Vonnegut’s advice: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
小题1:According to the passage, personalities and attitudes are commonly believed to _______.| A．determine one’s behavior | B．reflect one’s taste | | C．influence one’s surroundings | D．result from one’s habits |
小题2:Which of the following would Daryl Bern most probably agree with?| A．The return of a wallet can indicate one’s honesty. | | B．A kind person will offer his seat to the old. | | C．One recycles plastics to protect the environment. | | D．One buys latte out of love of coffee. |
小题3:What can be inferred from the underlined sentence in the passage?| A．We fail to realize our inner dispositions. | | B．We can be influenced by outside pressures. | | C．Our behavior is the result of our true desires. | | D．Our characters can shape our social relationships. |
小题4:What does the author mainly discusses in the passage?| A．Personalities and attitudes. | B．Preferences and habits. | | C．Behavior and personalities. | D．Attitudes and preferences. |
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