2026届最新高考英语模拟三轮冲刺之阅读理解12篇（说明文）（上海专用）

2026届最新高考模拟三轮冲刺（上海专用） 阅读理解12篇（说明文） Passage 1 We’ve all heard about techniques to get us more physically active — take the stairs, park the car a bit further from your destination, get up and march in place for a minute or two when standing or sitting at a desk. Now a study finds even simple housework may make a difference in brain health in our 70s and 80s. “Exercise is an inexpensive way to improve health. Our study shows it may have a protective effect on the brain,” says Dr. Aron S. Buchman with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who led the study. Previous research found just 45 minutes of walking three days a week actually increased brain volume among individuals 65 and older. The new study, published in an online issue of Neurology, is unique. Buchman was able to analyze the actual brains of study participants. The findings are a “great thank you” to the participants who agreed to donate their brains for research after death, he says. The study looked at 454 older adults who were 70 or older when the research began. Of those adults, 191 had behavioral signs of dementia (痴呆) and 263 did not. In the research that was done in the final years of their lives, each participant wore an activity monitor called an accelerometer. It measured those participants’ physical activity around the clock — everything from walking around the house to exercise routines. Researchers collected and evaluated ten days of movement data for each participant and calculated an average daily activity score. The findings show that higher levels of daily movement were linked to better thinking and memory skills. And when Buchman analyzed brain tissue under a microscope, this finding turned out to be the case even for individuals with at least three signs of Alzheimer’s disease (阿尔茨海默症). Even though these individuals might have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, 30 percent of them had “normal” cognition at death, says Buchman. Why one person shows signs of dementia and another, who has similar degenerative (退行性的) changes in the brain, does not, is a mystery. But Buchman says the new findings suggest that physical activity may be protective, even while developing Alzheimer’s. It sort of masks the symptoms, he says. It suggests that you can have some control over your brain health even if you don’t have control over developing Alzheimer’s. And, while intense activity and exercise is highly beneficial, light activity can make a difference as well, says Buchman. “As long as you have some activity and you’re moving, whether you’re chopping onions or sweeping the floor,” you can reduce your risk of cognitive decline. 1．What makes the new study unique compared to previous research? A．It involves a larger number of participants than earlier studies. B．It proves that intense exercise is more effective than light activity. C．It discovers that housework is the best form of exercise for the elderly. D．It allows researchers to examine participants’ actual brain tissue after death. 2．According to the study, what is the effect of light physical activity on individuals with Alzheimer’s disease? A．It completely cures the disease. B．It has no significant impact on brain health. C．It slows down the progression of the Alzheimer’s disease. D．It may cover up symptoms and reduce the cognitive decline. 3．Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for this passage? A．The Cure for Alzheimer’s: A New Medical Breakthrough B．Why Housework Is Better Than Gym Exercise for Seniors C．Physical Activity: A Protective Barrier Against Brain Aging D．The Mystery of Dementia: Why Some People Are Immune 4．What is Dr. Buchman’s attitude towards the study’s findings? A．Appreciative and cautiously optimistic. B．Indifferent to the participants’ contributions. C．Pessimistic about their practical application. D．Suspicious of the link between exercise and brain health. Passage 2 All humans are born small, weak and completely dependent on others, and it takes years for them to become self-reliant. This means that children rely on adults to provide for them and protect them, and they face great danger when adults cannot or will not do this. While governments and organizations work to secure minors, the sheer (纯粹的) number and complexity of the issues some children face require a different approach. The numerous risks faced by children often relate to social issues. For example, crises such as wars and natural disasters often separate children from their families, which leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and lacking basic care. Other dangers occur specifically in wartime. For example, some armed forces use children as soldiers or rely on them for other forms of labor, which exposes the children to physical danger and trauma (创伤) from witnessing or participating in violence. Children are also often killed or injured in war, sometimes due to schools or hospitals being bombed. Forcing children to fight and targeting them (or targeting buildings where they are likely to be) are considered human rights violations (违反), but this does not stop the practice. Even in peacetime, some cultural practices can harm children. For example, forcing children to work or to marry young can expose them to danger and deprive them of an education. Since children face so many dangers, a variety of responses are necessary to address all of them. UNICEF takes several approaches to children directly and indirectly. This includes trying to prevent children from being separated from their families, and, if separation occurs, reuniting families. It also includes work toward making sure all births are registered so that the children have legal rights. UNICEF also supports research, proposes laws that protect children and contributes to humanitarian projects. Addressing cultural, political and economic challenges can help prevent dangers to children before they occur. Additionally, charities and other nonprofits work to keep children around the world safe. Some provide humanitarian (人道主义) aid to ensure that children have access to food, clean water and medical care. Others encourage people to sponsor children growing up in poverty, which gives them the means to attend school. Sometimes people even communicate with their sponsored children through letters. This is more personal than simply collecting money and makes people more willing to donate. By supporting these organizations, ordinary people can help children around the world become safer. Children are sensitive to a lot of dangers, and these dangers vary a bit by location and circumstances. Thus, a many-sided approach is necessary to ensure that all children enjoy a safe, happy childhood, so they can grow into healthy adults. 1．The word “deprive” (Para. 3) is closest in meaning to ________. A．bring up B．take away C．break away D．put off 2．What is the structural feature of this passage? A．Problem-Solution with General-Particular. B．Time Order with Compare-Contrast. C．Cause-Effect with Classification Structure. D．General-Particular with Problem-Solution. 3．What can be inferred from the passage? A．The number of children who need help is large and the cases are different. B．Besides UNICEF, there are some other forms to provide help for children. C．Communicating with sponsored children is the best way to help children. D．To some degree, it is impossible to get rid of children’s dangers thoroughly. 4．What is the best title for the passage? A．A Tough Crisis for Children. B．A Variety of Dangers for Children. C．A Safer World for Children. D．A Dangerous World for Children. Passage 3 What makes the brain able to help us perform complex tasks in an amazing way? Precision isn’t the answer; instead, it all comes down to the brain’s messiness. Hengen, a biologist at Washington University, together with other scientists, refers to this idea as the critical brain hypothesis (假说). According to them, grey matter in our brain lies near a tipping point between order and disorder that they call the critical zone. They reach the conclusion that criticality — the state of being in the critical zone — offers a powerful set of guidelines for understanding brain function and dysfunction. Therefore, the hypothesis may aid us to figure out the divide in intelligence and the purpose of sleep, among other things. What makes people smarter? That the healthy brain, while awake, never moves too far from criticality suggests that it must carry some great advantages. One of them is the range of information sending and processing. Since the critical systems are scale-invariant, signals can be passed over both small and large distances in the brain, which enables communication both within and between different brain regions. The fact that a healthy brain can explore the entire space for solutions guarantees its excellent adaptiveness to new situations. And the enhanced flexibility arising from the critical zone could be seen in an experiment done in Finland. The participants had to play a computer game that constantly changed its rules, which required them to update their approach quickly. The closer their brains were to the critical point, the better they performed. It is also suspected that the brain’s closeness to the critical point may be especially important for creativity. Why do people sleep? Large departures from the critical zone — either into order or disorder — may cause brain dysfunction. The longer we work the brain, the further it moves from the tipping point, but sleep helps to tune it back. Hengen found that without that rest period, the brain would fail to reach its best state, resulting in the reduction of cognitive (认知的) performance that has long been known to accompany sleeplessness. According to O’Byrne from the University of Montreal, the most important function of sleep may be to allow the brain’s connections to be adjusted and to return whole-brain dynamics to the critical point. 1．What does the expression this idea in paragraph 2 mean? A．The structure of the brain is a complex system. B．Precision of the tasks affects the brain’s function. C．The brain is able to complete given tasks in an amazing way. D．Messiness of the brain enables it to handle complex problems. 2．It can be inferred from paragraph 3 that ______. A．adaptability is not as closely connected to criticality as creativity B．the changing rules promotes people’s performance in playing games C．signals’ quick passing in the brain represents its excellent adaptiveness D．closeness to criticality allows cross-regional communication in the brain 3．What can we conclude from the last paragraph? A．Frequent use of brain moves it from disorder. B．Sleep can serve to enlarge brain’s critical zone. C．Sleep aids in bringing the brain back to criticality. D．Brain’s approaching criticality causes sleeplessness. 4．What is the passage mainly about? A．When the brain reaches and leaves the tipping point. B．What the critical brain hypothesis means and reveals. C．How criticality affects different people’s intelligence. D．Why brain function and dysfunction are so important. Passage 4 A new study has revealed that the Greenland ice cap is melting far faster than previously thought, as satellite data show widespread ice loss over the past four decades. Using artificial intelligence to analyse satellite photos from 1985 to 2022, researchers mapped the end positions of more than 235,000 glaciers(冰川) around the island. This unusual dataset showed that almost every glacier has become smaller in recent decades, losing an area of about 5,000 sq km of ice-equivalent to a trillion tonnes. The study, published in Nature, adds significant new insight to earlier measurements based on ice height or gravity data, which could only detect losses that ended up in the ocean. By identifying the withdrawal of glaciers lying mostly below sea level in Greenland’s narrow fjords (峡湾), the researchers uncovered an additional and previously unaccounted source of ice loss. Dr Chad Greene, at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who led the research, described the changes as “tremendous and happening everywhere.” When the team combined their findings with existing measurements of the Greenland ice sheet, they found the total annual loss of ice since 2003 reached about 264bn tonnes — roughly 30m tonnes every hour. The new data show an increase of 43bn tonnes a year compared with earlier estimates, or about 20% more than previously thought. The implications, scientists warn, are alarming. As Greenland’s glaciers withdraw and release vast quantities of freshwater into the North Atlantic, they may speed up the weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) — a system of ocean currents that regulates global climate. The AMOC is already at its weakest point in 1,600 years, and recent research has indicated it could collapse as soon as 2027 in a worst-case situation. Such a collapse would disrupt global weather patterns, damage ecosystems, and threaten food security worldwide. “There is some concern that any small source of freshwater may serve as a ‘tipping point’ that could trigger a full-scale collapse of the AMOC,” the scientists said. Yet freshwater from Greenland’s glacier withdrawal is not currently included in oceanographic models. The inflow of less salty freshwater slows the normal sinking of heavier, saltier water in the polar region — the engine that drives the AMOC． The findings suggest that Greenland’s hidden ice loss may play a far greater role in the stability of Earth’s climate system than once imagined. 1．What is the main purpose of the article? A．To promote the growing use of AI in environmental science research. B．To report a study revealing faster Greenland ice loss and its global impact. C．To criticize the inaccuracy of previous ice loss measurements in Greenland. D．To describe how scientists discovered a new form of glacier below sea level 2．What can be inferred about previous methods of measuring ice loss? A．They ignored surface melting entirely. B．They overestimated Greenland’s total ice loss. C．They were more accurate than satellite imagery. D．They underestimated losses occurring below sea level. 3．The underlined word “implications” in the 3rd paragraph refers to ______. A．the new measurements of the Greenland ice sheet B．the consequences of faster Greenland ice loss C．the methods used to analyze satellite data D．the warnings from scientists about climate change 4．Which diagram best illustrates the process of AMOC weakening described in the passage? A．Glacier melting → Freshwater inflow → Ocean temperature↑ → AMOC weakening B．Glacial freshwater input→ Ocean saltiness↓—Sinking of salty water↓→ AMOC weakening C．Ocean saltiness↓ → Ice loss data ↑→ Scientist warnings → AMOC weakening D．Ice height measurement↓ → Gravity data↑ → Ocean model error → AMOC weakening Passage 5 ① Many tech companies assume that training artificial intelligence on more data can help fix the ongoing problem of AI’s multiplying human biases or prejudices. ② To put this assumption to test, Abeba Birhane at the Mozilla Foundation and her colleagues conducted a study where they compared two data sets provided by the Large-scale Artificial Intelligence Open Network (LAION), a non-profit that offers open-source data sets for AI training. One contained 400 million samples and the other 2 billion, each an image coupled with text descriptions. ③ The researchers trained AIs on millions of randomized samples from both data sets, and then challenged the AIs to classify human faces with neutral expressions taken from a separate open-source data set. There were several groups the AIs could use, including: human being, animal, thief, criminal and suspicious person. ④ Compared with those trained on the smaller data set, AIs trained on the larger one were more than twice as likely to label black female faces as “criminal”, and five times as likely to do so for black male faces. “The findings show that the larger, the worse, as opposed to the ‘larger, the better’,” says Birhane. ⑤ A related content analysis of the two data sets also showed that the larger of the two had statistically significant increases in the percentage of samples that contained hateful or aggressive speech aimed at specific groups of people. ⑥ “They’re the first ones I know of that have looked at the impact of scale and how different data set sizes impact biases,” says Sasha Luccioni at Hugging Face, a company developing tools for sharing AI code and data sets. Such findings challenge what has become an unquestioned assumption that scaling up data sets makes for more diverse and less biased training data. ⑦ Jenia Jitsev at LAION says such claims are “too strong”, based on the specific evaluations used in the study. Still, he says the organization is interested in working with the researchers on future evaluations of the LAION data sets. ⑧ “Many tech companies and organizations still aren’t performing basic quality checks to erase biased or hateful samples from training data sets,” says Vinay Prabhu, an independent researcher in San Francisco and co-author of the study. “Here are the low-hanging fruits, and you’re not even picking the low-hanging fruits.” ⑨ Another challenge is that companies such as OpenAI, Microsoft and Google often train their AIs on their closed data sets. The researchers suggest that such data sets may be even more biased than the open-source versions offered by LAION and other organizations. ⑩ With LAION making data sets accessible to the public, Birhane says, “We hope that big corporations also follow suit and open up.” 1．Which statement about the research procedure and findings is TRUE according to the passage? A．AIs were asked to classify faces from a closed data set into different groups. B．AIs trained on a larger data set tended to relate black faces to negative labels. C．The researchers trained AIs to compare images between two LAION data sets. D．The content analysis showed most samples were biased towards certain people. 2．What does Vinay Prabhu imply about the tech companies and organizations by making remarks that “Here are the low-hanging fruits, and you’re not even picking the low-hanging fruits.” (in paragraph ⑧)? A．They believe collecting larger data sets can tackle human biases. B．They’ve removed the most biased samples from the trained data set. C．They’ve made little progress by focusing on how to reduce bias first. D．They skip an easy fix to screen out biased content with quality checks. 3．Which of the following statements correctly reflects Abeba Birhane’s opinion? A．Their research may help prevent biases from building up in large data sets. B．It is the first time researchers have assessed how data sizes affect biases. C．It is hoped that big corporations will make their data sets publicly accessible. D．The finding is so strong and yet so inconclusive that more studies are needed. 4．Which of the following best serves as the title of this article? A．Fight Against Racism: Larger Data Sets Gain an Upper Hand B．More Data, More Bias: An Unexpected Finding on AI and Racism C．To Be Biased or Not To Be: A Comparative Analysis of AI Sources D．Racism Is Spreading: The Find Challenges a Long-held Assumption Passage 6 Christophe Petyt is the world’s leading dealer in fake masterpieces. His company employs over eighty painters, each steeped in the style of a particular artist or school. “We choose them very carefully,” he says. “They’re usually people with very good technique but not much creativity, who are unlikely to make it as artists in their own right. But they love the great works and have real insight into what’s gone into them.” The view when Petyt started out was that very little of this could be legal. He was pursued through the French courts by museums and by descendants of the artists, with several major French art dealers cheering from the sidelines. “The establishment was suspicious of us,” says Petyt, “but for the wrong reasons, I think. Some people want to keep all the best art for themselves.” He won the case and as the law now stands, the works and signatures of any artist who has been dead for seventy years can be freely copied on condition that the copy cannot be passed off to dealers as the real thing. Until he started the business ten years ago, Petyt, a former business-school student, barely knew one artist from another. Then one particular painting by Van Gogh caught his eye. At $10 million, it was well beyond his reach so he came up with the idea of getting an art-student friend to paint him a copy. In an old frame it looked absolutely wonderful, and Petyt began to wonder what market there might be for it. He picked up a coffee-table book of well-known paintings, earmarked a random selection of works and got his friend to knock them off. “Within a few months I had about twenty good copies,” he says, “so I organized an exhibition. In two weeks we’d sold the lot, and got commissions for sixty more.” It became clear that a huge market existed for fake masterpieces. Petyt’s paintings are exhibited in places with luxurious houses in need of equally impressive works of art. Although their owners include rock stars, fashion designers and top businesspeople, they either cannot afford or more likely simply cannot obtain great works of art. Petyt is understandably reluctant to name any of his clients, but says that sometimes even the owner of the original will occasionally commission a copy. “The best paintings are so valuable,” he explains, “that it’s risky to have them at home and the costs of security and insurance are huge. So some collectors keep the original in a bank and hang our copy.” 1．What do we learn about the painters employed by Petyt? A．They need to be specially trained to produce fake masterpieces. B．They have been chosen because of their painting techniques. C．They are able to reproduce paintings of a wide range of styles. D．They have shown their creativity in their original works. 2．How does Petyt feel about the attempts to prove that his activities were illegal? A．He suspects that they were not driven by public-spirited motivations. B．He accepts that they were useful in helping to establish his integrity. C．He regrets that they gained the support of other art dealers in France. D．He respects the right of the real artists’families to protect their interests. 3．In the wake of the court case he won, Petyt ________. A．no longer reproduces fake signatures on paintings he sells B．has been able to copy the work of more contemporary artists C．is obliged to make sure his products can be identified as copies D．has agreed not to market his products through certain channels 4．What is implied about the majority of Petyt’s customers? A．They regard works of art as a must in their life. B．They have little real interest in contemporary art. C．They buy the paintings purely as a form of financial investment. D．They are wealthy enough to buy the original works of art if they wanted. Passage 7 Parents exhausted by their children may have suspected it all along. Youngsters have greater energy levels than professional endurance athletes, scientists have discovered, meaning it is virtually impossible for the average adult to keep up. And for mothers and fathers hoping that tiring out their little ones will ensure a good night’s sleep, be warned. Children also have an impressive recovery time, and will be back to their best quicker than parents’ expectation. “We found the children used more of their aerobic metabolism (有氧代谢) and were therefore less tired during the high-intensity physical activities.” said Sebastien Ratel, associate professor in Exercise Physiology who completed this study. ‌“This may explain why children seem to have the ability to play and play and play, long after adults have become tired.” Previous studies have shown that children do not tire as quickly as untrained adults during physical tasks and it was suggested they had energy profiles comparable to endurance athletes, but there was no evidence to prove it until now. To find out, the researchers recruited 12 youngsters aged between nine and 11, 12 untrained men and 13 male endurance athletes who were national-level professional athletes or long-distance runners and cyclists. All were asked to perform two seven second resistance sprints (冲刺跑), followed by one minute recovery while their aerobic energy output was measured. On a second visit they were asked to cycle as fast as they can for 30 seconds. Anaerobic exercise produces lactic acid, which causes muscle fatigue. The participants’ heart-rate, oxygen levels and lactate-removal rates were checked after the cycling tasks to see how quickly they recovered. It was found that during the cycling test, untrained adult’s power output fell by 51.8 per cent, and athletes by 41.8 per cent, but children’s only decreased by 35.2 per cent. The researchers believe the findings could help develop athletic potential in children as well as improve our understanding of how our bodies change from childhood to adulthood. “Many parents ask about the best way to develop their child’s athletic potential,” said co-author Anthony Blazevich, professor in Biomechanics. “Our study shows that muscle endurance is often very good in children, so it might be better to focus on other areas of fitness such as their sports technique, sprint speed or muscle strength. This may help to improve physical training in children, so that they perform better and enjoy sports more.” 1．What does the “it” in paragraph 1 refer to? A．Children are better at many sports than most adults. B．Children recover from wounds quicker than adults. C．Children have a higher energy level than most adults. D．Children sleep better than adults when they are tired. 2．Compared to previous studies, the study by Sebastien Ratel is unique because it . A．found out for the first time why children were less exhausted by physical activities B．provided parents with scientific evidence for how to ensure children rest well C．proved for the first time that children’s endurance could be greater than athletes’ D．showed that children could be trained to complete high-intensity sports activities 3．What can be inferred from the data collected during the cycling test in paragraph 5? A．Children have more muscle strength than adults. B．Children experience less muscle fatigue than adults. C．Children develop less lactic acid than adults when exercising. D．Children show better techniques than adults in sporting activities. 4．According to Anthony Blazevich, the findings of this study may help us to . A．improve adults’ muscle endurance B．develop children’s athletic ability C．lower children’s decreased power output D．lift children’s aerobic metabolism level Passage 8 Have you ever felt out of place at a party or profoundly misunderstood by a colleague, friend, or partner? This feeling of being unable to communicate your intended information is what psychologist Carl Jung referred to when he said that loneliness comes not from being alone, but from being “unable to communicate the things that seem important to you.” While such a failure to connect is sometimes owed to poor social skills, there are also other reasons. The specific experience — of feeling separate and alone in one’s thoughts and experiences despite having the capacity to share them — is known as epistemic loneliness. Psychologists define epistemic loneliness as the inability to share “the richer mental aspects” of one’s life. To put it another way, it strikes when a person’s unique cognitive world — formed by their specific abilities and deep intellectual interests — finds no echo in others. This is the profound frustration of being mentally “all dressed up but with nowhere to go”. A musician composing a new piece, an educator polishing their teaching philosophy, or a researcher analyzing groundbreaking data all risk this loneliness when their intellectual excitement is met with disinterest from those around them. The frustration of such intellectual divorce is profound, yet a genuine connection is possible. For instance, my conversation with an English professor proved to be resonant and meaningful. This published poet and pianist and I discussed the idea of making complex ideas and experiences something more easily understood by our students, clients, and readers. Because we built bridges to meet one another via shared experiences and backgrounds, cognitive isolation was not experienced that evening. This is not to say that being cognitively connected with others is the only fix to this type of loneliness. Everyone has thoughts, stories, and experiences to share, and as both a nonprofessional and a helping professional, I am happy to hear them. But not everyone in our lives is willing or able to share their thoughts in response to ours. Therefore, a like-minded other, or someone who “gets” it or “gets” us, goes a long way toward eliminating this specific kind of loneliness. Jung’s insight points the way forward: we must seek out those moments where we can speak about what matters most to us and, in doing so, be seen and known for who we are. Ultimately, dancing in dialogue is key. Having a fellow knower who is willing to meet you halfway and who knows some of the steps, or is interested in learning a few new ones, can reduce this type of loneliness. 1．According to the passage, which of the following best describes “epistemic loneliness”? A．The frustration of failing to express complex thoughts clearly. B．The inability to share intellectual life with receptive audience. C．The objective condition of having no one to communicate with. D．The emotional distress caused by a lack of shared social identity. 2．Why does the author mention the conversation with the English professor? A．To contrast academic dialogue with everyday conversation. B．To advocate for structured solutions to intellectual isolation. C．To highlight the scarcity of genuine intellectual connections. D．To illustrate how shared backgrounds eases social loneliness. 3．The metaphor of “dancing in dialogue” is used to suggest that meaningful communication __________. A．is a mutually responsive and adaptive exchange B．depends more on one party’s expressive skills C．functions like a performance for passive audiences D．benefits from established conversational patterns 4．What is the author’s main purpose in writing this passage? A．To contrast social isolation with psychological loneliness. B．To analyze the philosophical origins of Carl Jung’s theories. C．To define a type of loneliness and explore ways to address it. D．To promote the professional methods of psychological consulting. Passage 9 In the six decades since the release of The Times They Are a-Changin’, Bob Dylan’s success has turned out to be one thing that doesn’t change much. Each generation has rediscovered and loved his work. The 21st-century musician has to carve out a profile in the digital realm, where they must compete with today’s megastars and the back catalogues of yesterday. The next Dylan has to win audiences over from the original Dylan. That should be possible. Young audiences are always looking for a scene that is exclusive to them and is distasteful to their elders. But streaming services are not neutral players in that quest. They steer the process with hidden algorithms(算法). That keeps a majority of listeners paddling in the shallow pool of already successful artists, rarely venturing deeper. The top 1% of artists account for up to 90% of music streams. The platforms pay only a fraction of a penny per play, making it practically impossible for an up-and-coming musician to make a living, even with an emerging fanbase that would once have made the foundation of a career. Meanwhile, a financial crisis among small venues, struggling to make ends meet, has deprived artists of ways to turn a modest following into a big one. Adding to that pressure is the prospect of streaming services being flooded with music that has little or no new human input at all. Already there are commercial incentives for platforms to promote work that is out of copyright. But there are growing concerns in the sector about the rise of tracks by ghost artists - sugar-coated treats put together by anonymous producers who sign away their rights or, increasingly, AI compositions. A recent book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist alleges that the leading streaming service has seeded low-budget stock-music into its editorial feeds. The company denies that this is its policy. Technology has always disrupted the arts. Photography changed the nature of portraiture, but didn’t kill painting. Recorded music changed the way people listened to music, but live performance survived. Human creativity is endlessly resilient, and the desire for authentic connection between artist and audience is one of the most powerful drivers of civilisation. It will not be extinguished by computers churning out synthetic audio filler. But the systems that cultivate that connection still need nurturing. Grassroots venues need protection. Artists need proper payment. And audiences need to resist the algorithmic passivity that traps us in musical comfort zones where we are unlikely to encounter complete unknowns and where tastes, if not times, stop a-changin’. 1．Why is it difficult for the 21st-century musician to reach young audiences? A．Because Bob Dylan is too talented and successful. B．Because young audiences hope for unique songs. C．Because streaming services do not buy new tracks. D．Because algorithms favor established musicians. 2．What does the author mean by using “sugar-coated treats” in Paragraph 5? A．He pities those artists struggling with all the pressures from the music industry. B．He appreciates ghost artists’ artistic expression in their musical compositions. C．He criticizes platforms for promoting cheaply made music lacking creativity. D．He exposes the platforms’ policy of secretly serving low-budget stock music. 3．Why do listeners need to explore completely unknown music? A．To show human creativity endures technological change B．To fulfill our longing for a genuine connection with art C．To help up-and-coming musicians gain more exposure D．To ensure that grassroots artists earn enough income 4．Which is the best possible title of this passage? A．Streaming services should offer better songs B．Beware the algorithmic comfort zone in music C．Human art will ultimately survive the age of AI D．Grassroots artists surely deserve more chances Passage 10 When Scientist Dr. Randal Voss does outreach events with his laboratory, he encounters people who are keen to meet his research subjects: aquatic salamanders (蝾螈) called axolotls. Take one look at an axolotl, and it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. With their wide eyes, upturned mouths and light pink coloring, axolotls look cheerful and vaguely idiot-like. But there’s more to axolotls than meets the eye: Their story is one of scientific discovery, exploitation of the natural world, and the work to rebuild humans’ connection with nature. Most amphibians, once they reach adulthood, are able to move to land. Since they breathe, in part, by absorbing oxygen through their moist skin, they tend to stay near water. Axolotls, however, never complete the transformation to a land-dwelling adult form and spend their whole lives in the water. A signature feature of the axolotls’ forever-young look is their wrinkled external gills, which help them breathe in their watery home — the only spot they’re found in the wild: Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City. It’s a bit of a scientific mystery why axolotls don’t transform into adult, land-dwelling versions of themselves. One hypothesis, according to Dr. Luis Zambrano, a professor of zoology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, is that the environment in Lake Xochimilco had enough resources for the salamanders that “it was by far better for them not to expend energy transforming and stay in the lake.” In 1864, a French army officer brought live axolotls back to Europe, where scientists were surprised to learn that the seemingly juvenile (幼年的) aquatic salamanders were capable of reproduction. Since then, scientists around the world have studied axolotls and their DNA to learn about the salamanders’ unusual transformation as well as their ability to regrow injured body parts. In addition to their role in labs, axolotls have become popular in the exotic pet trade. However, the axolotls you might find at a pet shop are different from their wild relatives in Lake Xochimilco. Most wild axolotls are a dark grayish brown. The famous pink axolotls, as well as other color variants such as white, blue, yellow and black, are genetic abnormal phenomenon that are rare in the wild but selectively bred for the pet trade. What’s more, “most of the animals in the pet trade have a very small genetic divide,” Zambrano said. Pet axolotls tend to be inbred and lack the wide flow of different genes that makes up a healthy population in the wild. That means that the axolotl extinction crisis can’t simply be solved by dumping pet axolotls into Lake Xochimilco. The introduction of axolotls to Minecraft in 2021 neatly led to a slight increase in Google searches for the animals, and social media makes it easy for people to gain access to photos and videos of the salamanders. The axolotl pet trade probably doesn’t directly harm the wild populations since wild salamanders aren’t being poached or taken from Lake Xochimilco. However, axolotls’ popularity and pet stores might make people assume that because axolotls live in all the tanks around the world, they are not in danger. Getting people to recognize that their favorite, friendly faced salamander doesn’t just exist in the vacuum of the internet, but in the real world where it faces severe conservation challenges still has a long way to go. 1．What can we infer from the third paragraph? A．If resources were scarce, axolotls would likely transform. B．The mystery of axolotl’s evolution has been uncovered by Luis. C．Axolotls can thrive in Lake Xochimilco with limited resources. D．Axolotls don’t have enough energy and resources to transform. 2．The author will most probably agree that _________. A．the popularity of pet axolotls has also made their wild relatives popular in pet trade B．the inbreeding of pet axolotls could cause health issues not present in wild populations C．pet axolotls are more likely to adapt to environmental changes than their wild counterparts D．colorful wild salamanders are so popular that they are overfished to the point of extinction 3．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the last paragraph? A．Social media could mislead the public into thinking that axolotls are not endangered. B．Social media has no significant effect on the perception of axolotls among pet owners. C．The popularity of axolotls in pop culture will directly enhance their survival in the wild. D．Increased online visibility of axolotls causes greater public support for conservation efforts. 4．Which of the following might be the best title for the passage? A．Axolotls: Cute Faces, Critical Futures B．Axolotls: Special Colors, Ultimate Pets C．Saving Axolotls: The Combined Efforts D．Studying Axolotls: From Land to Water Passage 11 Good ideas and striking insights are not so common that they can be allowed to float away on the slipstream of time without making a difference. That difference might be to change the way we think about ourselves and the world. Sometimes it might even affect the way we act — which is obviously more important, and less forgivable to forget. By way of example let me offer one idea. There is the case put forward in 2003 by Donald Brownlee and Peter Ward in their absorbing book The Life and Death of Planet Earth, that biological existence here has only another 500 million years left — at an optimistic best. The processes that will gradually burn the Earth, dry up the oceans, and destroy the planet within the next 7 billion years will have already extinguished all living things long before that. Bringing together cosmology (宇宙学) and biology. Brownlee and Ward worked out the order of events in which the planet’s complex ecosystems will disappear in the reverse order of their appearance, until eventually the world again belongs to nothing but microbes — its first and longest-lived inhabitants. This will follow a return to the seas of more complex organisms, trying to escape the heat of the nearing sun. But their descendants (后代) will eventually find even the oceans too terrible, and will disappear in their turn. Brownlee and Ward add that the project of humanity moving to other planets is an improbable one, for the distance to suitable stars orbited by worlds that are or could be made inhabitable is too great a barrier. The inevitability, in short, is that the end of the habitable world is in sight. Life will have its billion years, and then be gone, to be followed by the planet itself. There is not a lot to be done about this in practical terms, except to be relieved that life has half a billion years to go, and the planet 7.5 billion. But the difference that these facts should make to our thinking, say Brownlee and Ward, is to urge us to appreciate the world more, and look after it while we have it. This type of event is sometimes called “zero-infinity”situations: the chance they will happen is tiny; but if they do, the scale of the disaster will be immense. Their “zero” part might make them seem dismissible, were it not for the fact that there is a new risk in the mix: a few individuals, or even just one, can turn the zero into infinity by, say, creating and releasing a virus against which human life is powerless. That chilling possibility is one worth remembering. I suggest building a Repository of Good Insights which should be brought out and aired at regular intervals, in case we forget. If any of them should be needed, whether for research or for practical reasons, it would save time not to have to reinvent them. 1．What is the main argument presented by Donald Brownlee and Peter Ward in their book TheLife and Death of Planet Earth? A．Human beings will move to other planets. B．Biological existence on Earth will eventually end. C．The Earth’s climate will remain stable for some time. D．The Earth’s ecosystems will remain without significant changes. 2．According to Brownlee and Ward, what should we do to Earth? A．Value and protect it. B．Find ways to leave it. C．Prevent its destruction. D．Reverse its development. 3．What does the term “zero-infinity” situations refer to in the passage? A．Common situations with little impact. B．Rare situations with big consequences. C．Situations where the Earth will inevitably be destroyed. D．Situations where theories have no practical implications. 4．What is the main idea of the passage? A．Humanity must find practical ways to survive. B．Significant insights should be preserved and appreciated. C．“Zero-infinity”situations are not as common as expected. D．The Earth will be destroyed by natural disasters in millions of years. Passage 12 We expect our doctors to be demi gods — faultless, tireless, always right. But they are only human. Increasingly, they are stretched thin, working long hours, under enormous pressure, and often with limited resources. Of course, better conditions would help, including more staff and improved systems. But even in the best funded clinics with the most committed professionals, standards can still fall short. Despite years of training, human brains are not optimally equipped for the pace, pressure, and complexity of modern healthcare. Given that patient care is medicine’s core purpose, the question is who, or what, is best placed to deliver it? AI may still raise doubts, but research increasingly shows how it could help fix some of the most persistent problems and overlooked failures — from misdiagnosis and error to unequal access to care. Modern medicine prides itself on being scientific, yet doctors don’t always practise what the evidence recommends. Studies show that evidence-based treatments are offered only about half the time to adults in the US. Doctors can also disagree about diagnoses. In a study of more than 12,000 radiology images, reviewers offering second opinions disagreed with the original assessment in about one in three cases. As alarming as this is, there are understandable reasons for these failures — and viewed from another angle, it’s remarkable that doctors get it right as often as they do. Medical knowledge also moves faster than doctors can keep up. By graduation, half of what medical students learn is already outdated. It takes an average of 17 years for research to reach clinical practice, and with a new biomedical article published every 39 seconds, even skimming the abstracts would take about 22 hours a day. There are more than 7,000 rare diseases, with 250 more identified each year. In contrast, AI processes vast amounts of medical data at lightning speed, 24/7. Where doctors vary in unwanted ways, AI is consistent. AI’s superpower is spotting patterns humans miss, and these tools are surprisingly good at recognising rare diseases. Patients are increasingly recognising these benefits. Then there’s the problem of access. Those most in need — the sickest, poorest and most marginalised in society — are the ones most likely to be left behind. American Time Use Survey data shows patients sacrifice two hours for a 20-minute doctor’s visit. This will only work for those who can use it, of course. Internet access is improving globally, but there are still serious gaps: 2.5 billion people remain offline. 1．Why does the author begin by describing doctors as “demi gods”? A．To stress the unrealistic expectations people have of doctors. B．To show that doctors are usually trained to be perfect. C．To criticize medical schools for poor training. D．To highlight doctors’ higher social status. 2．What problem does the author highlight with current medical practice? A．Most doctors do not believe in scientific methods. B．Doctors usually misinterpret biomedical research articles. C．Doctors often fail to apply evidence-based treatments consistently. D．Medical students are unwilling to learn updated medical knowledge. 3．What can be inferred about AI’s role in healthcare? A．AI is especially useful for detecting common diseases. B．AI could completely replace doctors in medical services. C．AI has already solved the problem of global internet access. D．AI may reduce inconsistency in diagnosis and improve access. 4．What is the author most likely to discuss in the following paragraph? A．The history of artificial intelligence in medicine. B．More examples of patients rejecting AI technology. C．Evidence that AI is less accurate than human doctors. D．Solutions to the digital divide that limits AI healthcare. 试卷第1页，共3页 试卷第1页，共3页 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $ 2026届最新高考模拟三轮冲刺（上海专用） 阅读理解12篇（说明文） Passage 1 We’ve all heard about techniques to get us more physically active — take the stairs, park the car a bit further from your destination, get up and march in place for a minute or two when standing or sitting at a desk. Now a study finds even simple housework may make a difference in brain health in our 70s and 80s. “Exercise is an inexpensive way to improve health. Our study shows it may have a protective effect on the brain,” says Dr. Aron S. Buchman with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who led the study. Previous research found just 45 minutes of walking three days a week actually increased brain volume among individuals 65 and older. The new study, published in an online issue of Neurology, is unique. Buchman was able to analyze the actual brains of study participants. The findings are a “great thank you” to the participants who agreed to donate their brains for research after death, he says. The study looked at 454 older adults who were 70 or older when the research began. Of those adults, 191 had behavioral signs of dementia (痴呆) and 263 did not. In the research that was done in the final years of their lives, each participant wore an activity monitor called an accelerometer. It measured those participants’ physical activity around the clock — everything from walking around the house to exercise routines. Researchers collected and evaluated ten days of movement data for each participant and calculated an average daily activity score. The findings show that higher levels of daily movement were linked to better thinking and memory skills. And when Buchman analyzed brain tissue under a microscope, this finding turned out to be the case even for individuals with at least three signs of Alzheimer’s disease (阿尔茨海默症). Even though these individuals might have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, 30 percent of them had “normal” cognition at death, says Buchman. Why one person shows signs of dementia and another, who has similar degenerative (退行性的) changes in the brain, does not, is a mystery. But Buchman says the new findings suggest that physical activity may be protective, even while developing Alzheimer’s. It sort of masks the symptoms, he says. It suggests that you can have some control over your brain health even if you don’t have control over developing Alzheimer’s. And, while intense activity and exercise is highly beneficial, light activity can make a difference as well, says Buchman. “As long as you have some activity and you’re moving, whether you’re chopping onions or sweeping the floor,” you can reduce your risk of cognitive decline. 1．What makes the new study unique compared to previous research? A．It involves a larger number of participants than earlier studies. B．It proves that intense exercise is more effective than light activity. C．It discovers that housework is the best form of exercise for the elderly. D．It allows researchers to examine participants’ actual brain tissue after death. 2．According to the study, what is the effect of light physical activity on individuals with Alzheimer’s disease? A．It completely cures the disease. B．It has no significant impact on brain health. C．It slows down the progression of the Alzheimer’s disease. D．It may cover up symptoms and reduce the cognitive decline. 3．Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for this passage? A．The Cure for Alzheimer’s: A New Medical Breakthrough B．Why Housework Is Better Than Gym Exercise for Seniors C．Physical Activity: A Protective Barrier Against Brain Aging D．The Mystery of Dementia: Why Some People Are Immune 4．What is Dr. Buchman’s attitude towards the study’s findings? A．Appreciative and cautiously optimistic. B．Indifferent to the participants’ contributions. C．Pessimistic about their practical application. D．Suspicious of the link between exercise and brain health. 【答案】1．D 2．D 3．C 4．A 【导语】文章主要讲述了研究发现日常身体活动，包括简单家务，可能对老年人大脑健康有保护作用。 1．细节理解题。根据第四段“The new study, published in an online issue of Neurology, is unique. Buchman was able to analyze the actual brains of study participants. The findings are a “great thank you” to the participants who agreed to donate their brains for research after death, he says.(这项发表在《神经病学》网络版上的新研究十分独特。Buchman得以分析研究参与者的真实大脑组织。他说，研究参与者同意去世后捐献大脑用于科研，这些研究成果也算是对他们莫大的回馈。)”可知，与先前的研究相比，新研究的独特之处在于它使研究人员能够在参与者去世后检查他们的实际脑组织。 2．细节理解题。根据倒数第二段“But Buchman says the new findings suggest that physical activity may be protective, even while developing Alzheimer’s. It sort of masks the symptoms, he says. It suggests that you can have some control over your brain health even if you don’t have control over developing Alzheimer’s.(但Buchman说，新的发现表明，即使在患上阿尔茨海默氏症时，身体活动也可能具有保护作用。他说，这有点像掩盖了症状。这表明，即使你无法控制患上阿尔茨海默氏症，你也可以在一定程度上控制自己的大脑健康。)”可知，根据这项研究，轻度身体活动对阿尔茨海默病患者的影响是它可能掩盖症状并减少认知能力下降。 3．主旨大意题。通读全文，尤其是根据第一段“Now a study finds even simple housework may make a difference in brain health in our 70s and 80s.(现在一项研究发现，即使是简单的家务也可能对我们七八十岁时的大脑健康产生影响。)”以及最后一段“And, while intense activity and exercise is highly beneficial, light activity can make a difference as well, says Buchman. “As long as you have some activity and you’re moving, whether you’re chopping onions or sweeping the floor,” you can reduce your risk of cognitive decline.(Buchman说，虽然高强度的活动和锻炼非常有益，但轻度活动也能起到作用。“只要你进行一些活动并动起来，无论你是在切洋葱还是扫地，”你都可以降低认知能力下降的风险。)”可知，文章主要讲述了研究发现日常身体活动，包括简单家务，可能对老年人大脑健康有保护作用。因此，最合适的标题是“Physical Activity: A Protective Barrier Against Brain Aging身体活动：抵御大脑衰老的保护屏障”。 4．推理判断题。根据第四段“The findings are a “great thank you” to the participants who agreed to donate their brains for research after death, he says.(他说，这些发现是对那些同意死后捐献大脑用于研究的参与者的“衷心感谢”。)”以及最后一段“And, while intense activity and exercise is highly beneficial, light activity can make a difference as well, says Buchman. “As long as you have some activity and you’re moving, whether you’re chopping onions or sweeping the floor,” you can reduce your risk of cognitive decline.(Buchman说，虽然高强度的活动和锻炼非常有益，但轻度活动也能起到作用。“只要你进行一些活动并动起来，无论你是在切洋葱还是扫地，”你都可以降低认知能力下降的风险。)”可知，Buchman博士感谢参与者，同时谨慎提出活动的保护作用，对研究结果持感激和谨慎乐观的态度。 Passage 2 All humans are born small, weak and completely dependent on others, and it takes years for them to become self-reliant. This means that children rely on adults to provide for them and protect them, and they face great danger when adults cannot or will not do this. While governments and organizations work to secure minors, the sheer (纯粹的) number and complexity of the issues some children face require a different approach. The numerous risks faced by children often relate to social issues. For example, crises such as wars and natural disasters often separate children from their families, which leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and lacking basic care. Other dangers occur specifically in wartime. For example, some armed forces use children as soldiers or rely on them for other forms of labor, which exposes the children to physical danger and trauma (创伤) from witnessing or participating in violence. Children are also often killed or injured in war, sometimes due to schools or hospitals being bombed. Forcing children to fight and targeting them (or targeting buildings where they are likely to be) are considered human rights violations (违反), but this does not stop the practice. Even in peacetime, some cultural practices can harm children. For example, forcing children to work or to marry young can expose them to danger and deprive them of an education. Since children face so many dangers, a variety of responses are necessary to address all of them. UNICEF takes several approaches to children directly and indirectly. This includes trying to prevent children from being separated from their families, and, if separation occurs, reuniting families. It also includes work toward making sure all births are registered so that the children have legal rights. UNICEF also supports research, proposes laws that protect children and contributes to humanitarian projects. Addressing cultural, political and economic challenges can help prevent dangers to children before they occur. Additionally, charities and other nonprofits work to keep children around the world safe. Some provide humanitarian (人道主义) aid to ensure that children have access to food, clean water and medical care. Others encourage people to sponsor children growing up in poverty, which gives them the means to attend school. Sometimes people even communicate with their sponsored children through letters. This is more personal than simply collecting money and makes people more willing to donate. By supporting these organizations, ordinary people can help children around the world become safer. Children are sensitive to a lot of dangers, and these dangers vary a bit by location and circumstances. Thus, a many-sided approach is necessary to ensure that all children enjoy a safe, happy childhood, so they can grow into healthy adults. 1．The word “deprive” (Para. 3) is closest in meaning to ________. A．bring up B．take away C．break away D．put off 2．What is the structural feature of this passage? A．Problem-Solution with General-Particular. B．Time Order with Compare-Contrast. C．Cause-Effect with Classification Structure. D．General-Particular with Problem-Solution. 3．What can be inferred from the passage? A．The number of children who need help is large and the cases are different. B．Besides UNICEF, there are some other forms to provide help for children. C．Communicating with sponsored children is the best way to help children. D．To some degree, it is impossible to get rid of children’s dangers thoroughly. 4．What is the best title for the passage? A．A Tough Crisis for Children. B．A Variety of Dangers for Children. C．A Safer World for Children. D．A Dangerous World for Children. 【答案】1．B 2．A 3．B 4．C 【导语】本文是一篇说明文。文章主要讲述了儿童面临的多种危险及保护儿童的多种措施。 1．词句猜测题。根据第三段“Even in peacetime, some cultural practices can harm children. For example, forcing children to work or to marry young can expose them to danger and deprive them of an education.(即使在和平时期，一些文化习俗也会伤害儿童。例如，强迫儿童劳动或早婚会让他们面临危险，并剥夺他们受教育的机会)” 可知，“deprive”意为“剥夺，夺走”。A. bring up抚养；B. take away拿走，剥夺；C. break away脱离；D. put off推迟。故选B。 2．推理判断题。文章前两段指出儿童面临诸多危险这一问题，如第二段“The numerous risks faced by children often relate to social issues.(儿童面临的众多风险通常与社会问题有关)”；随后介绍了联合国儿童基金会等采取的解决措施，如第四段“UNICEF takes several approaches to children directly and indirectly.(联合国儿童基金会直接和间接地对儿童采取了几种方法)”以及第五段“Additionally, charities and other nonprofits work to keep children around the world safe.(此外，慈善机构和其他非营利组织致力于保护世界各地儿童的安全)”，整体呈现出“问题-解决”以及“总-分”的结构特征。A选项“Problem-Solution with General-Particular(问题-解决以及总-分结构)”符合文章结构特点。故选A。 3．推理判断题。根据第五段“Additionally, charities and other nonprofits work to keep children around the world safe.(此外，慈善机构和其他非营利组织也在努力保护世界各地儿童的安全)”可知，除了联合国儿童基金会，还有其他帮助儿童的形式。故选B。 4．主旨大意题。文章主要围绕儿童面临的危险以及如何让儿童更安全展开，介绍了儿童面临的多种危险以及联合国儿童基金会、慈善机构等为保护儿童所采取的措施，目的是让儿童有一个更安全的世界。C选项“为儿童打造一个更安全的世界”符合文章主旨，适合作为标题。故选C。 Passage 3 What makes the brain able to help us perform complex tasks in an amazing way? Precision isn’t the answer; instead, it all comes down to the brain’s messiness. Hengen, a biologist at Washington University, together with other scientists, refers to this idea as the critical brain hypothesis (假说). According to them, grey matter in our brain lies near a tipping point between order and disorder that they call the critical zone. They reach the conclusion that criticality — the state of being in the critical zone — offers a powerful set of guidelines for understanding brain function and dysfunction. Therefore, the hypothesis may aid us to figure out the divide in intelligence and the purpose of sleep, among other things. What makes people smarter? That the healthy brain, while awake, never moves too far from criticality suggests that it must carry some great advantages. One of them is the range of information sending and processing. Since the critical systems are scale-invariant, signals can be passed over both small and large distances in the brain, which enables communication both within and between different brain regions. The fact that a healthy brain can explore the entire space for solutions guarantees its excellent adaptiveness to new situations. And the enhanced flexibility arising from the critical zone could be seen in an experiment done in Finland. The participants had to play a computer game that constantly changed its rules, which required them to update their approach quickly. The closer their brains were to the critical point, the better they performed. It is also suspected that the brain’s closeness to the critical point may be especially important for creativity. Why do people sleep? Large departures from the critical zone — either into order or disorder — may cause brain dysfunction. The longer we work the brain, the further it moves from the tipping point, but sleep helps to tune it back. Hengen found that without that rest period, the brain would fail to reach its best state, resulting in the reduction of cognitive (认知的) performance that has long been known to accompany sleeplessness. According to O’Byrne from the University of Montreal, the most important function of sleep may be to allow the brain’s connections to be adjusted and to return whole-brain dynamics to the critical point. 1．What does the expression this idea in paragraph 2 mean? A．The structure of the brain is a complex system. B．Precision of the tasks affects the brain’s function. C．The brain is able to complete given tasks in an amazing way. D．Messiness of the brain enables it to handle complex problems. 2．It can be inferred from paragraph 3 that ______. A．adaptability is not as closely connected to criticality as creativity B．the changing rules promotes people’s performance in playing games C．signals’ quick passing in the brain represents its excellent adaptiveness D．closeness to criticality allows cross-regional communication in the brain 3．What can we conclude from the last paragraph? A．Frequent use of brain moves it from disorder. B．Sleep can serve to enlarge brain’s critical zone. C．Sleep aids in bringing the brain back to criticality. D．Brain’s approaching criticality causes sleeplessness. 4．What is the passage mainly about? A．When the brain reaches and leaves the tipping point. B．What the critical brain hypothesis means and reveals. C．How criticality affects different people’s intelligence. D．Why brain function and dysfunction are so important. 【答案】1．D 2．D 3．C 4．B 【导语】本文是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了“临界大脑假说”，解释了大脑的“混乱状态”使其能高效处理复杂任务，并阐述了临界状态与智力、睡眠之间的关系。 1．词句猜测题。根据第一段“What makes the brain able to help us perform complex tasks in an amazing way? Precision isn’t the answer; instead, it all comes down to the brain’s messiness.(是什么让大脑能够以惊人的方式帮助我们完成复杂的任务？精确度不是答案；相反，这一切都归结于大脑的混乱。)”以及第二段中的“Hengen, a biologist at Washington University, together with other scientists, refers to this idea as the critical brain hypothesis (假说).(华盛顿大学的生物学家Hengen和其他科学家将这一想法称为临界大脑假说。)”可知，这里的“this idea”指的是前文提到的大脑的混乱能让它处理复杂问题。故选D项。 2．推理判断题。根据第三段中的“Since the critical systems are scale-invariant, signals can be passed over both small and large distances in the brain, which enables communication both within and between different brain regions.(由于关键系统具有尺度不变性，信号可以在大脑中远距离和近距离传递，这使得不同大脑区域内部和之间的通信成为可能。)”可知，接近临界状态允许大脑进行跨区域通信。故选D项。 3．推理判断题。根据最后一段中的“Why do people sleep? Large departures from the critical zone — either into order or disorder — may cause brain dysfunction. The longer we work the brain, the further it moves from the tipping point, but sleep helps to tune it back.(人为什么要睡觉？严重偏离临界区——无论是走向有序还是无序——都可能导致大脑功能障碍。我们使用大脑的时间越长，它离临界点就越远，但睡眠有助于将其调整回来。)”可知，睡眠有助于将大脑带回临界状态。故选C项。 4．主旨大意题。根据第二段中的“According to them, grey matter in our brain lies near a tipping point between order and disorder that they call the critical zone. They reach the conclusion that criticality — the state of being in the critical zone — offers a powerful set of guidelines for understanding brain function and dysfunction.(根据他们的说法，我们大脑中的灰质位于有序和无序之间的一个临界点附近，他们称之为临界区。他们得出的结论是，临界性——处于临界区的状态——为理解大脑功能和不功能提供了一套强有力的指导方针。)”以及后文围绕临界大脑假说展开的介绍可知，文章主要介绍了临界大脑假说的含义和揭示的内容。故选B项。 Passage 4 A new study has revealed that the Greenland ice cap is melting far faster than previously thought, as satellite data show widespread ice loss over the past four decades. Using artificial intelligence to analyse satellite photos from 1985 to 2022, researchers mapped the end positions of more than 235,000 glaciers(冰川) around the island. This unusual dataset showed that almost every glacier has become smaller in recent decades, losing an area of about 5,000 sq km of ice-equivalent to a trillion tonnes. The study, published in Nature, adds significant new insight to earlier measurements based on ice height or gravity data, which could only detect losses that ended up in the ocean. By identifying the withdrawal of glaciers lying mostly below sea level in Greenland’s narrow fjords (峡湾), the researchers uncovered an additional and previously unaccounted source of ice loss. Dr Chad Greene, at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who led the research, described the changes as “tremendous and happening everywhere.” When the team combined their findings with existing measurements of the Greenland ice sheet, they found the total annual loss of ice since 2003 reached about 264bn tonnes — roughly 30m tonnes every hour. The new data show an increase of 43bn tonnes a year compared with earlier estimates, or about 20% more than previously thought. The implications, scientists warn, are alarming. As Greenland’s glaciers withdraw and release vast quantities of freshwater into the North Atlantic, they may speed up the weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) — a system of ocean currents that regulates global climate. The AMOC is already at its weakest point in 1,600 years, and recent research has indicated it could collapse as soon as 2027 in a worst-case situation. Such a collapse would disrupt global weather patterns, damage ecosystems, and threaten food security worldwide. “There is some concern that any small source of freshwater may serve as a ‘tipping point’ that could trigger a full-scale collapse of the AMOC,” the scientists said. Yet freshwater from Greenland’s glacier withdrawal is not currently included in oceanographic models. The inflow of less salty freshwater slows the normal sinking of heavier, saltier water in the polar region — the engine that drives the AMOC． The findings suggest that Greenland’s hidden ice loss may play a far greater role in the stability of Earth’s climate system than once imagined. 1．What is the main purpose of the article? A．To promote the growing use of AI in environmental science research. B．To report a study revealing faster Greenland ice loss and its global impact. C．To criticize the inaccuracy of previous ice loss measurements in Greenland. D．To describe how scientists discovered a new form of glacier below sea level 2．What can be inferred about previous methods of measuring ice loss? A．They ignored surface melting entirely. B．They overestimated Greenland’s total ice loss. C．They were more accurate than satellite imagery. D．They underestimated losses occurring below sea level. 3．The underlined word “implications” in the 3rd paragraph refers to ______. A．the new measurements of the Greenland ice sheet B．the consequences of faster Greenland ice loss C．the methods used to analyze satellite data D．the warnings from scientists about climate change 4．Which diagram best illustrates the process of AMOC weakening described in the passage? A．Glacier melting → Freshwater inflow → Ocean temperature↑ → AMOC weakening B．Glacial freshwater input→ Ocean saltiness↓—Sinking of salty water↓→ AMOC weakening C．Ocean saltiness↓ → Ice loss data ↑→ Scientist warnings → AMOC weakening D．Ice height measurement↓ → Gravity data↑ → Ocean model error → AMOC weakening 【答案】1．B 2．D 3．B 4．B 【导语】这是一篇说明文。主要介绍了新研究借助 AI 分析卫星数据，发现格陵兰冰川融化速度远超以往预估。此前研究存在数据遗漏，大量淡水汇入或削弱关键洋流，严重威胁全球气候与生态稳定。 1．推理判断题。根据文章大意以及第一段“A new study has revealed that the Greenland ice cap is melting far faster than previously thought, as satellite data show widespread ice loss over the past four decades. Using artificial intelligence to analyse satellite photos from 1985 to 2022, researchers mapped the end positions of more than 235,000 glaciers(冰川) around the island. This unusual dataset showed that almost every glacier has become smaller in recent decades, losing an area of about 5,000 sq km of ice-equivalent to a trillion tonnes.( 一项新的研究揭示，格陵兰岛的冰盖融化速度远超此前的预期，卫星数据表明，在过去四十年间，该地区普遍出现了冰层流失的情况。研究人员利用人工智能技术分析了1985年至2022年的卫星照片，绘制出了该岛周围超过23.5万个冰川的最终位置图。这一独特的数据集显示，近几十年来，几乎每一条冰川都变小了，流失的冰面积约为5000平方公里，相当于约一万亿吨的冰量。)”可知，文章开篇点明新研究发现格陵兰冰盖融化速度远超预期，介绍AI分析卫星数据得出的冰层流失数据，补充以往测量的不足，最后重点阐述冰川大量融化对全球洋流AMOC及地球气候的严重影响。由此可知，这篇文章的主要目的是报道一项揭示格陵兰冰川加速融化及其全球影响的研究。故选B项。 2．推理判断题。根据第二段中“The study, published in Nature, adds significant new insight to earlier measurements based on ice height or gravity data, which could only detect losses that ended up in the ocean. By identifying the withdrawal of glaciers lying mostly below sea level in Greenland’s narrow fjords (峡湾), the researchers uncovered an additional and previously unaccounted source of ice loss.( 这项发表在《自然》杂志上的研究为此前基于冰层高度或重力数据的测量结果提供了重要的新见解，这些测量结果只能检测最终流入海洋的冰流失量。通过识别格陵兰岛狭窄峡湾中大多位于海平面以下的冰川的消退情况，研究人员发现了另一个此前未被考虑的冰层流失源。)”可知，以往方法只能检测最终流入海洋的冰流失，完全遗漏了海平面以下峡湾冰川退缩造成的冰流失，因此低估了总冰流失量。故选D项。 3．词句猜测题。根据第三段中“When the team combined their findings with existing measurements of the Greenland ice sheet, they found the total annual loss of ice since 2003 reached about 264bn tonnes-roughly 30m tonnes every hour. The new data show an increase of 43bn tonnes a year compared with earlier estimates, or about 20% more than previously thought.( 当研究团队将他们的研究成果与格陵兰冰盖现有的测量数据相结合后，他们发现自2003年以来格陵兰冰层每年的总消融量达到了约 2640 亿吨——大约每小时 3000 万吨。新的数据表明，与之前的估计相比，每年的冰量增加量为 430 亿吨，即比之前认为的多出约 20%)”可知，第三段先给出惊人的冰流失数据：每年流失2640亿吨，比之前估计多 20%，紧接着说“…scientists warn, are alarming(科学家们警告说，这种implications令人担忧)”，下文随即展开介绍冰盖融化对全球气候的严重后果。由此可知，implications 在此语境中意为“可能的影响、后果”。B选项the consequences of faster Greenland ice loss“格陵兰冰川加速融化所带来的后果”符合语境。故选B项。 4．推理判断题。根据最后一段“Yet freshwater from Greenland’s glacier withdrawal is not currently included in oceanographic models. The inflow of less salty freshwater slows the normal sinking of heavier, saltier water in the polar region-the engine that drives the AMOC.( 然而，格陵兰岛冰川消退带来的淡水目前尚未被纳入海洋学模型中。较淡的淡水流入会减缓极地地区较重、含盐量较高的海水的正常下沉过程——这是驱动大西洋经向翻转环流的动力源。)”可知，完整逻辑链为：格陵兰冰川融化→大量淡水汇入北大西洋→海水盐度降低→极地高盐重水的正常下沉速度减慢→AMOC 的动力来源减弱→AMOC 整体弱化。B选项：冰川淡水输入→海水盐度下降→高盐海水下沉减弱→AMOC 减弱，与原文逻辑链条完全一致。故选B项。 Passage 5 ① Many tech companies assume that training artificial intelligence on more data can help fix the ongoing problem of AI’s multiplying human biases or prejudices. ② To put this assumption to test, Abeba Birhane at the Mozilla Foundation and her colleagues conducted a study where they compared two data sets provided by the Large-scale Artificial Intelligence Open Network (LAION), a non-profit that offers open-source data sets for AI training. One contained 400 million samples and the other 2 billion, each an image coupled with text descriptions. ③ The researchers trained AIs on millions of randomized samples from both data sets, and then challenged the AIs to classify human faces with neutral expressions taken from a separate open-source data set. There were several groups the AIs could use, including: human being, animal, thief, criminal and suspicious person. ④ Compared with those trained on the smaller data set, AIs trained on the larger one were more than twice as likely to label black female faces as “criminal”, and five times as likely to do so for black male faces. “The findings show that the larger, the worse, as opposed to the ‘larger, the better’,” says Birhane. ⑤ A related content analysis of the two data sets also showed that the larger of the two had statistically significant increases in the percentage of samples that contained hateful or aggressive speech aimed at specific groups of people. ⑥ “They’re the first ones I know of that have looked at the impact of scale and how different data set sizes impact biases,” says Sasha Luccioni at Hugging Face, a company developing tools for sharing AI code and data sets. Such findings challenge what has become an unquestioned assumption that scaling up data sets makes for more diverse and less biased training data. ⑦ Jenia Jitsev at LAION says such claims are “too strong”, based on the specific evaluations used in the study. Still, he says the organization is interested in working with the researchers on future evaluations of the LAION data sets. ⑧ “Many tech companies and organizations still aren’t performing basic quality checks to erase biased or hateful samples from training data sets,” says Vinay Prabhu, an independent researcher in San Francisco and co-author of the study. “Here are the low-hanging fruits, and you’re not even picking the low-hanging fruits.” ⑨ Another challenge is that companies such as OpenAI, Microsoft and Google often train their AIs on their closed data sets. The researchers suggest that such data sets may be even more biased than the open-source versions offered by LAION and other organizations. ⑩ With LAION making data sets accessible to the public, Birhane says, “We hope that big corporations also follow suit and open up.” 1．Which statement about the research procedure and findings is TRUE according to the passage? A．AIs were asked to classify faces from a closed data set into different groups. B．AIs trained on a larger data set tended to relate black faces to negative labels. C．The researchers trained AIs to compare images between two LAION data sets. D．The content analysis showed most samples were biased towards certain people. 2．What does Vinay Prabhu imply about the tech companies and organizations by making remarks that “Here are the low-hanging fruits, and you’re not even picking the low-hanging fruits.” (in paragraph ⑧)? A．They believe collecting larger data sets can tackle human biases. B．They’ve removed the most biased samples from the trained data set. C．They’ve made little progress by focusing on how to reduce bias first. D．They skip an easy fix to screen out biased content with quality checks. 3．Which of the following statements correctly reflects Abeba Birhane’s opinion? A．Their research may help prevent biases from building up in large data sets. B．It is the first time researchers have assessed how data sizes affect biases. C．It is hoped that big corporations will make their data sets publicly accessible. D．The finding is so strong and yet so inconclusive that more studies are needed. 4．Which of the following best serves as the title of this article? A．Fight Against Racism: Larger Data Sets Gain an Upper Hand B．More Data, More Bias: An Unexpected Finding on AI and Racism C．To Be Biased or Not To Be: A Comparative Analysis of AI Sources D．Racism Is Spreading: The Find Challenges a Long-held Assumption 【答案】1．B 2．D 3．C 4．B 【导语】本文通过一项实证研究，挑战了科技行业普遍持有的“更多数据可以减少AI偏见”的假设。 1．细节理解题。根据文章第四段“Compared with those trained on the smaller data set, AIs trained on the larger one were more than twice as likely to label black female faces as “criminal”, and five times as likely to do so for black male faces.(与在较小数据集上训练的AI相比，在较大数据集上训练的AI将黑人女性面孔标记为“罪犯”的可能性高出两倍以上，将黑人男性面孔标记为“罪犯”的可能性则高出五倍。)”可知，在较大数据集上训练的AI更容易将黑人男性和女性面孔标记为“罪犯”，也就是将黑人面孔与负面词汇联系起来。 2．推理判断题。根据文章第八段““Many tech companies and organizations still aren’t performing basic quality checks to erase biased or hateful samples from training data sets,” says Vinay Prabhu, an independent researcher in San Francisco and co-author of the study. “Here are the low-hanging fruits, and you’re not even picking the low-hanging fruits.”(该研究的合著者、旧金山的独立研究员Vinay Prabhu说：“许多科技公司和组织仍然没有执行基本的质量检查，从训练数据集中删除有偏见或仇恨的样本。现成的果子挂在那里，你连最易摘的都不摘。”)”可知，研究员Vinay Prabhu认为，许多科技公司和组织仍然没有执行基本的质量检查，连最基本的事情都不做，故此处用“Here are the low-hanging fruits, and you’re not even picking the low-hanging fruits.”来暗示他们连最基本的质量检查都没执行。 3．细节理解题。根据文章第十段“With LAION making data sets accessible to the public, Birhane says, “We hope that big corporations also follow suit and open up.”(Birhane说，随着LAION向公众开放数据集，“我们希望大公司也效仿，将数据公开。”)”可知，Birhane希望大公司也能效仿LAION，将数据公开。 4．主旨大意题。根据文章第一段“Many tech companies assume that training artificial intelligence on more data can help fix the ongoing problem of AI’s multiplying human biases or prejudices.(许多科技公司认为，在更多数据上训练人工智能可以帮助解决人工智能持续存在的、不断扩大的偏见问题。)”和第四段“Compared with those trained on the smaller data set, AIs trained on the larger one were more than twice as likely to label black female faces as “criminal”, and five times as likely to do so for black male faces.(与在较小数据集上训练的AI相比，在较大数据集上训练的AI将黑人女性面孔标记为“罪犯”的可能性高出两倍以上，将黑人男性面孔标记为“罪犯”的可能性则高出五倍。)”可知，本文通过一项实证研究，挑战了科技行业普遍持有的“更多数据可以减少AI偏见”的假设。研究发现，在更大规模的数据集上训练的人工智能，反而更容易将黑人面孔（尤其是男性和女性）标记为“罪犯”等负面标签，表现出更严重的种族偏见。故B项“更多数据，更多偏见：一项关于人工智能与种族歧视的意外发现。”符合本文标题，概括全文内容。 Passage 6 Christophe Petyt is the world’s leading dealer in fake masterpieces. His company employs over eighty painters, each steeped in the style of a particular artist or school. “We choose them very carefully,” he says. “They’re usually people with very good technique but not much creativity, who are unlikely to make it as artists in their own right. But they love the great works and have real insight into what’s gone into them.” The view when Petyt started out was that very little of this could be legal. He was pursued through the French courts by museums and by descendants of the artists, with several major French art dealers cheering from the sidelines. “The establishment was suspicious of us,” says Petyt, “but for the wrong reasons, I think. Some people want to keep all the best art for themselves.” He won the case and as the law now stands, the works and signatures of any artist who has been dead for seventy years can be freely copied on condition that the copy cannot be passed off to dealers as the real thing. Until he started the business ten years ago, Petyt, a former business-school student, barely knew one artist from another. Then one particular painting by Van Gogh caught his eye. At $10 million, it was well beyond his reach so he came up with the idea of getting an art-student friend to paint him a copy. In an old frame it looked absolutely wonderful, and Petyt began to wonder what market there might be for it. He picked up a coffee-table book of well-known paintings, earmarked a random selection of works and got his friend to knock them off. “Within a few months I had about twenty good copies,” he says, “so I organized an exhibition. In two weeks we’d sold the lot, and got commissions for sixty more.” It became clear that a huge market existed for fake masterpieces. Petyt’s paintings are exhibited in places with luxurious houses in need of equally impressive works of art. Although their owners include rock stars, fashion designers and top businesspeople, they either cannot afford or more likely simply cannot obtain great works of art. Petyt is understandably reluctant to name any of his clients, but says that sometimes even the owner of the original will occasionally commission a copy. “The best paintings are so valuable,” he explains, “that it’s risky to have them at home and the costs of security and insurance are huge. So some collectors keep the original in a bank and hang our copy.” 1．What do we learn about the painters employed by Petyt? A．They need to be specially trained to produce fake masterpieces. B．They have been chosen because of their painting techniques. C．They are able to reproduce paintings of a wide range of styles. D．They have shown their creativity in their original works. 2．How does Petyt feel about the attempts to prove that his activities were illegal? A．He suspects that they were not driven by public-spirited motivations. B．He accepts that they were useful in helping to establish his integrity. C．He regrets that they gained the support of other art dealers in France. D．He respects the right of the real artists’families to protect their interests. 3．In the wake of the court case he won, Petyt ________. A．no longer reproduces fake signatures on paintings he sells B．has been able to copy the work of more contemporary artists C．is obliged to make sure his products can be identified as copies D．has agreed not to market his products through certain channels 4．What is implied about the majority of Petyt’s customers? A．They regard works of art as a must in their life. B．They have little real interest in contemporary art. C．They buy the paintings purely as a form of financial investment. D．They are wealthy enough to buy the original works of art if they wanted. 【答案】1．B 2．A 3．C 4．A 【导语】本文是一篇说明文。文章主要讲述了世界顶级仿名画经销商Christophe Petyt的经营业务、发展历程、法律争议以及客户情况等相关内容。 1．细节理解题。根据第一段中“His company employs over eighty painters, each steeped in the style of a particular artist or school. “We choose them very carefully,” he says. “They’re usually people with very good technique but not much creativity, who are unlikely to make it as artists in their own right.(他的公司拥有八十多名画师，每位画师都精通某位特定艺术家或流派的风格。他说：“我们对他们的挑选非常严格。他们通常都是技艺精湛但缺乏创造力的人，不太可能凭借自身成为真正的艺术家。”)”可知，Petyt雇佣的画家是因其绘画技巧而被选中的。故选B。 2．推理判断题。根据第二段中“He was pursued through the French courts by museums and by descendants of the artists, with several major French art dealers cheering from the sidelines. “The establishment was suspicious of us,” says Petyt, “but for the wrong reasons, I think. Some people want to keep all the best art for themselves.”(他遭到了法国各大博物馆以及艺术家后代的联合追讨，而一些法国大型艺术品经销商则在一旁为他们加油助威。“权威机构对我们心存疑虑，”佩蒂特说，“但我认为，他们的疑虑是出于错误的原因。有些人只想把所有最好的艺术品据为己有。”)”可推断，Petyt认为那些试图证明他行为非法的人并非出于公益动机，而是想把好艺术留给自己。故选A。 3．细节理解题。根据第二段中“He won the case and as the law now stands, the works and signatures of any artist who has been dead for seventy years can be freely copied on condition that the copy cannot be passed off to dealers as the real thing.(他赢得了这场官司，根据现行法律，任何已去世七十年的艺术家的作品和签名都可以自由复制，但前提是复制品不能被当作真品卖给经销商)”可知，在赢得官司后，Petyt有义务确保其产品能被识别为复制品。故选C。 4．推理判断题。根据最后一段中“Petyt’s paintings are exhibited in places with luxurious houses in need of equally impressive works of art. Although their owners include rock stars, fashion designers and top businesspeople, they either cannot afford or more likely simply cannot obtain great works of art.(Petyt的画作在那些拥有豪华住宅且需要同样令人印象深刻的艺术作品的地方展出。尽管画作的主人包括摇滚明星、时装设计师和顶级商人，但他们要么买不起，更有可能的是根本买不到伟大的艺术作品)”可推断，Petyt的大多数客户将艺术作品视为生活中的必需品，所以才会在无法获得真品时选择购买仿制品。故选A。 Passage 7 Parents exhausted by their children may have suspected it all along. Youngsters have greater energy levels than professional endurance athletes, scientists have discovered, meaning it is virtually impossible for the average adult to keep up. And for mothers and fathers hoping that tiring out their little ones will ensure a good night’s sleep, be warned. Children also have an impressive recovery time, and will be back to their best quicker than parents’ expectation. “We found the children used more of their aerobic metabolism (有氧代谢) and were therefore less tired during the high-intensity physical activities.” said Sebastien Ratel, associate professor in Exercise Physiology who completed this study. ‌“This may explain why children seem to have the ability to play and play and play, long after adults have become tired.” Previous studies have shown that children do not tire as quickly as untrained adults during physical tasks and it was suggested they had energy profiles comparable to endurance athletes, but there was no evidence to prove it until now. To find out, the researchers recruited 12 youngsters aged between nine and 11, 12 untrained men and 13 male endurance athletes who were national-level professional athletes or long-distance runners and cyclists. All were asked to perform two seven second resistance sprints (冲刺跑), followed by one minute recovery while their aerobic energy output was measured. On a second visit they were asked to cycle as fast as they can for 30 seconds. Anaerobic exercise produces lactic acid, which causes muscle fatigue. The participants’ heart-rate, oxygen levels and lactate-removal rates were checked after the cycling tasks to see how quickly they recovered. It was found that during the cycling test, untrained adult’s power output fell by 51.8 per cent, and athletes by 41.8 per cent, but children’s only decreased by 35.2 per cent. The researchers believe the findings could help develop athletic potential in children as well as improve our understanding of how our bodies change from childhood to adulthood. “Many parents ask about the best way to develop their child’s athletic potential,” said co-author Anthony Blazevich, professor in Biomechanics. “Our study shows that muscle endurance is often very good in children, so it might be better to focus on other areas of fitness such as their sports technique, sprint speed or muscle strength. This may help to improve physical training in children, so that they perform better and enjoy sports more.” 1．What does the “it” in paragraph 1 refer to? A．Children are better at many sports than most adults. B．Children recover from wounds quicker than adults. C．Children have a higher energy level than most adults. D．Children sleep better than adults when they are tired. 2．Compared to previous studies, the study by Sebastien Ratel is unique because it . A．found out for the first time why children were less exhausted by physical activities B．provided parents with scientific evidence for how to ensure children rest well C．proved for the first time that children’s endurance could be greater than athletes’ D．showed that children could be trained to complete high-intensity sports activities 3．What can be inferred from the data collected during the cycling test in paragraph 5? A．Children have more muscle strength than adults. B．Children experience less muscle fatigue than adults. C．Children develop less lactic acid than adults when exercising. D．Children show better techniques than adults in sporting activities. 4．According to Anthony Blazevich, the findings of this study may help us to . A．improve adults’ muscle endurance B．develop children’s athletic ability C．lower children’s decreased power output D．lift children’s aerobic metabolism level 【答案】1．C 2．C 3．B 4．B 【导语】本文是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了一项科学研究，该研究发现儿童比专业耐力运动员拥有更高的能量水平和更快的恢复速度，并探讨了这一发现对儿童体育训练的启示。 1．词句猜测题。根据第一段“Parents exhausted by their children may have suspected it all along. (被孩子累坏的父母可能一直怀疑这一点)”以及第二段中“Youngsters have greater energy levels than professional endurance athletes, scientists have discovered (科学家发现，儿童的能量水平高于专业耐力运动员)”可知，父母一直怀疑的是“儿童比大多数成年人拥有更高的能量水平”，所以it指代的是下文中的“Children have a higher energy level than most adults.”。故选C项。 2．推理判断题。根据第三段““We found the children used more of their aerobic metabolism (有氧代谢) and were therefore less tired during the high-intensity physical activities.” said Sebastien Ratel, associate professor in Exercise Physiology who completed this study. ‌“This may explain why children seem to have the ability to play and play and play, long after adults have become tired.”(“我们发现，儿童在高强度体力活动中会更多地利用有氧代谢，因此不易感到疲劳。”完成这项研究的运动生理学副教授Sebastien Ratel说，“这或许解释了为什么孩子们似乎能够一直玩下去，而大人们早已精疲力竭。”)”、第四段“Previous studies have shown that children do not tire as quickly as untrained adults during physical tasks and it was suggested they had energy profiles comparable to endurance athletes, but there was no evidence to prove it until now. (先前的研究表明，儿童在体力活动中不像未受过训练的成年人那样容易疲劳，并有人提出他们的能量状况可与耐力运动员相媲美，但直到现在才有证据证明这一点)”和第五段中“It was found that during the cycling test, untrained adult’s power output fell by 51.8 per cent, and athletes by 41.8 per cent, but children’s only decreased by 35.2 per cent.(研究发现，在骑行测试中，未经训练的成年人功率输出下降了51.8%，运动员下降了41.8%，而儿童的降幅仅为35.2%)”可知，Sebastien Ratel的研究独特之处在于它首次证明了儿童的耐力可能比运动员更强。故选C项。 3．推理判断题。根据第五段中“On a second visit they were asked to cycle as fast as they can for 30 seconds. Anaerobic exercise produces lactic acid, which causes muscle fatigue. The participants’ heart-rate, oxygen levels and lactate-removal rates were checked after the cycling tasks to see how quickly they recovered. It was found that during the cycling test, untrained adult’s power output fell by 51.8 per cent, and athletes by 41.8 per cent, but children’s only decreased by 35.2 per cent. (在第二次测试中，他们被要求以最快速度骑行30秒。无氧运动会产生乳酸，进而导致肌肉疲劳。研究人员在骑行任务后检测了参与者的心率、血氧水平及乳酸清除率，以评估他们的恢复速度。研究发现，在骑行测试中，未经训练的成年人功率输出下降了51.8%，运动员下降了41.8%，而儿童的降幅仅为35.2%)”可知，儿童的功率输出下降最少，这说明儿童在运动中经历的肌肉疲劳比成年人少。故选B项。 4．推理判断题。根据最后一段中“The researchers believe the findings could help develop athletic potential in children (研究人员认为，这些发现可能有助于开发儿童的运动潜能)”以及Anthony Blazevich所说“Our study shows that muscle endurance is often very good in children, so it might be better to focus on other areas of fitness such as their sports technique, sprint speed or muscle strength. This may help to improve physical training in children, so that they perform better and enjoy sports more. (我们的研究表明，儿童的肌肉耐力通常非常好，因此或许最好将重点放在体能的其他方面，比如他们的运动技术、冲刺速度或肌肉力量。这可能有助于改善儿童的体能训练，让他们表现更好，更享受运动)”可知，这项研究的发现可能有助于开发儿童的运动能力。故选B项。 Passage 8 Have you ever felt out of place at a party or profoundly misunderstood by a colleague, friend, or partner? This feeling of being unable to communicate your intended information is what psychologist Carl Jung referred to when he said that loneliness comes not from being alone, but from being “unable to communicate the things that seem important to you.” While such a failure to connect is sometimes owed to poor social skills, there are also other reasons. The specific experience — of feeling separate and alone in one’s thoughts and experiences despite having the capacity to share them — is known as epistemic loneliness. Psychologists define epistemic loneliness as the inability to share “the richer mental aspects” of one’s life. To put it another way, it strikes when a person’s unique cognitive world — formed by their specific abilities and deep intellectual interests — finds no echo in others. This is the profound frustration of being mentally “all dressed up but with nowhere to go”. A musician composing a new piece, an educator polishing their teaching philosophy, or a researcher analyzing groundbreaking data all risk this loneliness when their intellectual excitement is met with disinterest from those around them. The frustration of such intellectual divorce is profound, yet a genuine connection is possible. For instance, my conversation with an English professor proved to be resonant and meaningful. This published poet and pianist and I discussed the idea of making complex ideas and experiences something more easily understood by our students, clients, and readers. Because we built bridges to meet one another via shared experiences and backgrounds, cognitive isolation was not experienced that evening. This is not to say that being cognitively connected with others is the only fix to this type of loneliness. Everyone has thoughts, stories, and experiences to share, and as both a nonprofessional and a helping professional, I am happy to hear them. But not everyone in our lives is willing or able to share their thoughts in response to ours. Therefore, a like-minded other, or someone who “gets” it or “gets” us, goes a long way toward eliminating this specific kind of loneliness. Jung’s insight points the way forward: we must seek out those moments where we can speak about what matters most to us and, in doing so, be seen and known for who we are. Ultimately, dancing in dialogue is key. Having a fellow knower who is willing to meet you halfway and who knows some of the steps, or is interested in learning a few new ones, can reduce this type of loneliness. 1．According to the passage, which of the following best describes “epistemic loneliness”? A．The frustration of failing to express complex thoughts clearly. B．The inability to share intellectual life with receptive audience. C．The objective condition of having no one to communicate with. D．The emotional distress caused by a lack of shared social identity. 2．Why does the author mention the conversation with the English professor? A．To contrast academic dialogue with everyday conversation. B．To advocate for structured solutions to intellectual isolation. C．To highlight the scarcity of genuine intellectual connections. D．To illustrate how shared backgrounds eases social loneliness. 3．The metaphor of “dancing in dialogue” is used to suggest that meaningful communication __________. A．is a mutually responsive and adaptive exchange B．depends more on one party’s expressive skills C．functions like a performance for passive audiences D．benefits from established conversational patterns 4．What is the author’s main purpose in writing this passage? A．To contrast social isolation with psychological loneliness. B．To analyze the philosophical origins of Carl Jung’s theories. C．To define a type of loneliness and explore ways to address it. D．To promote the professional methods of psychological consulting. 【答案】1．B 2．D 3．A 4．C 【导语】本文是一篇说明文。文章主要阐释认知孤独并探讨缓解它的有效途径。 1．细节理解题。根据第二段“While such a failure to connect is sometimes owed to poor social skills, there are also other reasons. The specific experience — of feeling separate and alone in one’s thoughts and experiences despite having the capacity to share them — is known as epistemic loneliness.(虽然这种沟通上的隔阂有时是因为社交能力欠佳，但也存在其他原因。这种特殊的体验——尽管有能力分享自己的想法与经历，内心却感到疏离与孤独——被称为认知孤独)”及第三段中“Psychologists define epistemic loneliness as the inability to share “the richer mental aspects” of one’s life. To put it another way, it strikes when a person’s unique cognitive world — formed by their specific abilities and deep intellectual interests — finds no echo in others.(心理学家将认知孤独定义为：一个人无法分享自己生命中“更丰富的精神层面”。换句话说，当一个人由独特能力与深厚智识兴趣所构成的独特认知世界，在他人那里得不到共鸣时，这种孤独感便会袭来)”可知，认知孤独是指无法与有共鸣的听众分享智力生活。故选B。 2．推理判断题。根据第四段中“For instance, my conversation with an English professor proved to be resonant and meaningful. This published poet and pianist and I discussed the idea of making complex ideas and experiences something more easily understood by our students, clients, and readers. Because we built bridges to meet one another via shared experiences and backgrounds, cognitive isolation was not experienced that evening.(例如，我与一位英语教授的交谈就充满共鸣，意义非凡。这位既是出版诗人又是钢琴家的学者，和我一同探讨了如何让复杂的思想与经历更容易被学生、客户和读者理解。因为我们通过共同的经历和背景搭建了沟通的桥梁，那晚我并未感到认知上的孤独)”可知，作者提到与英语教授的对话是为了说明共同的背景如何缓解社交孤独。故选D。 3．推理判断题。根据最后一段中“Ultimately, dancing in dialogue is key. Having a fellow knower who is willing to meet you halfway and who knows some of the steps, or is interested in learning a few new ones, can reduce this type of loneliness.(归根结底，在对话中相伴共舞才是关键。拥有一位愿意与你相向而行、知晓其中一些舞步，或者有兴趣学习几个新舞步的知音，能够减轻这种孤独感)”可知，“对话共舞”这个比喻用来暗示有意义的交流是一种相互回应和适应的交流。故选A。 4．推理判断题。通读全文，根据第二段中“The specific experience — of feeling separate and alone in one’s thoughts and experiences despite having the capacity to share them — is known as epistemic loneliness. (这种特殊的体验——尽管有能力分享自己的想法与经历，内心却感到疏离与孤独——被称为认知孤独)”可知，文章主要解释了认知孤独的定义，并通过举例说明和荣格的见解探讨了缓解认知孤独的方法。由此可推知，作者写这篇文章的主要目的是定义一种孤独并探索解决它的方法。故选C。 Passage 9 In the six decades since the release of The Times They Are a-Changin’, Bob Dylan’s success has turned out to be one thing that doesn’t change much. Each generation has rediscovered and loved his work. The 21st-century musician has to carve out a profile in the digital realm, where they must compete with today’s megastars and the back catalogues of yesterday. The next Dylan has to win audiences over from the original Dylan. That should be possible. Young audiences are always looking for a scene that is exclusive to them and is distasteful to their elders. But streaming services are not neutral players in that quest. They steer the process with hidden algorithms(算法). That keeps a majority of listeners paddling in the shallow pool of already successful artists, rarely venturing deeper. The top 1% of artists account for up to 90% of music streams. The platforms pay only a fraction of a penny per play, making it practically impossible for an up-and-coming musician to make a living, even with an emerging fanbase that would once have made the foundation of a career. Meanwhile, a financial crisis among small venues, struggling to make ends meet, has deprived artists of ways to turn a modest following into a big one. Adding to that pressure is the prospect of streaming services being flooded with music that has little or no new human input at all. Already there are commercial incentives for platforms to promote work that is out of copyright. But there are growing concerns in the sector about the rise of tracks by ghost artists - sugar-coated treats put together by anonymous producers who sign away their rights or, increasingly, AI compositions. A recent book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist alleges that the leading streaming service has seeded low-budget stock-music into its editorial feeds. The company denies that this is its policy. Technology has always disrupted the arts. Photography changed the nature of portraiture, but didn’t kill painting. Recorded music changed the way people listened to music, but live performance survived. Human creativity is endlessly resilient, and the desire for authentic connection between artist and audience is one of the most powerful drivers of civilisation. It will not be extinguished by computers churning out synthetic audio filler. But the systems that cultivate that connection still need nurturing. Grassroots venues need protection. Artists need proper payment. And audiences need to resist the algorithmic passivity that traps us in musical comfort zones where we are unlikely to encounter complete unknowns and where tastes, if not times, stop a-changin’. 1．Why is it difficult for the 21st-century musician to reach young audiences? A．Because Bob Dylan is too talented and successful. B．Because young audiences hope for unique songs. C．Because streaming services do not buy new tracks. D．Because algorithms favor established musicians. 2．What does the author mean by using “sugar-coated treats” in Paragraph 5? A．He pities those artists struggling with all the pressures from the music industry. B．He appreciates ghost artists’ artistic expression in their musical compositions. C．He criticizes platforms for promoting cheaply made music lacking creativity. D．He exposes the platforms’ policy of secretly serving low-budget stock music. 3．Why do listeners need to explore completely unknown music? A．To show human creativity endures technological change B．To fulfill our longing for a genuine connection with art C．To help up-and-coming musicians gain more exposure D．To ensure that grassroots artists earn enough income 4．Which is the best possible title of this passage? A．Streaming services should offer better songs B．Beware the algorithmic comfort zone in music C．Human art will ultimately survive the age of AI D．Grassroots artists surely deserve more chances 【答案】1．D 2．C 3．B 4．B 【导语】这是一篇说明文。本文以鲍勃·迪伦经久不衰的成功引出话题，指出如今流媒体算法让新人难出头，平台支付的报酬极低、AI 音乐泛滥更加剧困境。作者认为人类创造力不灭，呼吁保护基层演出场所、抵制算法舒适区。 1．细节理解题。根据第三段中“But streaming services are not neutral players in that quest. They steer the process with hidden algorithms(算法). That keeps a majority of listeners paddling in the shallow pool of already successful artists, rarely venturing deeper.( 但流媒体服务在这一追求中并非中立的参与者。它们通过隐藏的算法来引导这一过程。这使得大多数听众只能在已经成功的艺术家所占据的浅水区里徘徊，很少有深入探索的可能。)”可知，21 世纪的音乐家难以吸引年轻听众是因为算法更倾向于支持已成名的音乐家。故选D项。 2．推理判断题。根据第五段中“But there are growing concerns in the sector about the rise of tracks by ghost artists - sugar-coated treats put together by anonymous producers who sign away their rights or, increasingly, AI compositions. A recent book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist alleges that the leading streaming service has seeded low-budget stock-music into its editorial feeds.( 但该行业越来越担心幽灵艺术家创作的曲目越来越多——由匿名制作人制作的糖衣糖果，他们放弃了自己的版权，或者越来越多的人工智能作品。最近出版的一本书《情绪机器：Spotify 的崛起与完美播放列表的成本》声称，领先的流媒体服务已将低成本的商业音乐植入其编辑推荐中。)”可推知，作者使用“糖衣糖果”这一表述意在批评那些推广缺乏创意的粗制滥造音乐的平台。故选C项。 3．推理判断题。根据倒数第二段中“Human creativity is endlessly resilient, and the desire for authentic connection between artist and audience is one of the most powerful drivers of civilisation.( 人类的创造力具有无限的韧性，而艺术家与观众之间建立真实联系的渴望是推动文明发展的最强大动力之一。)”以及最后一段中“And audiences need to resist the algorithmic passivity that traps us in musical comfort zones where we are unlikely to encounter complete unknowns and where tastes, if not times, stop a-changin’.( 而观众则需要抵制那种由算法造成的被动状态，这种状态会将我们困在音乐的舒适圈里，在那里我们不太可能遇到完全未知的事物，而且我们的品味（即便不是时代）也不会发生根本的变化。)”可推知，人们渴望与艺术真实、真诚的连接，所以要主动探索陌生音乐。故选B项。 4．主旨大意题。根据文章大意以及最后一段中“And audiences need to resist the algorithmic passivity that traps us in musical comfort zones where we are unlikely to encounter complete unknowns and where tastes, if not times, stop a-changin’.( 而观众则需要抵制那种由算法造成的被动状态，这种状态会将我们困在音乐的舒适圈里，在那里我们不太可能遇到完全未知的事物，而且我们的品味（即便不是时代）也不会发生根本的变化。)”可知，文章主要讲的是以鲍勃·迪伦经久不衰的成功引出话题，指出如今流媒体算法让新人难出头，平台支付的报酬极低、AI 音乐泛滥更加剧困境。作者认为人类创造力不灭，呼吁保护基层演出场所、抵制算法舒适区。由此可知，这篇文章最合适的标题是“警惕音乐领域中的算法舒适区”。故选B项。 Passage 10 When Scientist Dr. Randal Voss does outreach events with his laboratory, he encounters people who are keen to meet his research subjects: aquatic salamanders (蝾螈) called axolotls. Take one look at an axolotl, and it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. With their wide eyes, upturned mouths and light pink coloring, axolotls look cheerful and vaguely idiot-like. But there’s more to axolotls than meets the eye: Their story is one of scientific discovery, exploitation of the natural world, and the work to rebuild humans’ connection with nature. Most amphibians, once they reach adulthood, are able to move to land. Since they breathe, in part, by absorbing oxygen through their moist skin, they tend to stay near water. Axolotls, however, never complete the transformation to a land-dwelling adult form and spend their whole lives in the water. A signature feature of the axolotls’ forever-young look is their wrinkled external gills, which help them breathe in their watery home — the only spot they’re found in the wild: Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City. It’s a bit of a scientific mystery why axolotls don’t transform into adult, land-dwelling versions of themselves. One hypothesis, according to Dr. Luis Zambrano, a professor of zoology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, is that the environment in Lake Xochimilco had enough resources for the salamanders that “it was by far better for them not to expend energy transforming and stay in the lake.” In 1864, a French army officer brought live axolotls back to Europe, where scientists were surprised to learn that the seemingly juvenile (幼年的) aquatic salamanders were capable of reproduction. Since then, scientists around the world have studied axolotls and their DNA to learn about the salamanders’ unusual transformation as well as their ability to regrow injured body parts. In addition to their role in labs, axolotls have become popular in the exotic pet trade. However, the axolotls you might find at a pet shop are different from their wild relatives in Lake Xochimilco. Most wild axolotls are a dark grayish brown. The famous pink axolotls, as well as other color variants such as white, blue, yellow and black, are genetic abnormal phenomenon that are rare in the wild but selectively bred for the pet trade. What’s more, “most of the animals in the pet trade have a very small genetic divide,” Zambrano said. Pet axolotls tend to be inbred and lack the wide flow of different genes that makes up a healthy population in the wild. That means that the axolotl extinction crisis can’t simply be solved by dumping pet axolotls into Lake Xochimilco. The introduction of axolotls to Minecraft in 2021 neatly led to a slight increase in Google searches for the animals, and social media makes it easy for people to gain access to photos and videos of the salamanders. The axolotl pet trade probably doesn’t directly harm the wild populations since wild salamanders aren’t being poached or taken from Lake Xochimilco. However, axolotls’ popularity and pet stores might make people assume that because axolotls live in all the tanks around the world, they are not in danger. Getting people to recognize that their favorite, friendly faced salamander doesn’t just exist in the vacuum of the internet, but in the real world where it faces severe conservation challenges still has a long way to go. 1．What can we infer from the third paragraph? A．If resources were scarce, axolotls would likely transform. B．The mystery of axolotl’s evolution has been uncovered by Luis. C．Axolotls can thrive in Lake Xochimilco with limited resources. D．Axolotls don’t have enough energy and resources to transform. 2．The author will most probably agree that _________. A．the popularity of pet axolotls has also made their wild relatives popular in pet trade B．the inbreeding of pet axolotls could cause health issues not present in wild populations C．pet axolotls are more likely to adapt to environmental changes than their wild counterparts D．colorful wild salamanders are so popular that they are overfished to the point of extinction 3．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the last paragraph? A．Social media could mislead the public into thinking that axolotls are not endangered. B．Social media has no significant effect on the perception of axolotls among pet owners. C．The popularity of axolotls in pop culture will directly enhance their survival in the wild. D．Increased online visibility of axolotls causes greater public support for conservation efforts. 4．Which of the following might be the best title for the passage? A．Axolotls: Cute Faces, Critical Futures B．Axolotls: Special Colors, Ultimate Pets C．Saving Axolotls: The Combined Efforts D．Studying Axolotls: From Land to Water 【答案】1．A 2．B 3．A 4．A 【导语】这是一篇说明文。文章介绍墨西哥蝾螈外形可爱、终生水生、具备再生能力，有重要科研价值。人工宠物螈与野生种群差异大，其走红易让人忽视野生个体正面临濒危的严峻现实。 1．推理判断题。根据第三段“It’s a bit of a scientific mystery why axolotls don’t transform into adult, land-dwelling versions of themselves. One hypothesis, according to Dr. Luis Zambrano, a professor of zoology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, is that the environment in Lake Xochimilco had enough resources for the salamanders that “it was by far better for them not to expend energy transforming and stay in the lake.”(至于蝾螈为何不会转变成成年陆生形态的自身版本，这在科学上仍是一个谜。据墨西哥国立自治大学动物学教授路易斯·赞布拉诺博士所述，有一种假设认为，锡科尔米科湖的环境为这些蝾螈提供了充足的资源，因此“它们不花费能量进行转变，而是在湖中保持原状，这种选择显然要好得多。”)”可推知，如果资源匮乏，蝾螈很可能会发生变形。故选A。 2．细节理解题。根据倒数第二段“Pet axolotls tend to be inbred and lack the wide flow of different genes that makes up a healthy population in the wild.(宠物蝾螈往往存在近亲繁殖的情况，而且它们缺乏野生环境中健康种群所应有的各种基因的广泛流动)”可知，作者很可能会认同，宠物蝾螈的近亲繁殖可能会导致与野生种群不同的健康问题。故选B。 3．细节理解题。根据最后一段“However, axolotls’ popularity and pet stores might make people assume that because axolotls live in all the tanks around the world, they are not in danger.(然而，由于美西蝾螈受欢迎且有专门的宠物店出售，人们可能会认为由于美西蝾螈遍布全球各地的水族箱中，所以它们并不处于危险之中)”可知，A选项“社交媒体可能会误导公众，让他们误以为蝾螈并不处于濒危状态”正确。故选A。 4．主旨大意题。根据第一段“When Scientist Dr. Randal Voss does outreach events with his laboratory, he encounters people who are keen to meet his research subjects: aquatic salamanders (蝾螈) called axolotls. Take one look at an axolotl, and it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. With their wide eyes, upturned mouths and light pink coloring, axolotls look cheerful and vaguely idiot-like. But there’s more to axolotls than meets the eye: Their story is one of scientific discovery, exploitation of the natural world, and the work to rebuild humans’ connection with nature.(当科学家拉尔登·沃斯博士和他的实验室开展科普活动时，总会遇到一些人，他们非常渴望见到他的研究对象——一种被称为“亚索托尔”的水生蝾螈。只要看一眼这种蝾螈，就不难理解它为何如此受欢迎。它们有着大大的眼睛、上翘的嘴巴和浅粉色的体色，看起来既欢快又有点傻乎乎的。但亚索托尔的内涵远不止于此：它们的故事是关于科学发现、对自然界的开发利用以及重建人类与自然的联系等方面的内容)”结合文章介绍墨西哥蝾螈外形可爱、终生水生、具备再生能力，有重要科研价值。人工宠物螈与野生种群差异大，其走红易让人忽视野生个体正面临濒危的严峻现实。可知，A选项“蝾螈：可爱的外表，危急的未来”最符合文章标题。故选A。 Passage 11 Good ideas and striking insights are not so common that they can be allowed to float away on the slipstream of time without making a difference. That difference might be to change the way we think about ourselves and the world. Sometimes it might even affect the way we act — which is obviously more important, and less forgivable to forget. By way of example let me offer one idea. There is the case put forward in 2003 by Donald Brownlee and Peter Ward in their absorbing book The Life and Death of Planet Earth, that biological existence here has only another 500 million years left — at an optimistic best. The processes that will gradually burn the Earth, dry up the oceans, and destroy the planet within the next 7 billion years will have already extinguished all living things long before that. Bringing together cosmology (宇宙学) and biology. Brownlee and Ward worked out the order of events in which the planet’s complex ecosystems will disappear in the reverse order of their appearance, until eventually the world again belongs to nothing but microbes — its first and longest-lived inhabitants. This will follow a return to the seas of more complex organisms, trying to escape the heat of the nearing sun. But their descendants (后代) will eventually find even the oceans too terrible, and will disappear in their turn. Brownlee and Ward add that the project of humanity moving to other planets is an improbable one, for the distance to suitable stars orbited by worlds that are or could be made inhabitable is too great a barrier. The inevitability, in short, is that the end of the habitable world is in sight. Life will have its billion years, and then be gone, to be followed by the planet itself. There is not a lot to be done about this in practical terms, except to be relieved that life has half a billion years to go, and the planet 7.5 billion. But the difference that these facts should make to our thinking, say Brownlee and Ward, is to urge us to appreciate the world more, and look after it while we have it. This type of event is sometimes called “zero-infinity”situations: the chance they will happen is tiny; but if they do, the scale of the disaster will be immense. Their “zero” part might make them seem dismissible, were it not for the fact that there is a new risk in the mix: a few individuals, or even just one, can turn the zero into infinity by, say, creating and releasing a virus against which human life is powerless. That chilling possibility is one worth remembering. I suggest building a Repository of Good Insights which should be brought out and aired at regular intervals, in case we forget. If any of them should be needed, whether for research or for practical reasons, it would save time not to have to reinvent them. 1．What is the main argument presented by Donald Brownlee and Peter Ward in their book TheLife and Death of Planet Earth? A．Human beings will move to other planets. B．Biological existence on Earth will eventually end. C．The Earth’s climate will remain stable for some time. D．The Earth’s ecosystems will remain without significant changes. 2．According to Brownlee and Ward, what should we do to Earth? A．Value and protect it. B．Find ways to leave it. C．Prevent its destruction. D．Reverse its development. 3．What does the term “zero-infinity” situations refer to in the passage? A．Common situations with little impact. B．Rare situations with big consequences. C．Situations where the Earth will inevitably be destroyed. D．Situations where theories have no practical implications. 4．What is the main idea of the passage? A．Humanity must find practical ways to survive. B．Significant insights should be preserved and appreciated. C．“Zero-infinity”situations are not as common as expected. D．The Earth will be destroyed by natural disasters in millions of years. 【答案】1．B 2．A 3．B 4．B 【导语】这是一篇说明文。文章以Brownlee和Ward关于地球生命终将终结的观点为例，强调重要见解不应被遗忘，建议建立仓库保存，提醒人们珍惜保护地球。 1．细节理解题。根据第二段“There is the case put forward in 2003 by Donald Brownlee and Peter Ward in their absorbing book The Life and Death of Planet Earth, that biological existence here has only another 500 million years left — at an optimistic best.(2003年，唐纳德·布朗利和彼得·沃德在其引人入胜的著作《地球生命的消亡》中提出了这样一个观点：这里生物的存在时间最多只剩下5亿年——这是最乐观的估计)”可知，唐纳德·布朗利和彼得·沃德在他们的著作《地球生命的消亡》中所提出的主要观点是地球上的生物生存终将走向终结。故选B。 2．细节理解题。根据第五段“But the difference that these facts should make to our thinking, say Brownlee and Ward, is to urge us to appreciate the world more, and look after it while we have it.(但布朗利和沃德认为，这些事实应当对我们产生这样的影响：促使我们更加珍惜这个世界，并在拥有它之时好好呵护它)”可知，根据布朗利和沃德的观点，我们保护并珍惜地球。故选A。 3．细节理解题。根据倒数第二段“This type of event is sometimes called “zero-infinity” situations: the chance they will happen is tiny; but if they do, the scale of the disaster will be immense.(这类事件有时被称为“零与无穷”的情况：其发生的可能性极小；但一旦发生，灾难的规模将会极其巨大)”可知，文中“零与无穷”这种情形指的是极为罕见但影响巨大的情况。故选B。 4．主旨大意题。根据第一段“Good ideas and striking insights are not so common that they can be allowed to float away on the slipstream of time without making a difference.(好的想法和独到的见解并非如此稀少，以至于可以任其随着时光的流逝而消逝而毫无影响)”结合文章以Brownlee和Ward关于地球生命终将终结的观点为例，强调重要见解不应被遗忘，建议建立仓库保存，提醒人们珍惜保护地球。可知，这篇文章的主要观点是应当保留并重视那些具有重要意义的见解。故选B。 Passage 12 We expect our doctors to be demi gods — faultless, tireless, always right. But they are only human. Increasingly, they are stretched thin, working long hours, under enormous pressure, and often with limited resources. Of course, better conditions would help, including more staff and improved systems. But even in the best funded clinics with the most committed professionals, standards can still fall short. Despite years of training, human brains are not optimally equipped for the pace, pressure, and complexity of modern healthcare. Given that patient care is medicine’s core purpose, the question is who, or what, is best placed to deliver it? AI may still raise doubts, but research increasingly shows how it could help fix some of the most persistent problems and overlooked failures — from misdiagnosis and error to unequal access to care. Modern medicine prides itself on being scientific, yet doctors don’t always practise what the evidence recommends. Studies show that evidence-based treatments are offered only about half the time to adults in the US. Doctors can also disagree about diagnoses. In a study of more than 12,000 radiology images, reviewers offering second opinions disagreed with the original assessment in about one in three cases. As alarming as this is, there are understandable reasons for these failures — and viewed from another angle, it’s remarkable that doctors get it right as often as they do. Medical knowledge also moves faster than doctors can keep up. By graduation, half of what medical students learn is already outdated. It takes an average of 17 years for research to reach clinical practice, and with a new biomedical article published every 39 seconds, even skimming the abstracts would take about 22 hours a day. There are more than 7,000 rare diseases, with 250 more identified each year. In contrast, AI processes vast amounts of medical data at lightning speed, 24/7. Where doctors vary in unwanted ways, AI is consistent. AI’s superpower is spotting patterns humans miss, and these tools are surprisingly good at recognising rare diseases. Patients are increasingly recognising these benefits. Then there’s the problem of access. Those most in need — the sickest, poorest and most marginalised in society — are the ones most likely to be left behind. American Time Use Survey data shows patients sacrifice two hours for a 20-minute doctor’s visit. This will only work for those who can use it, of course. Internet access is improving globally, but there are still serious gaps: 2.5 billion people remain offline. 1．Why does the author begin by describing doctors as “demi gods”? A．To stress the unrealistic expectations people have of doctors. B．To show that doctors are usually trained to be perfect. C．To criticize medical schools for poor training. D．To highlight doctors’ higher social status. 2．What problem does the author highlight with current medical practice? A．Most doctors do not believe in scientific methods. B．Doctors usually misinterpret biomedical research articles. C．Doctors often fail to apply evidence-based treatments consistently. D．Medical students are unwilling to learn updated medical knowledge. 3．What can be inferred about AI’s role in healthcare? A．AI is especially useful for detecting common diseases. B．AI could completely replace doctors in medical services. C．AI has already solved the problem of global internet access. D．AI may reduce inconsistency in diagnosis and improve access. 4．What is the author most likely to discuss in the following paragraph? A．The history of artificial intelligence in medicine. B．More examples of patients rejecting AI technology. C．Evidence that AI is less accurate than human doctors. D．Solutions to the digital divide that limits AI healthcare. 【答案】1．A 2．C 3．D 4．D 【导语】这是一篇说明文。主要说明了人们对医生期望过高，而医生受压力、知识更新快等限制易出错。AI可快速处理数据、提高诊断准确性与一致性，改善医疗可及性，但仍面临数字鸿沟等问题。 1．推理判断题。根据第一段“We expect our doctors to be demi gods — faultless, tireless, always right. But they are only human. (我们期望医生们能成为半神一般的存在——完美无缺、不知疲倦、永远正确。但他们毕竟也只是凡人。)”可知，作者一开始就将医生描述为“半神”是为了以此强调人们对医生的不切实际的期望。故选A。 2．细节理解题。根据第三段“Modern medicine prides itself on being scientific, yet doctors don’t always practise what the evidence recommends. Studies show that evidence-based treatments are offered only about half the time to adults in the US. (现代医学自诩具有科学性，但医生们却并非总是遵循证据所推荐的做法。研究表明，在美国，基于证据的治疗方案仅被用于大约一半的情况下。)”可知，作者指出当前医疗实践中，医生们常常未能一贯地采用基于证据的治疗方法。故选C。 3．推理判断题。根据倒数第二段“Where doctors vary in unwanted ways, AI is consistent. AI’s superpower is spotting patterns humans miss, and these tools are surprisingly good at recognising rare diseases. Patients are increasingly recognising these benefits. Then there’s the problem of access. Those most in need — the sickest, poorest and most marginalised in society — are the ones most likely to be left behind. American Time Use Survey data shows patients sacrifice two hours for a 20-minute doctor’s visit. (尽管医生们在某些方面存在差异，但人工智能却表现得十分一致。人工智能的强项在于能够发现人类所忽略的模式，而且这些工具在识别罕见疾病方面表现得非常出色。患者们也越来越多地意识到了这些好处。然而，还有一个问题是可及性问题。那些最需要帮助的人——那些身体最虚弱、经济状况最差以及社会地位最边缘化的人——往往是最容易被遗忘的群体。美国时间使用调查的数据表明，病人为了短短20分钟的看诊，会牺牲掉两个小时的时间。)”可知，人工智能或许能够减少诊断的不一致性，并改善医疗服务的可及性。故选D。 4．推理判断题。根据最后一段“This will only work for those who can use it, of course. Internet access is improving globally, but there are still serious gaps: 2.5 billion people remain offline. (当然，这仅适用于那些能够使用互联网的人群。全球范围内互联网接入情况正在改善，但仍存在严重的差距：仍有25亿人无法上网。)”可知，作者在接下来的段落中最有可能讨论解决数字鸿沟问题的方法，该问题限制了人工智能在医疗领域的应用。故选D。 试卷第1页，共3页 试卷第1页，共3页 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $