— I don’t understand how or why.      1    

— But you just had it this morning, didn't you?

— Yes,      2    

— Have you checked all the usual places?

—      3    

— Well, please wait until I get finished here.      4    

— Thanks. I’d really appreciate it.

— Hey!      5    

— That’s it! Where in the world was it?

— It had fallen off the table into the corner.

A．Look, what I found!

B．The usual and unusual.

C．But it seems to have disappeared.

D．I should know where it is.

E．I saw it somewhere.

F．I was very careful not to misplace it.

G．And then I’ll give you a hand in looking for it.

IMAGINE if there was a device that could do everything for you – wake you up every morning, chat with you and type your e-mails.
The piece of technology in question would be smart, able to tell you about the weather and where the nearest restaurants are.
The good thing is you no longer need to wonder, because something like this already exists. And its name is Siri.
Siri is a voice recognition application designed for Apple products and the concept has been around for almost a year.
When Siri first came out it could only speak English, but now it has “learned” lots of new languages, including Chinese, Cantonese and Taiwanese, reported The Wall Street Journal. So, you can give it orders in your mother tongue.
But how could a cell phone or a computer “hear” what you are saying and understand it? This is all because of voice recognition technology.
When you speak, your voice creates vibrations (振动) in the air – a bit like waves in the water when you throw a rock into the lake. The microphone receives the vibrations and the computer changes them into digital data that is then divided into many parts. They are analyzed one by one to see what pronunciations each part stands for. The computer then puts these pronunciations together into possible words according to its built-in dictionary.
But figuring out the words is far from enough; building words into meaningful sentences is the most difficult part. The computer has to compare what it hears to a large library of known phrases and sentences to determine what the user is saying.
However, people don’t always talk in the most standard way and sometimes make grammatical mistakes. This is why traditional voice recognition software always requires you to remember keywords and to speak in a certain way.
Fortunately, Siri isn’t like that. It’s not just “voice recognition”; it’s “natural language understanding (NLU)”. You can ask it things like “Do I need an umbrella today?” and it will know that you are asking about the weather, according to ABC News.
“The key thing is NLU – understanding what you mean and what you want,” Neil Grant from Nuance, a software company in the US, told The Guardian. “Historically, you had to learn a huge long list of commands . As NLU progresses, you can say what you want in a way that’s natural to you.”
【小题1】What is the function of the first two paragraphs?

IMAGINE if there was a device that could do everything for you – wake you up every morning, chat with you and type your e-mails.

The piece of technology in question would be smart, able to tell you about the weather and where the nearest restaurants are.

The good thing is you no longer need to wonder, because something like this already exists. And its name is Siri.

Siri is a voice recognition application designed for Apple products and the concept has been around for almost a year.

When Siri first came out it could only speak English, but now it has “learned” lots of new languages, including Chinese, Cantonese and Taiwanese, reported The Wall Street Journal. So, you can give it orders in your mother tongue.

But how could a cell phone or a computer “hear” what you are saying and understand it? This is all because of voice recognition technology.

When you speak, your voice creates vibrations (振动) in the air – a bit like waves in the water when you throw a rock into the lake. The microphone receives the vibrations and the computer changes them into digital data that is then divided into many parts. They are analyzed one by one to see what pronunciations each part stands for. The computer then puts these pronunciations together into possible words according to its built-in dictionary.

But figuring out the words is far from enough; building words into meaningful sentences is the most difficult part. The computer has to compare what it hears to a large library of known phrases and sentences to determine what the user is saying.

However, people don’t always talk in the most standard way and sometimes make grammatical mistakes. This is why traditional voice recognition software always requires you to remember keywords and to speak in a certain way.

Fortunately, Siri isn’t like that. It’s not just “voice recognition”; it’s “natural language understanding (NLU)”. You can ask it things like “Do I need an umbrella today?” and it will know that you are asking about the weather, according to ABC News.

“The key thing is NLU – understanding what you mean and what you want,” Neil Grant from Nuance, a software company in the US, told The Guardian. “Historically, you had to learn a huge long list of commands . As NLU progresses, you can say what you want in a way that’s natural to you.”

1.What is the function of the first two paragraphs?

A．To show that invention usually results from need.

B．To clear doubts about voice recognition technology.

C．To introduce something that offers these helpful services.

D．To show how the voice recognition works.

2.Which step is the most complicated in the process of voice recognition according to the article?

A．Changing the received vibrations into digital data.

B．Analyzing the digital data to see what pronunciations it represents.

C．Putting the pronunciations together into possible words.

D．Figuring out meaningful sentences based on the words.

3.How can you get Siri to respond according to the article?

A．You can speak in a natural way as you would to a person.

B．You can only speak English and Chinese.

C．You have to say things in a certain way.

D．You have to remember keywords and speak specific commands.

4.What can be concluded from the article?

A．Siri can record and save what you say frequently into a computer dictionary.

B．Siri will fail to understand what you say if you make grammatical mistakes.

C．The biggest advantage of Siri is that it’s NLU is rather than just voice recognition.

D．Since first applied to Apple products a year ago, Siri has made great improvements.

5.The text is mainly about ________.

A．the convenience of future life.

B．an introduction to the Apple products.

C．the working system of voice recognition

D．the introduction to Siri

IMAGINE if there was a device that could do everything for you – wake you up every morning, chat with you and type your e-mails.
The piece of technology in question would be smart, able to tell you about the weather and where the nearest restaurants are.
The good thing is you no longer need to wonder, because something like this already exists. And its name is Siri.
Siri is a voice recognition application designed for Apple products and the concept has been around for almost a year.
When Siri first came out it could only speak English, but now it has “learned” lots of new languages, including Chinese, Cantonese and Taiwanese, reported The Wall Street Journal. So, you can give it orders in your mother tongue.
But how could a cell phone or a computer “hear” what you are saying and understand it? This is all because of voice recognition technology.
When you speak, your voice creates vibrations (振动) in the air – a bit like waves in the water when you throw a rock into the lake. The microphone receives the vibrations and the computer changes them into digital data that is then divided into many parts. They are analyzed one by one to see what pronunciations each part stands for. The computer then puts these pronunciations together into possible words according to its built-in dictionary.
But figuring out the words is far from enough; building words into meaningful sentences is the most difficult part. The computer has to compare what it hears to a large library of known phrases and sentences to determine what the user is saying.
However, people don’t always talk in the most standard way and sometimes make grammatical mistakes. This is why traditional voice recognition software always requires you to remember keywords and to speak in a certain way.
Fortunately, Siri isn’t like that. It’s not just “voice recognition”; it’s “natural language understanding (NLU)”. You can ask it things like “Do I need an umbrella today?” and it will know that you are asking about the weather, according to ABC News.
“The key thing is NLU – understanding what you mean and what you want,” Neil Grant from Nuance, a software company in the US, told The Guardian. “Historically, you had to learn a huge long list of commands . As NLU progresses, you can say what you want in a way that’s natural to you.”

1. 1.

   What is the function of the first two paragraphs?

   1. A.
      To show that invention usually results from need
   2. B.
      To clear doubts about voice recognition technology
   3. C.
      To introduce something that offers these helpful services
   4. D.
      To show how the voice recognition works
2. 2.

   Which step is the most complicated in the process of voice recognition according to the article?

   1. A.
      Changing the received vibrations into digital data
   2. B.
      Analyzing the digital data to see what pronunciations it represents
   3. C.
      Putting the pronunciations together into possible words
   4. D.
      Figuring out meaningful sentences based on the words
3. 3.

   How can you get Siri to respond according to the article?

   1. A.
      You can speak in a natural way as you would to a person
   2. B.
      You can only speak English and Chinese
   3. C.
      You have to say things in a certain way
   4. D.
      You have to remember keywords and speak specific commands
4. 4.

   What can be concluded from the article?

   1. A.
      Siri can record and save what you say frequently into a computer dictionary
   2. B.
      Siri will fail to understand what you say if you make grammatical mistakes
   3. C.
      The biggest advantage of Siri is that it’s NLU is rather than just voice recognition
   4. D.
      Since first applied to Apple products a year ago, Siri has made great improvements
5. 5.

   The text is mainly about ________

   1. A.
      the convenience of future life
   2. B.
      an introduction to the Apple products
   3. C.
      the working system of voice recognition
   4. D.
      the introduction to Siri

      With many college graduates struggling to find jobs, one of the most important for you to understand is that you're in school all your life. In fact, your real education is just beginning.

      I'd like to pass on a few lessons that you didn't necessarily get in school. If you've been out of school for a few years or a lot of years, they could still teach you something.

      · Develop relationships and keep networking, if I had to name a single characteristic shared by all the truly successful people I've met, I'd say it is the ability to create and nurture (培育) networks of contacts. Start strengthening your relationships now, so that they'll be in place when you really need them later. In the classroom it was mostly about individual performance. Success in real life requires relationships.

      · Set goals. Ask any winner what the key to his or her success was, and you'll hear four consistent messages: vision, determination, persistence, and setting goals. If you don't set goals and determine where you're going, how will you know when you get there? Goals give you more than a reason to get up in the morning; they are an incentive (激励)to keep you going all day.

     · Sense of humor. I'm a firm believer in using humor, though not necessarily jokes. A good sense of humor helps one understand the unconventional(非传统的), tolerate the unpleasant, and overcome the unexpected. There are plenty of times to be serious, but I believe that keeping things light and comfortable encourages better teamwork.

     · Volunteer. It might be hard to do a lot of volunteer work at first, but people who help others on a regular basis have a healthier outlook on life.

  1. By saying "your real education is just beginning", the author wants to

      A. explain why it's difficult for college graduates to find jobs

      B. show the importance of social experience, besides schooling, in education

      C. advise students to value their time at school, and to study hard

      D. advise college graduates to face bravely the problems they may encounter (遭遇)

 2.You should start to strengthen your relationships now because______.

     A. it will take you time to develop them before you need them

     B. you may have gotten used to being judged as an individual, and need to change

     C. successful people have no time to develop relationships with you

     D. you need to spend a lot of time learning the importance of good relationships

 3. The author believes that being humorous means that you_______.

     A. should prepare jokes to be used in various situations

     B. can deal with difficult situations in an easy and comfortable way

     C. can show your difference from others and be able to succeed

     D. should smile all the time and avoid being serious on any occasion

4. The target readers of this passage are probably_______.

     A. educational experts

     B. people who want to change jobs

     C. college graduates who have just left school

     D. high school students who are still at school

A man and his girlfriend just got married. The husband didn’t talk much but he was a steady man. The wife was pretty and dreamy.  Everyone could tell that the love they had for each other was true.
A few months later, the wife came to the husband with a proposal, “I read in a magazine about how we can1our marriage. Each of us will write a list of the things that we find a bit 2 with the other. Then, we can place them on the table to discuss how we 3 them together and make our life even happier.”
“Are you sure you are about to do this?” the husband sighed and 4. So each of them went to a(n) 5 room and thought about the things that annoyed them about the other for the rest of the day.
The next morning, at the breakfast table, they decided that they would go over their 6 .
“I’ll start,” offered his wife eagerly. She 7 her list. It had many items on it, enough to fill 3 pages. She read all three pages to her husband and seemed to be quite pleased with her hard “work”. After hearing that, the husband stated 8, “I don’t have anything on my list. I think that you are perfect the 9 that you are. I don’t want you to 10 anything for me.”
The wife, touched by his honesty and the depth of his love for and his 11 of her without any conditions, turned her head and wept. At that moment, she came to understand the saying: “Beauty lies in the lover's eyes”.
In life, there are enough time when we are disappointed, depressed and annoyed. We don’t really have to go12 for them. We have a wonderful world that is full of beauty, light and promise. Why waste time seeking the bad, disappointing or annoying when we can look around us, and see the wonderful things before us? If you are accustomed to judging people, you have no time to love them.

1. 1.
   1. A.
      enrich
   2. B.
      strengthen
   3. C.
      lengthen
   4. D.
      deepen
2. 2.
   1. A.
      annoying
   2. B.
      surprising
   3. C.
      satisfying
   4. D.
      inspiring
3. 3.
   1. A.
      fix
   2. B.
      do
   3. C.
      find
   4. D.
      set
4. 4.
   1. A.
      smiled
   2. B.
      refused
   3. C.
      agreed
   4. D.
      hesitated
5. 5.
   1. A.
      spare
   2. B.
      separate
   3. C.
      empty
   4. D.
      special
6. 6.
   1. A.
      dishes
   2. B.
      magazines
   3. C.
      lives
   4. D.
      lists
7. 7.
   1. A.
      put away
   2. B.
      handed in
   3. C.
      took out
   4. D.
      wrote down
8. 8.
   1. A.
      disappointedly
   2. B.
      unluckily
   3. C.
      bitterly
   4. D.
      quietly
9. 9.
   1. A.
      appearance
   2. B.
      way
   3. C.
      situation
   4. D.
      position
10. 10.
    1. A.
       change
    2. B.
       accept
    3. C.
       decide
    4. D.
       drop
11. 11.
    1. A.
       advice
    2. B.
       warning
    3. C.
       acceptance
    4. D.
       pride
12. 12.
    1. A.
       leaving
    2. B.
       waiting
    3. C.
       asking
    4. D.
       looking

A man and his girlfriend just got married. The husband didn’t talk much but he was a steady man. The wife was pretty and dreamy.  Everyone could tell that the love they had for each other was true.

     A few months later, the wife came to the husband with a proposal, “I read in a magazine about how we can  36   our marriage. Each of us will write a list of the things that we find a bit   37    with the other. Then, we can place them on the table to discuss how we    38    them together and make our life even happier.”

     “Are you sure you are about to do this?” the husband sighed and    39   . So each of them went to a(n)   40    room and thought about the things that annoyed them about the other for the rest of the day.

     The next morning, at the breakfast table, they decided that they would go over their    41    .

     “I’ll start,” offered his wife eagerly. She    42    her list. It had many items on it, enough to fill 3 pages. She read all three pages to her husband and seemed to be quite pleased with her hard “work”. After hearing that, the husband stated   43   , “I don’t have anything on my list. I think that you are perfect the   44   that you are. I don’t want you to   45   anything for me.”

     The wife, touched by his honesty and the depth of his love for and his   46   of her without any conditions, turned her head and wept. At that moment, she came to understand the saying: “Beauty lies in the lover's eyes”.

     In life, there are enough time when we are disappointed, depressed and annoyed. We don’t really have to go  47   for them. We have a wonderful world that is full of beauty, light and promise. Why waste time seeking the bad, disappointing or annoying when we can look around us, and see the wonderful things before us? If you are accustomed to judging people, you have no time to love them.

1.A. enrich                   B. strengthen              C. lengthen                D. deepen

2.A. annoying                B. surprising                C. satisfying                 D. inspiring

3.A. fix               B. do                C. find             D. set

4.A. smiled         B. refused                C. agreed                   D. hesitated

5.A. spare          B. separate           C. empty                D. special

6.A. dishes                  B. magazines         C. lives                    D. lists

7.A. put away                B. handed in          C. took out             D. wrote down

8.A. disappointedly          B. unluckily                C. bitterly                   D. quietly

9.A. appearance            B. way               C. situation                 D. position

10.A. change               B. accept                  C. decide                  D. drop

11.A. advice                 B. warning                 C. acceptance              D. pride

12.A. leaving         B. waiting               C. asking                   D. looking

Every year on my birthday, from the time I turned 12, a white gardenia(栀子花) was delivered anonymously to me at my house. No card or note came with it. Calls to the florist (花商) were always in vain ---- it was a cash purchase. After a while I stopped trying to discover the sender's identity.

But I never stopped imagining who the anonymous sender might be.

My mother often contributed to these imaginings. She'd ask me if there was someone for whom I had done a special kindness who might be showing appreciation. Perhaps the neighbor I'd help when she was unloading a car full of groceries. Or maybe it was the old man across the street whose mail I retrieved(取回) during the winter so he wouldn't have to venture down his icy steps.

When I was 17, a boy broke my heart. The night he called for me the last time, I cried myself to sleep. When I awoke in the morning, there was a message scribbled(乱涂) on my mirror in red lipstick: “Heartily know, when half-gods go, the gods arrive.” I thought about that quotation from Emerson (爱默生) for a long time, and I left it where my mother had written it. When I finally went to get the glass cleaner, my mother knew everything was all right again. I don't remember ever slamming(砰地关上) my door in anger at her and shouting, “You just don't understand!” because she did understand. 　　

One month before my high-school graduation, my father died suddenly of a heart attack. My feelings ranged from grief to abandonment, fear and over-whelming anger that my dad was missing some of the most important events in my life. I became completely uninterested in my upcoming graduation, the senior-class play and the prom-events(舞会) that I had worked on and looked forward to.

But my mother, in the midst of her own grief, would not hear of my missing out any of those things. The day before my father died, she and I had gone shopping for a prom dress and found a spectacular(引人注目的) one. Wearing it made me feel like a princess, but it was the wrong size, and when my father died the next day, I forgot all about the dress.

My mother didn't. The day before the prom, I found that dress-in the right size, draped over the living room sofa, presented to me -- beautifully, artistically and lovingly. I didn't care about having a new dress, but my mother did. She wanted her children to feel loved and lovable, creative and imaginative.

My mother died when I was 22, only ten days after I was married. That was the year the gardenias stopped coming.

26. The underlined word “anonymously” in Paragraph 1 is the closest in meaning to________.

A.      secretly     B. happily     C. sadly     D. openly

27. Why did Mother try to arouse the author’s imagination about the gardenia sender?

A.      Because she wanted her child to feel cherished and loved not just by her but by the world.

B.      Because she had a great curiosity like a child.

C.      Because she was romantic and she once experienced such the same thing at her young age.

D.     Because she wanted to give her child some tips about the gardenia sender.

28. We can infer from the passage that________.

A.      the gardenia sender kept sending flowers to the author for 22 years.

B.      the author showed little interest in her graduation prom

C.      after the author’s father died, Mother bought her a dress to the prom

D.     Mother care how her child felt and gave her the ability to see beauty even in the face of adversity (厄运)

29. According to the passage, who was probably the gardenia sender?

  A. Father              B. A neighbor who was often helped by the author

C. Mother             D. The old man across the street

30. The best title for this passage would be “__________”.

  A. A romantic mother    B. The mystery of the white gardenia

  C. My anecdote         D. Mother and I