专题03 阅读理解词义猜测题- 2025年高考英语二轮热点题型归纳与变式演练（北京专用）

热点题型·选择题攻略 专题03 阅读理解词义猜测题 2024 年北京高考英语阅读理解试题题材广泛，涵盖人与自我、人与社会和人与自然等多个主题语境，贴近时代、贴近社会、贴近生活、贴近学生。试题依托语篇，全面考查学生的阅读理解能力，突出高阶思维的考查，引导中学教学回归课标、回归课堂。阅读理解的选材注重价值引领，体现学科的育人功能。例如，有的文章讲述了作者在一次考试失败后，不断突破自我、锲而不舍追逐梦想的历程；有的文章指出人类应停止“宇宙是不是模拟”的争论，依托新的科技成果，创造性地探索未知世界；还有的文章从科学的视角探讨道德规范的根源。这些文章不仅有助于考生获取有效信息，正确认识世界和中国发展大势，还能培养考生的国际意识和文化素养。 阅读理解题型多样，包括细节理解题、推理判断题、主旨大意题等。试题考查考生对语篇内容、语篇结构的理解和把握，以及对语篇内容的分析、阐释和评价。 词义猜测题主要考查同学们在具体文章中，根据上下文理解某个词或某个短语的意义的能力。这类题型中所出现的单词，大多是同学们未曾见过的生词。 在做题时，大家可在该词出现的上下文中去寻找线索，通过上下文的语境，推断出该词的真正含义。最后，记得要将“释义”代入文中，进行检验、比较，直到得出该词的确切含义。 （1）通过因果关系猜词 如果生词附近出现了because，as，since，for，so，thus，as a result，of course，therefore等关联词，同学们可以通过找出生词与上下文之间的逻辑关系，推断生词的词义。例如：You shouldn't have blamed him for that，for it wasn't his fault.其中，通过for引出的句子所表示的原因（那不是他的错），大家便可猜出blame的词义是“责备”。 （2）通过同义词和反义词的关系猜词 同义词猜词适用于两种情况。一种是由and或or连接的同义词词组，如。happy and gay，即使我们不认识gay这个词，也可以知道它是“愉快”的意思。另一种是在进一步解释的过程中使用的同义词，如，Man has known something about the planets Venus，Mars，and Jupiter with the help of spaceships.此句中的Venus(金星)、Mars(火星)、Jupiter(木星)均为生词，但只要知道planets就可猜出这几个词都属于“行星”这一义域。 反义词猜词，与因果关系猜词的方法类似。这类方法适用于句中有表转折关系的连词或副词，如but，while，however等，或是与not搭配的或表示否定意义的词语。如，He is so homely，not at all as handsome as his brother.根据not at all...handsome，我们不难推测出homely的意思，即不英俊、不漂亮。 （3）通过构词法猜词 在阅读文章时，我们还会遇上这一类新的词汇，它们有时很难根据上下文来推断其词意，但其对文章的理解又有着举足轻重的作用。此时，我们可以利用一些常见的词根、前缀、后缀等语法知识，对其进行拆分、推测。 （4）通过定义或释义关系来推测词义 如，But sometimes，no rain falls for a long long time. Then there is a dry period，or drought.从drought所在句子的上文我们得知，“很久不下雨，于是便有一段干旱的时期，即drought，由此可见，drought意为“久旱、旱灾”。而a dry period和drought是同义语。这种同义或释义关系常由is，or，that is，in other words，be called或破折号等来表示。 （5）通过句法功能来推测词义 如，Bananas，oranges，pineapples，coconuts and some other kind of fruit grow in warm areas.假如pineapples和coconuts是生词，我们可以从这两个词在句中所处的位置来判断它们大致的意思。从句中不难看出，pineapples，coconuts和bananas，oranges是同类关系，同属fruit类，因此，它们是两样水果，准确地说，是菠萝和椰子。 词义猜测题 词义猜测题常用解题方法：定义法、对比法、因果法、常识联想法、例举法、语境线索法、构词法等。猜词题可以使用以下口决： 1.指代词：出现指代往前找，单复人物要看好； 2.半熟悉词，利用构词法：半生不熟看构词，结合语境来把持； 3.纯生词，则利用逻辑关系、同义解释、上下文语境：同义语境和逻辑，上下求索寻真义。 题型01 构词法 【题型诠释】 构词法是通过词根、前缀、后缀等来猜测词义的方法。 【典例】 （23-24高二下·北京昌平·期末）Our planet has just seen its hottest month on record, with many places on fire or flooded. The likelihood of extreme weather keeps increasing—and people are noticing. However, not everyone notices or feels this threat to the same extent. Based on a representative sample of 1,071 survey respondents from across the UK, we found that people in rural areas showed higher degrees of place attachment than people living in cities, as we expected. However, we were surprised to see that the perceived threat of climate change in: most rural locations was lower. We had not expected that outcome, so we started to dig a little deeper for possible reasons. Rural people may be more resilient to change. Rural people may experience climate change like everyone else, but they may have better ways of coping with it than city residents because of their closer relationship with nature. This may have taught them to be more flexible in how they deal with change. After all, nature changes a lot and that could make them less worried about the major changes happening around them. People in rural areas may not be as aware of climate change as people in cities. Looking more closely, the effect is mostly down to education rather than whether people live in rural areas or not. Research shows that general levels of climate awareness in the UK are quite high. But this does not necessarily correspond to readiness for action or behavioural change. It is well documented, though, that rural inhabitants tend to have more conservative views, which could affect the way climate change is interpreted. Conservative views are often associated with less concern about the climate. People in rural areas may not experience climate change in the same wav as people in cities. This is because rural areas have higher levels of green space than urban areas. For example, you will feel the heat less when you are surrounded by trees. So, although we were surprised that the higher degree of place attachment in people living rurally did not necessarily lead to a higher perception of climate change threat, we can see there are good reasons for that. 24．What does the word “resilient” underlined in Paragraph 3 most probably mean? A．Easy to adapt. B．Ready to illustrate. C．Difficult to notice. D．Willing to challenge. 题型02 定义词或标点符号 【题型诠释】 通过寻找定义、同位语、定语从句等来获取词义。 利用定义表达如同位语、定语从句或由…is, or, that is (to say), in other words, be called，be known as，means等词汇或破折号来表示。 【典例】 （23-24高二下·北京海淀·期末）A theme at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting was the perceived need to “accelerate breakthroughs in research and technology”. Some of this framing was motivated by the climate emergency, some by the opportunities and challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence. Yet in various conversations, it seemed to be taken for granted that to address the world’s problems, scientific research needs to move faster. The WEF mindset resonates (产生共鸣) with the Silicon Valley dictate — usually credited to Mark Zuckerberg — to move fast and break things. But what if the thing being broken is science? Or public trust? The WEF meeting took place just a fortnight after Harvard University President Claudine Cay stepped down after complaints were made about her scholarship. Gay’s troubles came on the heels of the resignation of Stanford University President Mare Tessier-Lavigne, after an internal investigation concluded that his neuroscience research had “multiple problems”. In response. Gay requested corrections to several of her papers; Tessier-Lavigne requested retraction (撤回) of three of his. Although it may be impossible to determine just how widespread such problems really are, it’s hard to imagine that the spectacle of high-profile scholars correcting and retracting papers has not had a negative impact on public trust in science and perhaps in experts broadly. In recent years we’ve seen important papers, written by prominent scientists and published in prestigious journals, retracted because of questionable data or methods. In one interesting case, Frances H. Arnold of the California Institute of Technology, who shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, voluntarily retracted a paper when her lab was unable to replicate her results — but after the paper had been published. In an open apology, she stated that she was “a bit busy” when the paper was submitted and “did not do my job well”. Arnold’s honesty is admirable, but it raises a question: Are scholars at super competitive places really taking the time to do their work right? The problem is not unique to the U. S. In Europe, formal research assessments — which are used to allocate future funding — have for years judged academic departments largely on the quantity of their output. Due to the fact that the existing system has created a counterincentive to advancement in science, a reform is underway urging an emphasis on quality over quantity. Good science takes time. Nearly a century passed between biochemist Friedrich Miescher’s identification of the DNA molecule and suggestion that it might be involved in inheritance and the elucidation of its double-helix structure in the 1950s. And it took just about half a century for geologist and geophysicists to accept geophysicist Alfred Wegener’s idea of continental drift. There’s plenty of circumstantial evidence that scientists and other scholars are pushing results out far faster than they used to. Some of this growth is driven by more scientists and more co-authorship (papers, but it also suggests that the research world has prioritized quantity over quality. Researched may need to slow down — not speed up — if we are to produce knowledge worthy of trust. 11．The underlined word “counterincentive” in Paragraph 5 refers to a (n) ______ factor. A．unfair B．indecisive C．discouraging D．irrational 题型03 连接词 【题型诠释】 通过转折、因果、并列等连接词来推断词义。常见连接词有： 1. 表转折关系的词常有but, while, however, instead of , rather than , unlike, yet, though , too…to等； 2. 表因果的连接词: because, as, since, for, so, as a result, so … that, such … that, therefore； 3. 表并列或选择的连接词: and，or。 【典例】 （23-24高一上·北京西城·期末）Bed rotting — the practice of spending long periods of time just staying under the covers with snacks, screens and other creature comforts — is gaining popularity on social media. Some Generation Z trend followers are now viewing it as a form of self-care, but doctors warn too much could be “sign of depression”. Are these extended breaks really wise for one’s mental health — or could they be a cause for concern? Dr. Ryan Sultan, a professor at Columbia University in New York, who treats many young people, called the bed rotting trend attractive. “In our culture today, with too much to do, too many expectations and too much productivity, many young individuals (个人) are feeling burned out and often aren’t getting enough sleep. It’s easy to see why taking time off to lie around is attractive,” Sultan said. “In many ways, this is beneficial. It’s a chance to get away from real-life problems and clear your head before returning to life in a better state of mind, ” he added. For the downside, however, he said a long-term need or desire for bed rotting could do harm to one’s physical health. Spending too many daytime hours in bed — awake or not — could destroy sleep schedules. Our brains are fine-tuned for sleep in darkness and alertness in light. Lying in bed half-asleep during the day will worsen sleep schedules — once that happens, it is a challenge to fix. It could also lead to blood pressure problems and obesity (肥胖). Long-term need or desire for bed rotting could also be a warning sign of depression, according to a mental health expert. Dr. Marc Siegel, professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, agreed that while some downtime can be useful in terms of de-stressing and rejuvenation (更新), too much bed rotting is a bad health practice. In addition to increasing the risk of depression, it contributes to decreased motivation (动力) as well. Instead of bed rotting, Siegel recommends regular exercise as a better form of de-stressing. While the occasional lazy day can be beneficial, too much could have the opposite effect. If it happens every day, that’s a fairly sensitive test for depression. Those who lack the motivation to get out of bed could also try calling or texting a family member for support, socializing with close friends, finding a small task to complete, or reaching out to a medical professional for help. 6．What does the word “fine-tuned” underlined in Paragraph 3 probably mean? A．Quickly-activated. B．Well-trained. C．Badly-needed. D．Ill-equipped. 题型04 常识和语境 【题型诠释】 在仅靠分析篇章内在逻辑关系和语境无法猜出词义时，我们可以借助生活经验和普通常识确定词义。阅读题文段题材丰富，涉及社会、科普、政治、文化、经济、历史、生活、风俗等多方面知识。 【典例】 （23-24高二上·北京朝阳·期末）If the great dinosaurs hadn’t gone extinct, would they have dominated Earth today? There has been a debate about this possibility for decades. Recently two analyses have put the surprising cognitive (认知) abilities of dinosaurs — and their potential limitations — in a new light. In one study, Suzana Herculano-Houzel at Vanderbilt University calculated the likely number of neurons (神经细胞) in dinosaurs’ pallium, a brain structure that is responsible for advanced cognitive functions. Research suggests that it is the number of neurons in these areas, rather than the brain size, that indicates an animal’s cognitive potential. For example, despite having a very small head, birds have more densely packed brain cells than many mammals (哺乳动物) and so can possess roughly as many neurons as monkeys. The result is that some birds show great cognitive abilities, comparable to the smartest non-human mammals. And it is precisely birds, being the only surviving lineage (宗系) of dinosaurs, that are Herculano-Houzel’s foundation. By comparing the relationship between brain size, number of neurons and body size in numerous existing birds and available fossils of dinosaurs, Herculano-Houzel concludes that a large dinosaur such as T. rex could have housed two billion to three billion neurons in its pallium. If so, dinosaurs could have had the capacity for tool use and planning for the future. But neurons’ number may not be enough. For intelligence, brain architecture also matters. And this could be the weakness of dinosaurs, argues Anton Reiner from the University of Tennessee. Over 350 million years of separate evolution, mammals and dinosaurs found two rather different ways to organize cognitive functions. The mammalian neurons are organized in a relatively thin layer formed by compact columns. In each column, different parts can communicate with one another over short distances. In contrast, in the dinosaurs that survive today, namely birds, the organization is less compact. According to Reiner, expanding brain capabilities beyond a certain point could make the structure far more complex and less efficient than it is in humans. If this were the case, an increase in brain size would correspond to a greater distance between different parts of the brain, slowing down their communication. The issue remains open to debate. Herculano-Houzel and Reiner each published a paper with rejections to the other’s argument. Meanwhile, other scientists have entered the fight. For example, neurobiologist Giorgio Vallortigara assumes that speed in transmitting information between networks of neurons is probably one of dinosaurs’ strengths. Whatever the truth is, understanding how and if brain architecture imposes limits on the development of cognition could reveal much about the evolution of abilities and behaviors of various animals. Also, this debate may tell us more about our own species than about dinosaurs. 2．What does the word “compact” underlined in Paragraph 3 most probably mean? A．Tight. B．Light. C．Large. D．Wide. 题型05 指代 【题型诠释】 通过寻找指代词的前后文来确定词义。如在句子“Despite the celebrations, though, in the US, the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations. It's Jason Moran's job to help change that...  ”中，“that”指代的是前文提到的“jazz being less popular with the young”。 题型 06 例子 【题型诠释】 通过一些例子说明生词的词义, 用such as, for example, like, for instance等来引出。在特定的情况下，作者通过一连串同一类型或范畴的词语来表达其思想，如果有一生词就在一系列同范畴的词语中，可以通过这些词的特征和语义范围来推断出生词的词义范围。 【典例】 （23-24高二下·北京东城·期末）When climate activists glued themselves to the frame of a copy of The Last Supper at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, they received a fairly sympathetic hearing. “No painting is worth more than my six-month-old nephew’s life,” said a protester, criticizing the British government’s support of the fossil fuel industry during the urgent climate crisis. But when protesters threw tomato soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and mashed potatoes at Haystacks by Monet — the censure rose. “Absolutely absurd,” said the culture minister of France. “We have been deeply shaken by their risky endangerment,” read a statement from the International Council of Museums. The protesters are targeting works that are protected behind glass — at least for now — so actual damage has been minimal. And perhaps the anger greeting their acts proves their point: that people care more about the threatened destruction of a painting than the actual destruction of the planet. But as the attacks wear on, and their impact decreases, they risk changing into a joke. What’s especially misguided about the protests is their binary nature. “What is worth more, art or life?” a protester asked. Why choose? “It’s possible to blame both environmental vandalism (蓄意破坏) and cultural vandalism at the same time,” Mark Pasnik, chair of the Boston Art Commission, said. Art is not the problem here. In fact, contemporary artists are making quite effective works about the climate crisis, precisely using art as activism. Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest, a climate change memorial she created in a New York City park, is only one example. “I believe that art can help us imagine and map sustainable future scenarios (设想), and, in doing so, give people a way to see and hope for a different future,” Lin said. The climate activists are surely correct that the pace of reform is far too slow, as the planet burns and deadly storms intensify. But they casually dismiss the sincere efforts of millions of people working on the issue. It would be easier to respect the young protesters at Just Stop Oil, Last Generation, and the rest of the splash groups if they were to spend their time and energy on the unexciting but essential political work around climate change: legislation, regulation, and winning hearts and minds. Perhaps predictably, the debates caused by the protests have not been about climate change, but about the protests themselves. Given how little they’ve done to generate serious discussion or engage people to the cause, the art attacks seem less like vital acts of lawbreaking than mere theatre. 20．What does the underlined word “censure” in Paragraph 1 probably mean? A．Approval. B．Criticism. C．Stress. D．Spirits. 【高考真题】 【2024北京卷】 The notion that we live in someone else’s video game is irresistible to many. Searching the term “simulation hypothesis” (模拟假说) returns numerous results that debate whether the universe is a computer simulation —— a concept that some scientists actually take seriously. Unfortunately, this is not a scientific question. We will probably never know whether it’s true. We can, instead, use this idea to advance scientific knowledge. The 18th-century philosopher Kant argued that the universe ultimately consists of things-in-themselves that are unknowable. While he held the notion that objective reality exists, he said our mind plays a necessary role in structuring and shaping our perceptions. Modern sciences have revealed that our perceptual experience of the world is the result of many stages of processing by sensory systems and cognitive (认知的) functions in the brain. No one knows exactly what happens within this black box. If empirical (实证的) experience fails to reveal reality, reasoning won’t reveal reality either since it relies on concepts and words that are contingent on our social, cultural and psychological histories. Again, a black box. So, if we accept that the universe is unknowable, we also accept we will never know if we live in a computer simulation. And then, we can shift our inquiry from “Is the universe a computer simulation?” to “Can we model the universe as a computer simulation? ” Modelling reality is what we do. To facilitate our comprehension of the world, we build models based on conceptual metaphors (隐喻) that are familiar to us. In Newton’s era, we imagined the universe as a clock. In Einstein’s, we uncovered the standard model of particle (粒子) physics. Now that we are in the information age, we have new concepts such as the computer, information processing, virtual reality, and simulation. Unsurprisingly, these new concepts inspire us to build new models of the universe. Models are not the reality, however. There is no point in arguing if the universe is a clock, a set of particles or an output of computation. All these models are tools to deal with the unknown and to make discoveries. And the more tools we have, the more effective and insightful we can become. It can be imagined that comparable to the process of building previous scientific models, developing the “computer simulation” metaphor-based model will also be a hugely rewarding exercise. 29. What does the phrase “contingent on” underlined in Paragraph 2 probably mean? A. Accepted by. B. Determined by. C. Awakened by. D. Discovered by. 词句猜测题。根据第二段“If e.mpirical (实证的) experience fails to reveal reality, reasoning won’t reveal reality either since it relies on concepts and words that are contingent on our social, cultural and psychological histories. Again, a black box.(如果经验不能揭示现实，推理也不会揭示现实，因为它依赖于contingent on我们的社会、文化和心理历史的概念和词语)”可知，句中that引导限制性定语从句，指代先行词concepts and words，且结合常识，概念和词语取决于我们的社会、文化和心理历史，推测划线短语表示“取决于”，与determined by意义相近。故选B项。 【2023北京卷】 What is life? Like most great questions, this one is easy to ask but difficult to answer. The reason is simple: we know of just one type of life and it’s challenging to do science with a sample size of one. The field of artificial life-called ALife for short — is the systematic attempt to spell out life’s fundamental principles. Many of these practitioners, so-called ALifers, think that somehow making life is the surest way to really understand what life is. So far no one has convincingly made artificial life. This track record makes ALife a ripe target for criticism, such as declarations of the field’s doubtful scientific value. Alan Smith, a complexity scientist, is tired of such complaints. Asking about “the point” of ALife might be, well, missing the point entirely, he says. “The existence of a living system is not about the use of anything.” Alan says. “Some people ask me, ‘So what’s the worth of artificial life?’ Do you ever think, ‘What is the worth of your grandmother?’” As much as many ALifers hate emphasizing their research’s applications, the attempts to create artificial life could have practical payoffs. Artificial intelligence may be considered ALife’s cousin in that researchers in both fields are enamored by a concept called open-ended evolution (演化). This is the capacity for a system to create essentially endless complexity, to be a sort of “novelty generator”. The only system known to exhibit this is Earth’s biosphere. If the field of ALife manages to reproduce life’s endless “creativity” in some virtual model, those same principles could give rise to truly inventive machines. Compared with the developments of Al, advances in ALife are harder to recognize. One reason is that ALife is a field in which the central concept — life itself — is undefined. The lack of agreement among ALifers doesn’t help either. The result is a diverse line of projects that each advance along their unique paths. For better or worse, ALife mirrors the very subject it studies. Its muddled (混乱的) progression is a striking parallel (平行线) to the evolutionary struggles that have shaped Earth biosphere. Undefined and uncontrolled, ALife drives its followers to repurpose old ideas and generated novelty. It may be, of course, that these characteristics aren’t in any way surprising or singular. They may apply universally to all acts of evolution. Ultimately ALife may be nothing special. But even this dismissal suggests something：perhaps, just like life itself throughout the universe, the rise of ALife will prove unavoidable. 31．Regarding Alan Smith’s defence of ALife, the author is . A．supportive B．puzzled C．unconcerned D．doubtful 32．What does the word “enamored” underlined in Paragraph 3 most probably mean? A．Shocked. B．Protected. C．Attracted. D．Challenged. 33．What can we learn from this passage? A．ALife holds the key to human future. B．ALife and AI share a common feature. C．AI mirrors the developments of ALife. D．AI speeds up the process of human evolution. 34．Which would be the best title for the passage? A．Life Is Undefined. Can AI Be a Way Out? B．Life Evolves. Can AI Help ALife Evolve, Too? C．Life Is Undefined. Can ALife Be Defined One Day? D．Life Evolves. Can Attempts to Create ALife Evolve, Too? 【2022年北京卷】 Quantum ( 量子 ) computers have been on my mind a lot lately. A friend has been sending me articles on how quantum computers might help solve some of the biggest challenges we face as humans. I’ve also had exchanges with two quantum-computing experts. One is computer scientist Chris Johnson who I see as someone who helps keep the field honest. The other is physicist Philip Taylor. For decades, quantum computing has been little more than a laboratory curiosity. Now, big tech companies have invested in quantum computing, as have many smaller ones. According to Business Weekly, quantum machines could help us “cure cancer, and even take steps to turn climate change in the opposite direction.” This is the sort of hype ( 炒作 ) that annoys Johnson. He worries that researchers are making promises they can’t keep. “What’s new,” Johnson wrote, “is that millions of dollars are now potentially available to quantum computing researchers.” As quantum computing attracts more attention and funding, researchers may mislead investors, journalists, the public and, worst of all, themselves about their work’s potential. If researchers can’t keep their promises, excitement might give way to doubt, disappointment and anger, Johnson warns. Lots of other technologies have gone through stages of excitement. But something about quantum computing makes it especially prone to hype, Johnson suggests, perhaps because “‘quantum’ stands for something cool you shouldn’t be able to understand.” And that brings me back to Taylor, who suggested that I read his book Q for Quantum. After I read the book, Taylor patiently answered my questions about it. He also answered my questions about PyQuantum, the firm he co-founded in 2016. Taylor shares Johnson’s concerns about hype, but he says those concerns do not apply to PyQuantum. The company, he says, is closer than any other firm “by a very large margin ( 幅度 )” to building a “useful” quantum computer, one that “solves an impactful problem that we would not have been able to solve otherwise.” He adds, “People will naturally discount my opinions, but I have spent a lot of time quantitatively comparing what we are doing with others.” Could PyQuantum really be leading all the competition “by a wide margin”, as Taylor claims? I don’t know. I’m certainly not going to advise my friend or anyone else to invest in quantum computers. But I trust Taylor, just as I trust Johnson. 33. What does the underlined word “prone” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean? A. Open. B. Cool. C. Useful. D. Resistant. 【2021北京卷】 Hundreds of scientists, writers and academics sounded a warning to humanity in an open letter published last December: Policymakers and the rest of us must engage openly with the risk of global collapse. Researchers in many areas have projected the widespread collapse as “a credible scenario(情景) this century”. A survey of scientists found that extreme weather events, food insecurity, and freshwater shortages might create global collapse. Of course, if you are a non-human species, collapse is well underway. The call for public engagement with the unthinkable is especially germane in this moment of still-uncontrolled pandemic and economic crises in the world's most technologically advanced nations. Not very long ago, it was also unthinkable that a virus would shut down nations and that safety nets would be proven so disastrously lacking in flexibility. The international scholars’ warning letter doesn't say exactly what collapse will look like or when it might happen. Collapseology, the study of collapse, is more concerned with identifying trends and with them the dangers of everyday civilization. Among the signatories(签署者) of the warning was Bob Johnson, the originator of the “ecological footprint” concept, which measures the total amount of environmental input needed to maintain a given lifestyle. With the current footprint of humanity, “it seems that global collapse is certain to happen in some form, possibly within a decade, certainly within this century,” Johnson said in an email. “Only if we discuss the consequences of our biophysical limits,” the December warning letter says, “can we have the hope to reduce their speed, severity and harm”. And yet messengers of the coming disturbance are likely to be ignored. We all want to hope things will turn out fine. As a poet wrote, Man is a victim of dope(麻醉品) In the incurable form of hope. The hundreds of scholars who signed the letter are intent(执着) on quieting hope that ignores preparedness. “Let's look directly into the issue of collapse,” they say, “and deal with the terrible possibilities of what we see there to make the best of a troubling future.” 28. What does the underlined word “germane” in Paragraph 3 probably mean? A. Scientific. B. Credible. C. Original. D. Relevant. 【2020年北京卷】 Certain forms of AI are indeed becoming ubiquitous. For example, algorithms (算法) carry out huge volumes of trading on our financial markets, self-driving cars are appearing on city streets, and our smartphones are translating from one language into another. These systems are sometimes faster and more perceptive than we humans are. But so far that is only true for the specific tasks for which the systems have been designed. That is something that some AI developers are now eager to change. Some of today’s AI pioneers want to move on from today’s world of “weak” or “narrow” AI, to create “strong” or “full” AI, or what is often called artificial general intelligence (AGI). In some respects, today’s powerful computing machines already make our brains look weak. A GI could, its advocates say, work for us around the clock, and drawing on all available data, could suggest solutions to many problems. DM, a company focused on the development of AGI, has an ambition to “solve intelligence”. “If we’re successful,” their mission statement reads, “we believe this will be one of the most important and widely beneficial scientific advances ever made.” Since the early days of AI, imagination has outpaced what is possible or even probable. In 1965, an imaginative mathematician called Irving Good predicted the eventual creation of an “ultra-intelligent machine…that can far surpass all the intellectual (智力的) activities of any man, however clever.” Good went on to suggest that “the first ultra-intelligent machine” could be “the last invention that man need ever make.” Fears about the appearance of bad, powerful, man-made intelligent machines have been reinforced (强化) by many works of fiction — Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Terminator film series, for example. But if AI does eventually prove to be our downfall, it is unlikely to be at the hands of human-shaped forms like these, with recognisably human motivations such as aggression (敌对行为). Instead, I agree with Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom, who believes that the heaviest risks from A GI do not come from a decision to turn against mankind but rather from a dogged pursuit of set objectives at the expense of everything else. The promise and danger of true A GI are great. But all of today’s excited discussion about these possibilities presupposes the fact that we will be able to build these systems. And, having spoken to many of the world’s foremost AI researchers, I believe there is good reason to doubt that we will see A GI any time soon, if ever. 42. What does the underlined word “ubiquitous” in Paragraph I probably mean? A. Enormous in quantity. B. Changeable daily. C. Stable in quality. D. Present everywhere. 【最新模考】 【2024·北京海淀·二模】 The idea that aging reduces adults’ ability to imagine, a common theme in children’s literature, is contradicted by psychological research. While children are often portrayed as more imaginative, research indicates that adults not only keep this ability but sometimes surpass children in imaginative thinking. Children are frequently celebrated for boundless imagination. Yet, research reveals that their make-believe games often center around realistic scenarios, such as cooking and cleaning, as demonstrated in a 2020 study published in Journal of Cognition and Development. Another study, lasting for four decades, also suggests that children are not naturally more imaginative than adults; their limitations result from a lack of knowledge and expertise to effectively use their imaginative capacity as adults. Imagination may have evolved for considering alternatives to reality, but we use it most naturally to explore close alternatives, like preparing a different meal, rather than far alternatives, like riding on clouds. When we use imagination to envision far alternatives — to innovate or invent — we’re not digging into an inborn appreciation of the extraordinary; we’re using a tool designed to explore the ordinary. When considering alternatives to reality, we fix our attention on possibilities that are physically reasonable, statistically probable, socially conventional and morally permissible. When told about possibilities that violate such regularities, we usually deny they could happen. Generally speaking, our ideas about what could happen are firmly rooted in what we expect to happen. This mindset is also particularly apparent in young children. In a 2018 study I co-designed with psychologist Jonathan Phillips, 4-year-olds were asked to help a distressed girl who disliked going to school due to missing her mother. Among all the solutions given, they perceived the only possible solution was for her mother to do something special after school to ease her concerns. Unexpected alternatives, such as snapping fingers and making it Saturday, wearing pajamas to school or lying about school being closed, were all regarded impossible. From this, we can conclude that children’s earliest intuitions (直觉力) about possibility confuse what could happen with what should happen. Historically, the improbable event of traveling faster than a horse was considered impossible, as was traveling by air or traveling into space. Before the arrival of trains and planes, there were good reasons to think that people could travel only so far and only so fast. But these reasons were empirical (经验主义的), not logical. Imagination, on its own, lumps the improbable with the impossible, but we can combine imagination with other abilities — namely, knowledge and reflection — to separate the two. While imagination in children often subjects to expectation, adults can control their imaginative capacity for innovation by integrating it with accumulated knowledge and reflective thinking. 56．The underlined word “lumps” in the last paragraph probably means _________. A．mix B．match C．compare D．replace 【2024·北京昌平·二模】 In 1992, Edward de Bono argued that “creativity is the most important human resource of all.” But might computers have the capacity to be creative? Could artificial intelligence outperform us in even the most human of phenomena? These questions have moved to the forefront of society with the launch of ChatGPT and DALL-E, two powerful deep learning models capable of creating art. Where human creativity comes from is a complex and heavily-debated topic. One theory supposes that creativity emerges from solving problems in new ways. The game designer Mark Rosewater explains that “if you use the same neural pathways, you get to the same answers, and with creativity, that’s not your goal.” But studies from the University of Virginia suggest humans most default (默认) to solving problems by building on known solutions, restricting originality. Some neuroscientists propose another theory regarding creativity. Research from the University of Calgary reveals that when being creative, humans don’t use the same brain regions associated with thought and problem-solving, implying that creativity is primarily an unconscious process. According to this theory, the brain solves problems best when not directly focusing on them using the frontal lobe (前额叶) , instead letting the other parts of the brain take over. A．I. cannot currently emulate (仿真) the full complexity of the human mind. Do these deep learning networks even have the required components that we use when we are creative? Douglas Hofstadter explains how “emergent phenomena,” such as creativity, correspond to connections between levels within mental systems. Similar connections could exist in artificial neural networks, even if the mechanics differ. For example, modern artificial intelligence employs attention circuits that may cause it to behave similarly to the frontal lobe where most of the brain’s focusing tendencies come from. The emergent nature of creativity opens the door for similar tendencies in machines, but they are tuned so carefully to copy existing ideas that it may not be enough for true originality. Mr. Rosewater’s theory on creativity suggests that for A．I. to be creative, it should be able to solve problems in new ways, which is difficult because A．I. is based so heavily on already existing ideas. Alternatively, if creativity is an unconscious process as the University of Calgary research suggests, then it occurs mostly outside the frontal lobe and may not exist in machine learning networks. Either way, current A．I. probably lacks the capacity for genuine creativity and originality, but it can combine existing ideas in interesting ways. The question of machine creativity has repercussions in many areas, such as developing copyright law regarding A．I. works, considering A．I. submissions in art contests, and determining the use of ChatGPT as a tool for school assignments. Creativity may be, at least for now, a unique human quality. Computers are not yet starting revolutionary artistic movements, but they are already combining what exists into something new, challenging us to look deeper into our own creativity. 67．What does the underlined word “repercussions” in Paragraph 5 probably mean? A．Influences. B．Objections. C．Doubts. D．Causes. 【2024·北京西城·二模】 When people hear “artificial intelligence,” many envision “big data.” There’s a reason for that: some of the most important AI breakthroughs in the past decade have relied on enormous data sets. But AI is not only about large data sets, and research in “small data” approaches has grown extensively over the past decade—with so-called transfer learning as an especially promising example. Also known as “fine-tuning,” transfer learning is helpful in settings where you have little data on the task of interest but abundant data on a related problem. The way it works is that you first train a model using a big data set and then retrain slightly using a smaller data set related to your specific problem. Research in transfer learning approaches has grown impressively over the past 10 years. In a new report for Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), we examined current and projected progress in scientific research across “small data” approaches. Our analysis found that transfer learning stands out as a category that has experienced the most consistent and highest research growth on average since 2010. This growth has even outpaced the larger and more established field of reinforcement learning, which in recent years has attracted widespread attention. Small data approaches such as transfer learning offer numerous advantages over more data-intensive methods. By enabling the use of AI with less data, they can bolster progress in areas where little or no data exist, such as in forecasting natural disasters that occur relatively rarely or in predicting the risk of disease for a population set that does not have digital health records. Another way of thinking about the value of transfer learning is in terms of generalization. A recurring challenge in the use of AI is that models need to “generalize” beyond their training data. Because transfer learning models work by transferring knowledge from one task to another, they are very helpful in improving generalization in the new task, even if only limited data were available. Moreover, by using pretrained models, transfer learning can speed up training time and could also reduce the amount of computational resources needed to train algorithms (算法). This efficiency is significant, considering that the process of training one large neural (神经系统的) network requires considerable energy. Despite the growth in research, transfer learning has received relatively little visibility. The existence of techniques such as transfer learning does not seem to have reached the awareness of the broader space of policy makers and business leaders in positions of making important decisions about AI funding and adoption. By acknowledging the success of small data techniques like transfer learning—and distributing resources to support their widespread use—we can help overcome some of the common misconceptions regarding the role of data in AI and facilitate innovation in new directions. 69．What does the underlined word “bolster” in Paragraph 3 probably mean? A．Promote. B．Seek. C．Track. D．Monitor. 原创精品资源学科网独家享有版权，侵权必究！11 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $$ 热点题型·选择题攻略 专题03 阅读理解词义猜测题 2024 年北京高考英语阅读理解试题题材广泛，涵盖人与自我、人与社会和人与自然等多个主题语境，贴近时代、贴近社会、贴近生活、贴近学生。试题依托语篇，全面考查学生的阅读理解能力，突出高阶思维的考查，引导中学教学回归课标、回归课堂。阅读理解的选材注重价值引领，体现学科的育人功能。例如，有的文章讲述了作者在一次考试失败后，不断突破自我、锲而不舍追逐梦想的历程；有的文章指出人类应停止“宇宙是不是模拟”的争论，依托新的科技成果，创造性地探索未知世界；还有的文章从科学的视角探讨道德规范的根源。这些文章不仅有助于考生获取有效信息，正确认识世界和中国发展大势，还能培养考生的国际意识和文化素养。 阅读理解题型多样，包括细节理解题、推理判断题、主旨大意题等。试题考查考生对语篇内容、语篇结构的理解和把握，以及对语篇内容的分析、阐释和评价。 词义猜测题主要考查同学们在具体文章中，根据上下文理解某个词或某个短语的意义的能力。这类题型中所出现的单词，大多是同学们未曾见过的生词。 在做题时，大家可在该词出现的上下文中去寻找线索，通过上下文的语境，推断出该词的真正含义。最后，记得要将“释义”代入文中，进行检验、比较，直到得出该词的确切含义。 （1）通过因果关系猜词 如果生词附近出现了because，as，since，for，so，thus，as a result，of course，therefore等关联词，同学们可以通过找出生词与上下文之间的逻辑关系，推断生词的词义。例如：You shouldn't have blamed him for that，for it wasn't his fault.其中，通过for引出的句子所表示的原因（那不是他的错），大家便可猜出blame的词义是“责备”。 （2）通过同义词和反义词的关系猜词 同义词猜词适用于两种情况。一种是由and或or连接的同义词词组，如。happy and gay，即使我们不认识gay这个词，也可以知道它是“愉快”的意思。另一种是在进一步解释的过程中使用的同义词，如，Man has known something about the planets Venus，Mars，and Jupiter with the help of spaceships.此句中的Venus(金星)、Mars(火星)、Jupiter(木星)均为生词，但只要知道planets就可猜出这几个词都属于“行星”这一义域。 反义词猜词，与因果关系猜词的方法类似。这类方法适用于句中有表转折关系的连词或副词，如but，while，however等，或是与not搭配的或表示否定意义的词语。如，He is so homely，not at all as handsome as his brother.根据not at all...handsome，我们不难推测出homely的意思，即不英俊、不漂亮。 （3）通过构词法猜词 在阅读文章时，我们还会遇上这一类新的词汇，它们有时很难根据上下文来推断其词意，但其对文章的理解又有着举足轻重的作用。此时，我们可以利用一些常见的词根、前缀、后缀等语法知识，对其进行拆分、推测。 （4）通过定义或释义关系来推测词义 如，But sometimes，no rain falls for a long long time. Then there is a dry period，or drought.从drought所在句子的上文我们得知，“很久不下雨，于是便有一段干旱的时期，即drought，由此可见，drought意为“久旱、旱灾”。而a dry period和drought是同义语。这种同义或释义关系常由is，or，that is，in other words，be called或破折号等来表示。 （5）通过句法功能来推测词义 如，Bananas，oranges，pineapples，coconuts and some other kind of fruit grow in warm areas.假如pineapples和coconuts是生词，我们可以从这两个词在句中所处的位置来判断它们大致的意思。从句中不难看出，pineapples，coconuts和bananas，oranges是同类关系，同属fruit类，因此，它们是两样水果，准确地说，是菠萝和椰子。 词义猜测题 词义猜测题常用解题方法：定义法、对比法、因果法、常识联想法、例举法、语境线索法、构词法等。猜词题可以使用以下口决： 1.指代词：出现指代往前找，单复人物要看好； 2.半熟悉词，利用构词法：半生不熟看构词，结合语境来把持； 3.纯生词，则利用逻辑关系、同义解释、上下文语境：同义语境和逻辑，上下求索寻真义。 题型01 构词法 【题型诠释】 构词法是通过词根、前缀、后缀等来猜测词义的方法。 例如，在句子“Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside.”中，可以通过构词法知道“downside”是由“down”和“side”两个单词组成，意为“缺点、不利方面”。 【典例】 （23-24高二下·北京昌平·期末）Our planet has just seen its hottest month on record, with many places on fire or flooded. The likelihood of extreme weather keeps increasing—and people are noticing. However, not everyone notices or feels this threat to the same extent. Based on a representative sample of 1,071 survey respondents from across the UK, we found that people in rural areas showed higher degrees of place attachment than people living in cities, as we expected. However, we were surprised to see that the perceived threat of climate change in: most rural locations was lower. We had not expected that outcome, so we started to dig a little deeper for possible reasons. Rural people may be more resilient to change. Rural people may experience climate change like everyone else, but they may have better ways of coping with it than city residents because of their closer relationship with nature. This may have taught them to be more flexible in how they deal with change. After all, nature changes a lot and that could make them less worried about the major changes happening around them. People in rural areas may not be as aware of climate change as people in cities. Looking more closely, the effect is mostly down to education rather than whether people live in rural areas or not. Research shows that general levels of climate awareness in the UK are quite high. But this does not necessarily correspond to readiness for action or behavioural change. It is well documented, though, that rural inhabitants tend to have more conservative views, which could affect the way climate change is interpreted. Conservative views are often associated with less concern about the climate. People in rural areas may not experience climate change in the same wav as people in cities. This is because rural areas have higher levels of green space than urban areas. For example, you will feel the heat less when you are surrounded by trees. So, although we were surprised that the higher degree of place attachment in people living rurally did not necessarily lead to a higher perception of climate change threat, we can see there are good reasons for that. 24．What does the word “resilient” underlined in Paragraph 3 most probably mean? A．Easy to adapt. B．Ready to illustrate. C．Difficult to notice. D．Willing to challenge. 【答案】24．A 【导语】这是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了农村地区的人们相比于城市居民来说对气候变化的感知度较低，并分析了其中的原因。 24．词句猜测题。根据文章第三段“Rural people may experience climate change like everyone else, but they may have better ways of coping with it than city residents because of their closer relationship with nature.(农村人可能会像其他人一样经历气候变化，但他们可能比城市居民有更好的应对方式，因为他们与自然的关系更密切。)”可知，农村人可能更能适应气候变化，所以推断划线词的意思是“容易适应”。故选A项。 题型02 定义词或标点符号 【题型诠释】 通过寻找定义、同位语、定语从句等来获取词义。 利用定义表达如同位语、定语从句或由…is, or, that is (to say), in other words, be called，be known as，means等词汇或破折号来表示。 如在 If you have a juicer, you can simply feed in frozen bananas and some berries or sliced fruit. Out comes a “soft serve” creamy dessert, to be eaten right away. This makes a fun activity for a children’s party; they love feeding the fruit and frozen bananas into the top of the machine and watching the ice cream come out below. 中，通过后面的定义性描述、解释知道“a juicer”指的是“榨汁机”。 【典例】 （23-24高二下·北京海淀·期末）A theme at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting was the perceived need to “accelerate breakthroughs in research and technology”. Some of this framing was motivated by the climate emergency, some by the opportunities and challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence. Yet in various conversations, it seemed to be taken for granted that to address the world’s problems, scientific research needs to move faster. The WEF mindset resonates (产生共鸣) with the Silicon Valley dictate — usually credited to Mark Zuckerberg — to move fast and break things. But what if the thing being broken is science? Or public trust? The WEF meeting took place just a fortnight after Harvard University President Claudine Cay stepped down after complaints were made about her scholarship. Gay’s troubles came on the heels of the resignation of Stanford University President Mare Tessier-Lavigne, after an internal investigation concluded that his neuroscience research had “multiple problems”. In response. Gay requested corrections to several of her papers; Tessier-Lavigne requested retraction (撤回) of three of his. Although it may be impossible to determine just how widespread such problems really are, it’s hard to imagine that the spectacle of high-profile scholars correcting and retracting papers has not had a negative impact on public trust in science and perhaps in experts broadly. In recent years we’ve seen important papers, written by prominent scientists and published in prestigious journals, retracted because of questionable data or methods. In one interesting case, Frances H. Arnold of the California Institute of Technology, who shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, voluntarily retracted a paper when her lab was unable to replicate her results — but after the paper had been published. In an open apology, she stated that she was “a bit busy” when the paper was submitted and “did not do my job well”. Arnold’s honesty is admirable, but it raises a question: Are scholars at super competitive places really taking the time to do their work right? The problem is not unique to the U. S. In Europe, formal research assessments — which are used to allocate future funding — have for years judged academic departments largely on the quantity of their output. Due to the fact that the existing system has created a counterincentive to advancement in science, a reform is underway urging an emphasis on quality over quantity. Good science takes time. Nearly a century passed between biochemist Friedrich Miescher’s identification of the DNA molecule and suggestion that it might be involved in inheritance and the elucidation of its double-helix structure in the 1950s. And it took just about half a century for geologist and geophysicists to accept geophysicist Alfred Wegener’s idea of continental drift. There’s plenty of circumstantial evidence that scientists and other scholars are pushing results out far faster than they used to. Some of this growth is driven by more scientists and more co-authorship (papers, but it also suggests that the research world has prioritized quantity over quality. Researched may need to slow down — not speed up — if we are to produce knowledge worthy of trust. 11．The underlined word “counterincentive” in Paragraph 5 refers to a (n) ______ factor. A．unfair B．indecisive C．discouraging D．irrational 【答案】 11．C 【导语】这是一篇说明文。文章主要说明了如今科学研究存在急于发表论文，过于注重数量导致了很多问题。 11．词句猜测题。根据划线词后文“to advancement in science, a reform is underway urging an emphasis on quality over quantity”可知，正在进行重质量、轻数量的改革，说明现行制度对科学进步的作用令人沮丧。故划线词意思是“令人沮丧的”。故选C。 题型03 连接词 【题型诠释】 通过转折、因果、并列等连接词来推断词义。常见连接词有： 1. 表转折关系的词常有but, while, however, instead of , rather than , unlike, yet, though , too…to等； 2. 表因果的连接词: because, as, since, for, so, as a result, so … that, such … that, therefore； 3. 表并列或选择的连接词: and，or。 如在句子“The fur trade kept nutria in check for decades, but when the market for nutria collapsed in the late 1980s, the cat-sized animals multiplied like crazy.”中，通过转折词“but”可以推断出“collapsed”的意思是“崩溃、暴跌”。 【典例】 （23-24高一上·北京西城·期末）Bed rotting — the practice of spending long periods of time just staying under the covers with snacks, screens and other creature comforts — is gaining popularity on social media. Some Generation Z trend followers are now viewing it as a form of self-care, but doctors warn too much could be “sign of depression”. Are these extended breaks really wise for one’s mental health — or could they be a cause for concern? Dr. Ryan Sultan, a professor at Columbia University in New York, who treats many young people, called the bed rotting trend attractive. “In our culture today, with too much to do, too many expectations and too much productivity, many young individuals (个人) are feeling burned out and often aren’t getting enough sleep. It’s easy to see why taking time off to lie around is attractive,” Sultan said. “In many ways, this is beneficial. It’s a chance to get away from real-life problems and clear your head before returning to life in a better state of mind, ” he added. For the downside, however, he said a long-term need or desire for bed rotting could do harm to one’s physical health. Spending too many daytime hours in bed — awake or not — could destroy sleep schedules. Our brains are fine-tuned for sleep in darkness and alertness in light. Lying in bed half-asleep during the day will worsen sleep schedules — once that happens, it is a challenge to fix. It could also lead to blood pressure problems and obesity (肥胖). Long-term need or desire for bed rotting could also be a warning sign of depression, according to a mental health expert. Dr. Marc Siegel, professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, agreed that while some downtime can be useful in terms of de-stressing and rejuvenation (更新), too much bed rotting is a bad health practice. In addition to increasing the risk of depression, it contributes to decreased motivation (动力) as well. Instead of bed rotting, Siegel recommends regular exercise as a better form of de-stressing. While the occasional lazy day can be beneficial, too much could have the opposite effect. If it happens every day, that’s a fairly sensitive test for depression. Those who lack the motivation to get out of bed could also try calling or texting a family member for support, socializing with close friends, finding a small task to complete, or reaching out to a medical professional for help. 6．What does the word “fine-tuned” underlined in Paragraph 3 probably mean? A．Quickly-activated. B．Well-trained. C．Badly-needed. D．Ill-equipped. 【答案】 6．B 【导语】这是一篇说明文。文章主要说明了年轻人喜欢躺尸来逃避压力，但专家指出长期需要或渴望躺尸 6．词句猜测题。根据划线词前文“Spending too many daytime hours in bed — awake or not — could destroy sleep schedules. (白天在床上呆太长时间——不管醒不醒——都会破坏睡眠时间安排。)”和后文“Lying in bed half-asleep during the day will worsen sleep schedules — once that happens, it is a challenge to fix.(白天躺在床上半睡半醒会使睡眠时间安排变差——一旦出现这种情况，就很难解决了)”以及“for sleep in darkness and alertness in light”可推断，我们的大脑被训练为在黑暗中睡觉，在光明中保持警觉。故划线词意思是“训练有素的”。故选B。 题型04 常识和语境 【题型诠释】 在仅靠分析篇章内在逻辑关系和语境无法猜出词义时，我们可以借助生活经验和普通常识确定词义。阅读题文段题材丰富，涉及社会、科普、政治、文化、经济、历史、生活、风俗等多方面知识。 运用生活常识和上下文语境来猜测词义。例如，在句子“suck：to take liquid, air, etc. into your mouth by using the muscles of your lips”中，可以通过常识知道“suck”的意思是“吮吸”。 【典例】 （23-24高二上·北京朝阳·期末）If the great dinosaurs hadn’t gone extinct, would they have dominated Earth today? There has been a debate about this possibility for decades. Recently two analyses have put the surprising cognitive (认知) abilities of dinosaurs — and their potential limitations — in a new light. In one study, Suzana Herculano-Houzel at Vanderbilt University calculated the likely number of neurons (神经细胞) in dinosaurs’ pallium, a brain structure that is responsible for advanced cognitive functions. Research suggests that it is the number of neurons in these areas, rather than the brain size, that indicates an animal’s cognitive potential. For example, despite having a very small head, birds have more densely packed brain cells than many mammals (哺乳动物) and so can possess roughly as many neurons as monkeys. The result is that some birds show great cognitive abilities, comparable to the smartest non-human mammals. And it is precisely birds, being the only surviving lineage (宗系) of dinosaurs, that are Herculano-Houzel’s foundation. By comparing the relationship between brain size, number of neurons and body size in numerous existing birds and available fossils of dinosaurs, Herculano-Houzel concludes that a large dinosaur such as T. rex could have housed two billion to three billion neurons in its pallium. If so, dinosaurs could have had the capacity for tool use and planning for the future. But neurons’ number may not be enough. For intelligence, brain architecture also matters. And this could be the weakness of dinosaurs, argues Anton Reiner from the University of Tennessee. Over 350 million years of separate evolution, mammals and dinosaurs found two rather different ways to organize cognitive functions. The mammalian neurons are organized in a relatively thin layer formed by compact columns. In each column, different parts can communicate with one another over short distances. In contrast, in the dinosaurs that survive today, namely birds, the organization is less compact. According to Reiner, expanding brain capabilities beyond a certain point could make the structure far more complex and less efficient than it is in humans. If this were the case, an increase in brain size would correspond to a greater distance between different parts of the brain, slowing down their communication. The issue remains open to debate. Herculano-Houzel and Reiner each published a paper with rejections to the other’s argument. Meanwhile, other scientists have entered the fight. For example, neurobiologist Giorgio Vallortigara assumes that speed in transmitting information between networks of neurons is probably one of dinosaurs’ strengths. Whatever the truth is, understanding how and if brain architecture imposes limits on the development of cognition could reveal much about the evolution of abilities and behaviors of various animals. Also, this debate may tell us more about our own species than about dinosaurs. 2．What does the word “compact” underlined in Paragraph 3 most probably mean? A．Tight. B．Light. C．Large. D．Wide. 【答案】 2．A 【导语】这是一篇说明文，文章主要介绍了关于恐龙智力的最近的两项研究，新的研究加剧了争论。 2．词句猜测题。根据划线词下一句“In each column, different parts can communicate with one another over short distances.(在每一柱中，不同的部分可以在短距离内相互通信)”可知，不同的部分可以在短距离内相互通信，说明柱状结构应是很紧凑，由此推知划线词所在句意为“哺乳动物的神经元组织在一个由紧凑的柱状结构组成的相对较薄的层中”，compact意为“紧凑的”，故选A。 题型05 指代 【题型诠释】 通过寻找指代词的前后文来确定词义。如在句子“Despite the celebrations, though, in the US, the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations. It's Jason Moran's job to help change that...  ”中，“that”指代的是前文提到的“jazz being less popular with the young”。 题型 06 例子 【题型诠释】 通过一些例子说明生词的词义, 用such as, for example, like, for instance等来引出。在特定的情况下，作者通过一连串同一类型或范畴的词语来表达其思想，如果有一生词就在一系列同范畴的词语中，可以通过这些词的特征和语义范围来推断出生词的词义范围。 通过例子来推断词义。在句子“… In recent centuries, trade, industrialisation, the development of the nation-state and the spread of universal compulsory education, especially globalisation and better communications in the past few decades, all have caused many languages to disappear, and dominant languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese are increasingly taking over.”中，通过例子可以推断出“dominant”的意思是“强大的”。 【典例】 （23-24高二下·北京东城·期末）When climate activists glued themselves to the frame of a copy of The Last Supper at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, they received a fairly sympathetic hearing. “No painting is worth more than my six-month-old nephew’s life,” said a protester, criticizing the British government’s support of the fossil fuel industry during the urgent climate crisis. But when protesters threw tomato soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and mashed potatoes at Haystacks by Monet — the censure rose. “Absolutely absurd,” said the culture minister of France. “We have been deeply shaken by their risky endangerment,” read a statement from the International Council of Museums. The protesters are targeting works that are protected behind glass — at least for now — so actual damage has been minimal. And perhaps the anger greeting their acts proves their point: that people care more about the threatened destruction of a painting than the actual destruction of the planet. But as the attacks wear on, and their impact decreases, they risk changing into a joke. What’s especially misguided about the protests is their binary nature. “What is worth more, art or life?” a protester asked. Why choose? “It’s possible to blame both environmental vandalism (蓄意破坏) and cultural vandalism at the same time,” Mark Pasnik, chair of the Boston Art Commission, said. Art is not the problem here. In fact, contemporary artists are making quite effective works about the climate crisis, precisely using art as activism. Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest, a climate change memorial she created in a New York City park, is only one example. “I believe that art can help us imagine and map sustainable future scenarios (设想), and, in doing so, give people a way to see and hope for a different future,” Lin said. The climate activists are surely correct that the pace of reform is far too slow, as the planet burns and deadly storms intensify. But they casually dismiss the sincere efforts of millions of people working on the issue. It would be easier to respect the young protesters at Just Stop Oil, Last Generation, and the rest of the splash groups if they were to spend their time and energy on the unexciting but essential political work around climate change: legislation, regulation, and winning hearts and minds. Perhaps predictably, the debates caused by the protests have not been about climate change, but about the protests themselves. Given how little they’ve done to generate serious discussion or engage people to the cause, the art attacks seem less like vital acts of lawbreaking than mere theatre. 20．What does the underlined word “censure” in Paragraph 1 probably mean? A．Approval. B．Criticism. C．Stress. D．Spirits. 【答案】20．B 【导语】本文是一篇说明文，讨论了气候活动家通过攻击艺术品来抗议气候变化的行为，以及这种行为的效果和影响。 20．词句猜测题。根据第一段“But when protesters threw tomato soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and mashed potatoes at Haystacks by Monet — the censure rose(但当抗议者向梵高的《向日葵》扔番茄汤，向莫奈的《干草堆》扔土豆泥时，censure高涨)”可知，当抗议者向名画投掷食物时，引起了人们的强烈反应，这里“censure”指的是对这种行为的批评和指责，故选B项。 【高考真题】 【2024北京卷】 The notion that we live in someone else’s video game is irresistible to many. Searching the term “simulation hypothesis” (模拟假说) returns numerous results that debate whether the universe is a computer simulation —— a concept that some scientists actually take seriously. Unfortunately, this is not a scientific question. We will probably never know whether it’s true. We can, instead, use this idea to advance scientific knowledge. The 18th-century philosopher Kant argued that the universe ultimately consists of things-in-themselves that are unknowable. While he held the notion that objective reality exists, he said our mind plays a necessary role in structuring and shaping our perceptions. Modern sciences have revealed that our perceptual experience of the world is the result of many stages of processing by sensory systems and cognitive (认知的) functions in the brain. No one knows exactly what happens within this black box. If empirical (实证的) experience fails to reveal reality, reasoning won’t reveal reality either since it relies on concepts and words that are contingent on our social, cultural and psychological histories. Again, a black box. So, if we accept that the universe is unknowable, we also accept we will never know if we live in a computer simulation. And then, we can shift our inquiry from “Is the universe a computer simulation?” to “Can we model the universe as a computer simulation? ” Modelling reality is what we do. To facilitate our comprehension of the world, we build models based on conceptual metaphors (隐喻) that are familiar to us. In Newton’s era, we imagined the universe as a clock. In Einstein’s, we uncovered the standard model of particle (粒子) physics. Now that we are in the information age, we have new concepts such as the computer, information processing, virtual reality, and simulation. Unsurprisingly, these new concepts inspire us to build new models of the universe. Models are not the reality, however. There is no point in arguing if the universe is a clock, a set of particles or an output of computation. All these models are tools to deal with the unknown and to make discoveries. And the more tools we have, the more effective and insightful we can become. It can be imagined that comparable to the process of building previous scientific models, developing the “computer simulation” metaphor-based model will also be a hugely rewarding exercise. 29. What does the phrase “contingent on” underlined in Paragraph 2 probably mean? A. Accepted by. B. Determined by. C. Awakened by. D. Discovered by. 【答案】 29. B 【导语】本文是一篇议论文。文章主要讨论了哲学家对于宇宙的认知和信息时代下的作者对于宇宙争论的看法。 【29题详解】 词句猜测题。根据第二段“If e.mpirical (实证的) experience fails to reveal reality, reasoning won’t reveal reality either since it relies on concepts and words that are contingent on our social, cultural and psychological histories. Again, a black box.(如果经验不能揭示现实，推理也不会揭示现实，因为它依赖于contingent on我们的社会、文化和心理历史的概念和词语)”可知，句中that引导限制性定语从句，指代先行词concepts and words，且结合常识，概念和词语取决于我们的社会、文化和心理历史，推测划线短语表示“取决于”，与determined by意义相近。故选B项。 【2023北京卷】 What is life? Like most great questions, this one is easy to ask but difficult to answer. The reason is simple: we know of just one type of life and it’s challenging to do science with a sample size of one. The field of artificial life-called ALife for short — is the systematic attempt to spell out life’s fundamental principles. Many of these practitioners, so-called ALifers, think that somehow making life is the surest way to really understand what life is. So far no one has convincingly made artificial life. This track record makes ALife a ripe target for criticism, such as declarations of the field’s doubtful scientific value. Alan Smith, a complexity scientist, is tired of such complaints. Asking about “the point” of ALife might be, well, missing the point entirely, he says. “The existence of a living system is not about the use of anything.” Alan says. “Some people ask me, ‘So what’s the worth of artificial life?’ Do you ever think, ‘What is the worth of your grandmother?’” As much as many ALifers hate emphasizing their research’s applications, the attempts to create artificial life could have practical payoffs. Artificial intelligence may be considered ALife’s cousin in that researchers in both fields are enamored by a concept called open-ended evolution (演化). This is the capacity for a system to create essentially endless complexity, to be a sort of “novelty generator”. The only system known to exhibit this is Earth’s biosphere. If the field of ALife manages to reproduce life’s endless “creativity” in some virtual model, those same principles could give rise to truly inventive machines. Compared with the developments of Al, advances in ALife are harder to recognize. One reason is that ALife is a field in which the central concept — life itself — is undefined. The lack of agreement among ALifers doesn’t help either. The result is a diverse line of projects that each advance along their unique paths. For better or worse, ALife mirrors the very subject it studies. Its muddled (混乱的) progression is a striking parallel (平行线) to the evolutionary struggles that have shaped Earth biosphere. Undefined and uncontrolled, ALife drives its followers to repurpose old ideas and generated novelty. It may be, of course, that these characteristics aren’t in any way surprising or singular. They may apply universally to all acts of evolution. Ultimately ALife may be nothing special. But even this dismissal suggests something：perhaps, just like life itself throughout the universe, the rise of ALife will prove unavoidable. 31．Regarding Alan Smith’s defence of ALife, the author is . A．supportive B．puzzled C．unconcerned D．doubtful 32．What does the word “enamored” underlined in Paragraph 3 most probably mean? A．Shocked. B．Protected. C．Attracted. D．Challenged. 33．What can we learn from this passage? A．ALife holds the key to human future. B．ALife and AI share a common feature. C．AI mirrors the developments of ALife. D．AI speeds up the process of human evolution. 34．Which would be the best title for the passage? A．Life Is Undefined. Can AI Be a Way Out? B．Life Evolves. Can AI Help ALife Evolve, Too? C．Life Is Undefined. Can ALife Be Defined One Day? D．Life Evolves. Can Attempts to Create ALife Evolve, Too? 【答案】32．C 【导语】本文为说明文。文章主要探讨了ALife是否也在不断地进化的问题。 32．词句猜测题。根据划线词上文“Artificial intelligence may be considered ALife’s cousin in that researchers in both fields are enamored by a concept called open-ended evolution (演化).(人工智能可能被认为是ALife的表亲，因为这两个领域的研究人员都被一个叫做开放进化的概念enamored)”可知，人工智能可能被认为是ALife的表亲，说明人工智能和ALife二者间有共同之处，可推测是因为这两个领域的研究人员都被一个叫做开放进化的概念所吸引，所以才有了这种观点。故划线词意为“吸引”。故选C。 【2022年北京卷】 Quantum ( 量子 ) computers have been on my mind a lot lately. A friend has been sending me articles on how quantum computers might help solve some of the biggest challenges we face as humans. I’ve also had exchanges with two quantum-computing experts. One is computer scientist Chris Johnson who I see as someone who helps keep the field honest. The other is physicist Philip Taylor. For decades, quantum computing has been little more than a laboratory curiosity. Now, big tech companies have invested in quantum computing, as have many smaller ones. According to Business Weekly, quantum machines could help us “cure cancer, and even take steps to turn climate change in the opposite direction.” This is the sort of hype ( 炒作 ) that annoys Johnson. He worries that researchers are making promises they can’t keep. “What’s new,” Johnson wrote, “is that millions of dollars are now potentially available to quantum computing researchers.” As quantum computing attracts more attention and funding, researchers may mislead investors, journalists, the public and, worst of all, themselves about their work’s potential. If researchers can’t keep their promises, excitement might give way to doubt, disappointment and anger, Johnson warns. Lots of other technologies have gone through stages of excitement. But something about quantum computing makes it especially prone to hype, Johnson suggests, perhaps because “‘quantum’ stands for something cool you shouldn’t be able to understand.” And that brings me back to Taylor, who suggested that I read his book Q for Quantum. After I read the book, Taylor patiently answered my questions about it. He also answered my questions about PyQuantum, the firm he co-founded in 2016. Taylor shares Johnson’s concerns about hype, but he says those concerns do not apply to PyQuantum. The company, he says, is closer than any other firm “by a very large margin ( 幅度 )” to building a “useful” quantum computer, one that “solves an impactful problem that we would not have been able to solve otherwise.” He adds, “People will naturally discount my opinions, but I have spent a lot of time quantitatively comparing what we are doing with others.” Could PyQuantum really be leading all the competition “by a wide margin”, as Taylor claims? I don’t know. I’m certainly not going to advise my friend or anyone else to invest in quantum computers. But I trust Taylor, just as I trust Johnson. 33. What does the underlined word “prone” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean? A. Open. B. Cool. C. Useful. D. Resistant. 【答案】 33. A 33.【解析】 词义猜测题。根据第三自然段“But something about quantum computing makes it especially prone to hype, Johnson suggests, perhaps because “‘quantum’ stands for something cool you shouldn’t be able to understand.”（ 但约翰逊表明，量子计算的某些方面使得它特别 prone被炒作，可能是因为“量子”代表了一些你不应该理解的酷东西。”）”可知，本句中含有一个原因状语从句，因为““量子”代表了一些你不应该理解的酷东西”，所以它特别容易被炒作。故prone意为“易于……的”。A. Open.开放的；易受损害的；B. Cool. 酷的；C. Useful. 有用的；D. Resistant. 有抵抗力的。故选A。 【2021北京卷】 Hundreds of scientists, writers and academics sounded a warning to humanity in an open letter published last December: Policymakers and the rest of us must engage openly with the risk of global collapse. Researchers in many areas have projected the widespread collapse as “a credible scenario(情景) this century”. A survey of scientists found that extreme weather events, food insecurity, and freshwater shortages might create global collapse. Of course, if you are a non-human species, collapse is well underway. The call for public engagement with the unthinkable is especially germane in this moment of still-uncontrolled pandemic and economic crises in the world's most technologically advanced nations. Not very long ago, it was also unthinkable that a virus would shut down nations and that safety nets would be proven so disastrously lacking in flexibility. The international scholars’ warning letter doesn't say exactly what collapse will look like or when it might happen. Collapseology, the study of collapse, is more concerned with identifying trends and with them the dangers of everyday civilization. Among the signatories(签署者) of the warning was Bob Johnson, the originator of the “ecological footprint” concept, which measures the total amount of environmental input needed to maintain a given lifestyle. With the current footprint of humanity, “it seems that global collapse is certain to happen in some form, possibly within a decade, certainly within this century,” Johnson said in an email. “Only if we discuss the consequences of our biophysical limits,” the December warning letter says, “can we have the hope to reduce their speed, severity and harm”. And yet messengers of the coming disturbance are likely to be ignored. We all want to hope things will turn out fine. As a poet wrote, Man is a victim of dope(麻醉品) In the incurable form of hope. The hundreds of scholars who signed the letter are intent(执着) on quieting hope that ignores preparedness. “Let's look directly into the issue of collapse,” they say, “and deal with the terrible possibilities of what we see there to make the best of a troubling future.” 28. What does the underlined word “germane” in Paragraph 3 probably mean? A. Scientific. B. Credible. C. Original. D. Relevant. 【答案】28. D 【分析】这是一篇说明文，文章阐述了全球崩塌（global collapse）的概念。数百名科学家、作家和学者在去年12月发表的一封公开信中向全人类发出了警告：政策制定者和我们每个人必须直面“全球崩塌”的风险。文章具体阐释了学者们对这一概念的定义、理解和它的现实意义。 【28题详解】 词义猜测题。根据该词所在的具体语境，第三段第一句“The call for public engagement with the unthinkable is especially germane in this moment of still-uncontrolled pandemic and economic crises in the world's most technologically advanced nations.”（呼吁公众对世界不确定性的关注，尤其与此时此刻的情况密切相关：此时此刻，在世界上技术最先进的国家，仍处于无法控制流行病和经济危机的泥潭中），下文也提到，一场病毒肆虐，一个国家社会停止了运转，大流行无法控制，经济下行，这样的事情在不久之前都是无法想象，不可思议（unthinkable）的，即世界充满了不确定性。而此时此刻呼吁人们对这种unthinkable加以关注，正是和此时此刻的世界实况密切相关。A. Scientific科学的；B. Credible可信的，可靠的；C. Original原来的，原创的；D. Relevant相关的，有重大关系的。根据上面的分析，仅有D符合语境，故选D。 现，理解文章后可知，作者有明显的态度倾向，作者对于这首诗表达的信息是赞同的，故选B。 【2020年北京卷】 Certain forms of AI are indeed becoming ubiquitous. For example, algorithms (算法) carry out huge volumes of trading on our financial markets, self-driving cars are appearing on city streets, and our smartphones are translating from one language into another. These systems are sometimes faster and more perceptive than we humans are. But so far that is only true for the specific tasks for which the systems have been designed. That is something that some AI developers are now eager to change. Some of today’s AI pioneers want to move on from today’s world of “weak” or “narrow” AI, to create “strong” or “full” AI, or what is often called artificial general intelligence (AGI). In some respects, today’s powerful computing machines already make our brains look weak. A GI could, its advocates say, work for us around the clock, and drawing on all available data, could suggest solutions to many problems. DM, a company focused on the development of AGI, has an ambition to “solve intelligence”. “If we’re successful,” their mission statement reads, “we believe this will be one of the most important and widely beneficial scientific advances ever made.” Since the early days of AI, imagination has outpaced what is possible or even probable. In 1965, an imaginative mathematician called Irving Good predicted the eventual creation of an “ultra-intelligent machine…that can far surpass all the intellectual (智力的) activities of any man, however clever.” Good went on to suggest that “the first ultra-intelligent machine” could be “the last invention that man need ever make.” Fears about the appearance of bad, powerful, man-made intelligent machines have been reinforced (强化) by many works of fiction — Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Terminator film series, for example. But if AI does eventually prove to be our downfall, it is unlikely to be at the hands of human-shaped forms like these, with recognisably human motivations such as aggression (敌对行为). Instead, I agree with Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom, who believes that the heaviest risks from A GI do not come from a decision to turn against mankind but rather from a dogged pursuit of set objectives at the expense of everything else. The promise and danger of true A GI are great. But all of today’s excited discussion about these possibilities presupposes the fact that we will be able to build these systems. And, having spoken to many of the world’s foremost AI researchers, I believe there is good reason to doubt that we will see A GI any time soon, if ever. 42. What does the underlined word “ubiquitous” in Paragraph I probably mean? A. Enormous in quantity. B. Changeable daily. C. Stable in quality. D. Present everywhere. 【答案】42. D 【分析】这是一篇议论文。文章主要就通用人工智能(AGI)实现的可能性进行了论述。 【42题详解】 词义猜测题。根据划线词所在句后面的For example, algorithms (算法) carry out huge volumes of trading on our financial markets, self-driving cars are appearing on city streets, and our smartphones are translating from one language into another(例如，算法在我们的金融市场上进行大量交易，自动驾驶汽车出现在城市街道上，我们的智能手机正在从一种语言翻译成另一种语言)可知，人工智能在我们生活中用处十分广泛。由此推知，划线词所在句意为“某些形式的人工智能确实正在变得无处不在”，即划线词与D选项“Present everywhere.(在任何地方存在)”意思接近。故选D项。 【最新模考】 【2024·北京海淀·二模】 The idea that aging reduces adults’ ability to imagine, a common theme in children’s literature, is contradicted by psychological research. While children are often portrayed as more imaginative, research indicates that adults not only keep this ability but sometimes surpass children in imaginative thinking. Children are frequently celebrated for boundless imagination. Yet, research reveals that their make-believe games often center around realistic scenarios, such as cooking and cleaning, as demonstrated in a 2020 study published in Journal of Cognition and Development. Another study, lasting for four decades, also suggests that children are not naturally more imaginative than adults; their limitations result from a lack of knowledge and expertise to effectively use their imaginative capacity as adults. Imagination may have evolved for considering alternatives to reality, but we use it most naturally to explore close alternatives, like preparing a different meal, rather than far alternatives, like riding on clouds. When we use imagination to envision far alternatives — to innovate or invent — we’re not digging into an inborn appreciation of the extraordinary; we’re using a tool designed to explore the ordinary. When considering alternatives to reality, we fix our attention on possibilities that are physically reasonable, statistically probable, socially conventional and morally permissible. When told about possibilities that violate such regularities, we usually deny they could happen. Generally speaking, our ideas about what could happen are firmly rooted in what we expect to happen. This mindset is also particularly apparent in young children. In a 2018 study I co-designed with psychologist Jonathan Phillips, 4-year-olds were asked to help a distressed girl who disliked going to school due to missing her mother. Among all the solutions given, they perceived the only possible solution was for her mother to do something special after school to ease her concerns. Unexpected alternatives, such as snapping fingers and making it Saturday, wearing pajamas to school or lying about school being closed, were all regarded impossible. From this, we can conclude that children’s earliest intuitions (直觉力) about possibility confuse what could happen with what should happen. Historically, the improbable event of traveling faster than a horse was considered impossible, as was traveling by air or traveling into space. Before the arrival of trains and planes, there were good reasons to think that people could travel only so far and only so fast. But these reasons were empirical (经验主义的), not logical. Imagination, on its own, lumps the improbable with the impossible, but we can combine imagination with other abilities — namely, knowledge and reflection — to separate the two. While imagination in children often subjects to expectation, adults can control their imaginative capacity for innovation by integrating it with accumulated knowledge and reflective thinking. 56．The underlined word “lumps” in the last paragraph probably means _________. A．mix B．match C．compare D．replace 【答案】 56．A 【导语】这是一篇说明文。这篇短文主要指出心理学研究反驳了老年人想象力下降的观点，实际上成年人在某些方面可能比儿童更有想象力。研究表明，儿童的想象游戏通常围绕现实场景，并非天生比成人更具想象力，而是受限于知识和经验。人们倾向于用想象力探索与现实相近的可能性，而非遥远的不切实际的事物。研究还显示，儿童对可能性的理解容易与期望混淆。最后，文章强调成人可以通过结合知识和反思来控制想象力，从而进行创新。 56．词句猜测题。由最后一段中“But these reasons were empirical (经验主义的), not logical. Imagination, on its own, lumps the improbable with the impossible, but we can combine imagination with other abilities — namely, knowledge and reflection — to separate the two. (但这些原因都是经验的，而非逻辑的。想象力本身就lumps不大可能（还有机会实现）和大不可能（绝无可能实现），但我们可以把想象力与其他能力——即知识和反思——结合起来，把两者分开)”可知，but后讲人们可以通过将想象力与其他能力，即知识和反思相结合，将不大可能（还有机会实现）和大不可能（绝无可能实现）分开，说明想象力本身会将不大可能（还有机会实现）和大不可能（绝无可能实现）混为一谈，划线词lumps意为“混合”。故选A项。 【2024·北京昌平·二模】 In 1992, Edward de Bono argued that “creativity is the most important human resource of all.” But might computers have the capacity to be creative? Could artificial intelligence outperform us in even the most human of phenomena? These questions have moved to the forefront of society with the launch of ChatGPT and DALL-E, two powerful deep learning models capable of creating art. Where human creativity comes from is a complex and heavily-debated topic. One theory supposes that creativity emerges from solving problems in new ways. The game designer Mark Rosewater explains that “if you use the same neural pathways, you get to the same answers, and with creativity, that’s not your goal.” But studies from the University of Virginia suggest humans most default (默认) to solving problems by building on known solutions, restricting originality. Some neuroscientists propose another theory regarding creativity. Research from the University of Calgary reveals that when being creative, humans don’t use the same brain regions associated with thought and problem-solving, implying that creativity is primarily an unconscious process. According to this theory, the brain solves problems best when not directly focusing on them using the frontal lobe (前额叶) , instead letting the other parts of the brain take over. A．I. cannot currently emulate (仿真) the full complexity of the human mind. Do these deep learning networks even have the required components that we use when we are creative? Douglas Hofstadter explains how “emergent phenomena,” such as creativity, correspond to connections between levels within mental systems. Similar connections could exist in artificial neural networks, even if the mechanics differ. For example, modern artificial intelligence employs attention circuits that may cause it to behave similarly to the frontal lobe where most of the brain’s focusing tendencies come from. The emergent nature of creativity opens the door for similar tendencies in machines, but they are tuned so carefully to copy existing ideas that it may not be enough for true originality. Mr. Rosewater’s theory on creativity suggests that for A．I. to be creative, it should be able to solve problems in new ways, which is difficult because A．I. is based so heavily on already existing ideas. Alternatively, if creativity is an unconscious process as the University of Calgary research suggests, then it occurs mostly outside the frontal lobe and may not exist in machine learning networks. Either way, current A．I. probably lacks the capacity for genuine creativity and originality, but it can combine existing ideas in interesting ways. The question of machine creativity has repercussions in many areas, such as developing copyright law regarding A．I. works, considering A．I. submissions in art contests, and determining the use of ChatGPT as a tool for school assignments. Creativity may be, at least for now, a unique human quality. Computers are not yet starting revolutionary artistic movements, but they are already combining what exists into something new, challenging us to look deeper into our own creativity. 67．What does the underlined word “repercussions” in Paragraph 5 probably mean? A．Influences. B．Objections. C．Doubts. D．Causes. 【答案】 67．A 【导语】本文一篇说明文。文章讨论了人工智能是否具备创造力，与人类创造力的对比，探讨了创造力的起源及其与问题解决的关系，认为虽然人工智能能够结合现有的想法创造新的作品，但其缺乏真正的创造力和原创性。 67．词句猜测题。结合选项和划线词后“in many areas, such as developing copyright law regarding A. I. works, considering A. I. submissions in art contests, and determining the use of ChatGPT as a tool for school assignments (在许多领域，例如制定有关人工智能作品的版权法，考虑艺术比赛中的人工智能在提交的作品，以及确定将ChatGPT用作完成学校作业的工具)”可推知，人工智能创造力的问题会对下文列举的这些领域产生影响，故划线词repercussions与influences同义。故选A项。 【2024·北京西城·二模】 When people hear “artificial intelligence,” many envision “big data.” There’s a reason for that: some of the most important AI breakthroughs in the past decade have relied on enormous data sets. But AI is not only about large data sets, and research in “small data” approaches has grown extensively over the past decade—with so-called transfer learning as an especially promising example. Also known as “fine-tuning,” transfer learning is helpful in settings where you have little data on the task of interest but abundant data on a related problem. The way it works is that you first train a model using a big data set and then retrain slightly using a smaller data set related to your specific problem. Research in transfer learning approaches has grown impressively over the past 10 years. In a new report for Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), we examined current and projected progress in scientific research across “small data” approaches. Our analysis found that transfer learning stands out as a category that has experienced the most consistent and highest research growth on average since 2010. This growth has even outpaced the larger and more established field of reinforcement learning, which in recent years has attracted widespread attention. Small data approaches such as transfer learning offer numerous advantages over more data-intensive methods. By enabling the use of AI with less data, they can bolster progress in areas where little or no data exist, such as in forecasting natural disasters that occur relatively rarely or in predicting the risk of disease for a population set that does not have digital health records. Another way of thinking about the value of transfer learning is in terms of generalization. A recurring challenge in the use of AI is that models need to “generalize” beyond their training data. Because transfer learning models work by transferring knowledge from one task to another, they are very helpful in improving generalization in the new task, even if only limited data were available. Moreover, by using pretrained models, transfer learning can speed up training time and could also reduce the amount of computational resources needed to train algorithms (算法). This efficiency is significant, considering that the process of training one large neural (神经系统的) network requires considerable energy. Despite the growth in research, transfer learning has received relatively little visibility. The existence of techniques such as transfer learning does not seem to have reached the awareness of the broader space of policy makers and business leaders in positions of making important decisions about AI funding and adoption. By acknowledging the success of small data techniques like transfer learning—and distributing resources to support their widespread use—we can help overcome some of the common misconceptions regarding the role of data in AI and facilitate innovation in new directions. 69．What does the underlined word “bolster” in Paragraph 3 probably mean? A．Promote. B．Seek. C．Track. D．Monitor. 【答案】69．A 【导语】文是一篇说明文，主要讲述了小数据在人工智能领域的重要性，特别是转移学习的作用和价值。 69．词句猜测题。根据文章第三段的“such as in forecasting natural disasters that occur relatively rarely or in predicting the risk of disease for a population set that does not have digital health records.”（例如预测罕见的自然灾害或预测没有数字健康记录的人群的疾病风险。）可知，通过使人工智能能够使用较少的数据，他们可以在几乎没有数据的领域推动进步。bolster在这里的意思是“推动”。故选A。 原创精品资源学科网独家享有版权，侵权必究！11 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $$