【好题汇编】五年（2020-2024）高考英语
真题分类汇编（北京专用）原卷版
专题 11 阅读理解说明文和议论文
考点分布
年份 体裁 词数 话题 细节 推理 主 旨 词 义
理解 判断 大意 猜测
2024 议论文 408 人与社会：讨论科学问题：宇宙是否是由计算机模拟生 0 3 0 1
成的
说明文 384 人与社会：人类道德准则的形成过程及人类建立 1 1 1 0
道德准则的标准
2023 说明文 366 人与社会：人类社会发展中人们的短视现象 0 3 0 0
说明文 429 人与社会：AI 对现代生活的影响 0 2 1 1
2022 说明文 415 人与社会：解决全球挑战的重要方法——系统思维 1 2 0 0
议论文 400 人与社会：量子计算真的会像它的宣传那样成功吗？ 1 1 1 1
2021 说明文 354 人与社会：全球崩塌（global collapse）的概念 0 2 0 1
议论文 480 人与社会/自然：文章通过讨论时间的定义，讲述了人们 1 2 1 0
应该和大自然和谐相处，保护环境。
2020 说明文 360 人与自然：om Hunt设计的安装在狗狗项圈上的监测器 1 3 0 0
议论文 433 人与社会：通用人工智能技术 1 2 0 1
【2024北京卷】
The notion that we live in someone else’s video game is irresistible to many. Searching the term “simulation
hypothesis” (模拟假说) returns numerous results that debate whether the universe is a computer simulation —— a
concept that some scientists actually take seriously. Unfortunately, this is not a scientific question. We will probably
never know whether it’s true. We can, instead, use this idea to advance scientific knowledge.
The 18th-century philosopher Kant argued that the universe ultimately consists of things-in-themselves that
are unknowable. While he held the notion that objective reality exists, he said our mind plays a necessary role in
structuring and shaping our perceptions. Modern sciences have revealed that our perceptual experience of the world
is the result of many stages of processing by sensory systems and cognitive (认知的) functions in the brain. No one
knows exactly what happens within this black box. If empirical (实证的) experience fails to reveal reality,
reasoning won’t reveal reality either since it relies on concepts and words that are contingent on our social,
cultural and psychological histories. Again, a black box.So, if we accept that the universe is unknowable, we also accept we will never know if we live in a computer
simulation. And then, we can shift our inquiry from “Is the universe a computer simulation?” to “Can we model the
universe as a computer simulation? ” Modelling reality is what we do. To facilitate our comprehension of the world,
we build models based on conceptual metaphors (隐喻) that are familiar to us. In Newton’s era, we imagined the
universe as a clock. In Einstein’s, we uncovered the standard model of particle (粒子) physics.
Now that we are in the information age, we have new concepts such as the computer, information processing,
virtual reality, and simulation. Unsurprisingly, these new concepts inspire us to build new models of the universe.
Models are not the reality, however. There is no point in arguing if the universe is a clock, a set of particles or an
output of computation. All these models are tools to deal with the unknown and to make discoveries. And the more
tools we have, the more effective and insightful we can become.
It can be imagined that comparable to the process of building previous scientific models, developing the
“computer simulation” metaphor-based model will also be a hugely rewarding exercise.
28. What does the author intend to do by challenging a hypothesis?
A. Make an assumption. B. Illustrate an argument.
C. Give a suggestion. D. Justify a comparison.
29. What does the phrase “contingent on” underlined in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A. Accepted by. B. Determined by. C. Awakened by. D. Discovered by.
30. As for Kant’s argument, the author is _________.
A. appreciative B. doubtful C. unconcerned D. disapproving
31. It is implied in this passage that we should _________.
A. compare the current models with the previous ones
B. continue exploring the classical models in history
C. stop arguing whether the universe is a simulation
D. turn simulations of the universe into realities up.
【2024北京卷】
Franz Boas’s description of Inuit (因纽特人) life in the 19th century illustrates the probable moral code of
early humans. Here, norms (规范) were unwritten and rarely expressed clearly, but were well understood and taken
to heart. Dishonest and violent behaviours were disapproved of; leadership, marriage and interactions with other
groups were loosely governed by traditions. Conflict was often resolved in musical battles. Because arguing angrily
leads to chaos, it was strongly discouraged. With life in the unforgiving Northern Canada being so demanding, the
Inuit’s practical approach to morality made good sense.
The similarity of moral virtues across cultures is striking, even though the relative ranking of the virtues may
vary with a social group’s history and environment. Typically, cruelty and cheating are discouraged, while
cooperation, humbleness and courage are praised. These universal norms far pre-date the concept of any moralising
religion or written law. Instead, they are rooted in the similarity of basic human needs and our shared mechanisms
for learning and problem solving. Our social instincts (本能) include the intense desire to belong. The approval of
others is rewarding, while their disapproval is strongly disliked. These social emotions prepare our brains to shape
our behaviour according to the norms and values of our family and our community. More generally, social instinctsmotivate us to learn how to behave in a socially complex world.
The mechanism involves a repurposed reward system originally used to develop habits important for self-care.
Our brains use the system to acquire behavioural patterns regarding safe routes home, efficient food gathering and
dangers to avoid. Good habits save time, energy and sometimes your life. Good social habits do something similar
in a social context. We learn to tell the truth, even when lying is self-serving; we help a grandparent even when it is
inconvenient. We acquire what we call a sense of right and wrong.
Social benefits are accompanied by social demands: we must get along, but not put up with too much. Hence
self-discipline is advantageous. In humans, a greatly enlarged brain boosts self-control, just as it boosts problem-
solving skills in the social as well as the physical world. These abilities are strengthened by our capacity for
language, which allows social practices to develop in extremely unobvious ways.
32. What can be inferred about the forming of the Inuit’s moral code?
A. Living conditions were the drive. B. Unwritten rules were the target.
C. Social tradition was the basis. D. Honesty was the key.
33. What can we learn from this passage?
A. Inconveniences are the cause of telling lies. B. Basic human needs lead to universal norms.
C. Language capacity is limited by self-control. D. Written laws have great influence on virtues.
34. Which would be the best title for this passage?
A. Virtues: Bridges Across Cultures B. The Values of Self-discipline
C. Brains: Walls Against Chaos D. The Roots of Morality
【2023北京卷】
In recent years, researchers from diverse fields have agreed that short-termism is now a significant problem
in industrialised societies. The inability to engage with longer-term causes and consequences leads to some of the
world’s most serious problems: climate change, biodiversity collapse, and more. The historian Francis Cole argues
that the West has entered a period where “only the present exists, a present characterised at once by the cruelty of
the instant and by the boredom of an unending now”.
It has been proved that people have a bias (偏向) towards the present, focusing on loud attractions in the
moment at the expense of the health, well-being and financial stability of their future selves or community. In
business, this bias surfaces as short-sighted decisions. And on slow-burning problems like climate change, it
translates into the unwillingness to make small sacrifices (牺牲) today that could make a major difference
tomorrow. Instead, all that matters is next quarter’s profit, or satisfying some other near-term desires.
These biased perspectives cannot be blamed on one single cause. It is fair to say, though, that our
psychological biases play a major role. People’s hesitancy to delay satisfaction is the most obvious example, but
there are others. One of them is about how the most accessible information in the present affects decisions about the
future. For instance, you might hear someone say: “It’s cold this winter, so I needn’t worry about global
warming.”Another is that loud and urgent matters are given too much importance, making people ignore longer-
term trends that arguably matter more. This is when a pop star draws far more attention than, say, gradual
biodiversity decline.
As a psychologist once joked, if aliens (外星人) wanted to weaken humanity, they wouldn’t send ships; theywould invent climate change. Indeed, when it comes to environmental transformations, we can develop a form of
collective “poor memory”, and each new generation can believe the state of affairs they encounter is nothing out of
the ordinary. Older people today, for example, can remember a time with insect-covered car windscreens after long
drives. Children, on the other hand, have no idea that insect population has dropped dramatically.
28．The author quotes Francis Cole mainly to ________.
A．draw a comparison
B．introduce a topic
C．evaluate a statement
D．highlight a problem
29．What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A．Climate change has been forgotten.
B．Lessons of history are highly valued.
C．The human mind is bad at noting slow change.
D．Humans are unwilling to admit their shortcomings.
30．What does the author intend to tell us?
A．Far-sighted thinking matters to humans.
B．Humans tend to make long-term sacrifices.
C．Current policies facilitate future decision-making.
D．Bias towards the present helps reduce near-term desires.
【2023北京卷】
What is life? Like most great questions, this one is easy to ask but difficult to answer. The reason is simple:
we know of just one type of life and it’s challenging to do science with a sample size of one. The field of artificial
life-called ALife for short — is the systematic attempt to spell out life’s fundamental principles. Many of these
practitioners, so-called ALifers, think that somehow making life is the surest way to really understand what life is.
So far no one has convincingly made artificial life. This track record makes ALife a ripe target for criticism,
such as declarations of the field’s doubtful scientific value. Alan Smith, a complexity scientist, is tired of such
complaints. Asking about “the point” of ALife might be, well, missing the point entirely, he says. “The existence of
a living system is not about the use of anything.” Alan says. “Some people ask me, ‘So what’s the worth of artificial
life?’ Do you ever think, ‘What is the worth of your grandmother?’”
As much as many ALifers hate emphasizing their research’s applications, the attempts to create artificial life
could have practical payoffs. Artificial intelligence may be considered ALife’s cousin in that researchers in both
fields are enamored by a concept called open-ended evolution (演化). This is the capacity for a system to create
essentially endless complexity, to be a sort of “novelty generator”. The only system known to exhibit this is Earth’s
biosphere. If the field of ALife manages to reproduce life’s endless “creativity” in some virtual model, those same
principles could give rise to truly inventive machines.
Compared with the developments of Al, advances in ALife are harder to recognize. One reason is that ALifeis a field in which the central concept — life itself — is undefined. The lack of agreement among ALifers doesn’t
help either. The result is a diverse line of projects that each advance along their unique paths. For better or worse,
ALife mirrors the very subject it studies. Its muddled (混乱的) progression is a striking parallel (平行线) to the
evolutionary struggles that have shaped Earth biosphere.
Undefined and uncontrolled, ALife drives its followers to repurpose old ideas and generated novelty. It may
be, of course, that these characteristics aren’t in any way surprising or singular. They may apply universally to all
acts of evolution. Ultimately ALife may be nothing special. But even this dismissal suggests something：perhaps,
just like life itself throughout the universe, the rise of ALife will prove unavoidable.
31．Regarding Alan Smith’s defence of ALife, the author is .
A．supportive B．puzzled C．unconcerned D．doubtful
32．What does the word “enamored” underlined in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?
A．Shocked. B．Protected. C．Attracted. D．Challenged.
33．What can we learn from this passage?
A．ALife holds the key to human future. B．ALife and AI share a common feature.
C．AI mirrors the developments of ALife. D．AI speeds up the process of human evolution.
34．Which would be the best title for the passage?
A．Life Is Undefined. Can AI Be a Way Out?
B．Life Evolves. Can AI Help ALife Evolve, Too?
C．Life Is Undefined. Can ALife Be Defined One Day?
D．Life Evolves. Can Attempts to Create ALife Evolve, Too?
【2022年北京卷】
“What would the world be if there were no hunger?” It’s a question that Professor Crystal would ask her
students. They found it hard to answer, she wrote later, because imagining something that isn’t part of real life—
and learning how to make it real—is a rare skill. It is taught to artists and engineers, but much less often to
scientists. Crystal set out to change that, and helped to create a global movement. The result—an approach known
as systems thinking—is now seen as essential in meeting global challenges.
Systems thinking is crucial to achieving targets such as zero hunger and better nutrition because it requires
considering the way in which food is produced, processed, delivered and consumed, and looking at how those
things intersect (交叉 ) with human health, the environment, economics and society. According to systems
thinking, changing the food system—or any other network—requires three things to happen. First, researchers need
to identify all the players in that system; second, they must work out how they relate to each other; and third, they
need to understand and quantify the impact of those relationships on each other and on those outside the system.
Take nutrition. In the latest UN report on global food security, the number of undernourished (营养不良
)people in the world has been rising, despite great advances in nutrition science. Tracking of 150 biochemicals in
food has been important in revealing the relationships between calories, sugar, fat and the occurrence of common
diseases. But using machine learning and artificial intelligence, some scientists propose that human diets consist ofat least 26,000 biochemicals—and that the vast majority are not known.This shows that we have some way to travel
before achieving the first objective of systems t hinking - which,in this example, is to identify more constituent
parts of the nutrition system.
A systems approach to creating change is also built on the assumption that everyone in the system has equal
power. But as some researchers find, the food system is not an equal one. A good way to redress (修正 ) such
power imbalance is for more universities to do what Crystal did and teach students how to think using a systems
approach.
More researchers, policymakers and representatives from the food industry must learn to look beyond their
direct lines of responsibility and adopt a systems approach. Crystal knew that visions alone don’t produce results,
but concluded that “we’ll never produce results that we can’t envision”.
28. The author uses the question underlined in Paragraph 1 to ________.
A. illustrate an argument B. highlight an opinion
C. introduce the topic D. predict the ending
29. What can be inferred about the field of nutrition?
A. The first objective of systems thinking hasn’t been achieved.
B. The relationships among players have been clarified.
C. Machine learning can solve the nutrition problem.
D. The impact of nutrition cannot be quantified.
30. As for systems thinking, which would the author agree with?
A. It may be used to justify power imbalance.
B. It can be applied to tackle challenges.
C. It helps to prove why hunger exists.
D. It goes beyond human imagination.
【2022年北京卷】
Quantum ( 量子 ) computers have been on my mind a lot lately. A friend has been sending me articles on
how quantum computers might help solve some of the biggest challenges we face as humans. I’ve also had
exchanges with two quantum-computing experts. One is computer scientist Chris Johnson who I see as someone
who helps keep the field honest. The other is physicist Philip Taylor.
For decades, quantum computing has been little more than a laboratory curiosity. Now, big tech companies
have invested in quantum computing, as have many smaller ones. According to Business Weekly, quantum
machines could help us “cure cancer, and even take steps to turn climate change in the opposite direction.” This is
the sort of hype ( 炒作 ) that annoys Johnson. He worries that researchers are making promises they can’t keep.
“What’s new,” Johnson wrote, “is that millions of dollars are now potentially available to quantum computing
researchers.”
As quantum computing attracts more attention and funding, researchers may mislead investors, journalists, the
public and, worst of all, themselves about their work’s potential. If researchers can’t keep their promises,
excitement might give way to doubt, disappointment and anger, Johnson warns. Lots of other technologies have
gone through stages of excitement. But something about quantum computing makes it especially prone to hype,Johnson suggests, perhaps because “‘quantum’ stands for something cool you shouldn’t be able to understand.” And
that brings me back to Taylor, who suggested that I read his book Q for Quantum.
After I read the book, Taylor patiently answered my questions about it. He also answered my questions about
PyQuantum, the firm he co-founded in 2016. Taylor shares Johnson’s concerns about hype, but he says those
concerns do not apply to PyQuantum.
The company, he says, is closer than any other firm “by a very large margin ( 幅度 )” to building a “useful”
quantum computer, one that “solves an impactful problem that we would not have been able to solve otherwise.”
He adds, “People will naturally discount my opinions, but I have spent a lot of time quantitatively comparing what
we are doing with others.”
Could PyQuantum really be leading all the competition “by a wide margin”, as Taylor claims? I don’t know.
I’m certainly not going to advise my friend or anyone else to invest in quantum computers. But I trust Taylor, just
as I trust Johnson.
31. Regarding Johnson’s concerns, the author feels ________.
A. sympathetic B. unconcerned C. doubtful D. excited
32. What leads to Taylor’s optimism about quantum computing?
A. His dominance in physics. B. The competition in the field.
C. His confidence in PyQuantum. D. The investment of tech companies.
33. What does the underlined word “prone” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?
A. Open. B. Cool. C. Useful. D. Resistant.
34. Which would be the best title for the passage?
A. Is Johnson More Competent Than Taylor?
B. Is Quantum Computing Redefining Technology?
C. Will Quantum Computers Ever Come into Being?
D. Will Quantum Computing Ever Live Up to Its Hype?
【2021北京卷】
Hundreds of scientists, writers and academics sounded a warning to humanity in an open letter published last
December: Policymakers and the rest of us must engage openly with the risk of global collapse. Researchers in
many areas have projected the widespread collapse as “a credible scenario(情景) this century”.
A survey of scientists found that extreme weather events, food insecurity, and freshwater shortages might
create global collapse. Of course, if you are a non-human species, collapse is well underway.
The call for public engagement with the unthinkable is especially germane in this moment of still-
uncontrolled pandemic and economic crises in the world's most technologically advanced nations. Not very long
ago, it was also unthinkable that a virus would shut down nations and that safety nets would be proven so
disastrously lacking in flexibility.
The international scholars’ warning letter doesn't say exactly what collapse will look like or when it might
happen. Collapseology, the study of collapse, is more concerned with identifying trends and with them the dangers
of everyday civilization. Among the signatories(签署者) of the warning was Bob Johnson, the originator of the
“ecological footprint” concept, which measures the total amount of environmental input needed to maintain a givenlifestyle. With the current footprint of humanity, “it seems that global collapse is certain to happen in some form,
possibly within a decade, certainly within this century,” Johnson said in an email.
“Only if we discuss the consequences of our biophysical limits,” the December warning letter says, “can we
have the hope to reduce their speed, severity and harm”. And yet messengers of the coming disturbance are likely to
be ignored. We all want to hope things will turn out fine. As a poet wrote,
Man is a victim of dope(麻醉品)
In the incurable form of hope.
The hundreds of scholars who signed the letter are intent(执着) on quieting hope that ignores preparedness.
“Let's look directly into the issue of collapse,” they say, “and deal with the terrible possibilities of what we see there
to make the best of a troubling future.”
28. What does the underlined word “germane” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?
A. Scientific. B. Credible.
C. Original. D. Relevant.
29. As for the public awareness of global collapse, the author is________.
A. worried B. puzzled
C. surprised D. scared
30. What can we learn from this passage?
A. The signatories may change the biophysical limits.
B. The author agrees with the message of the poem.
C. The issue of collapse is being prioritized.
D. The global collapse is well underway.
【2021年北京卷】
Early fifth-century philosopher St．Augustine famously wrote that he knew what time was unless someone
asked him．Albert Einstein added another wrinkle when he theorized that time varies depending on where you
measure it．Today's state-of-the-art atomic（原子的） clocks have proven Einstein right．Even advanced
physics can't decisively tell us what time is, because the answer depends on the question you're asking．
Forget about time as an absolute．What if，instead of considering time in terms of astronomy,we related time
to ecology？What if we allowed environmental conditions to set the tempo（节奏） of human life？We're
increasingly aware of the fact that we can't control Earth systems with engineering alone，and realizing that we
need to moderate（调节）our actions if we hope to live in balance．What if our definition of time reflected that？
Recently，I conceptualized a new approach to timekeeping that's connected to circumstances on our planet，
conditions that might change as a result of global warming．We're now building a clock at the Anchorage Museum
that reflects the total flow of several major Alaskan rivers，which are sensitive to local and global environmental
changes．We've programmed it to match an atomic clock if the waterways continue to flow at their present rate．If
the rivers run faster in the future on average，the clock will get ahead of standard time．If they run slower，you'll
see the opposite effect．
The clock registers both short-term irregularities and long-term trends in river dynamics．It's a sort of
observatory that reveals how the rivers are behaving from their own temporal frame（时间框架），and allows usto witness those changes on our smartwatches or phones．Anyone who opts to go on Alaska Mean River Time will
live in harmony with the planet．Anyone who considers river time in relation to atomic time will encounter a
major imbalance and may be motivated to counteract it by consuming less fuel or supporting greener policies．
Even if this method of timekeeping is novel in its particulars，early agricultural societies also connected time
to natural phenomena．In pre-Classical Greece，for instance，people“corrected”official calendars by shifting
dates forward or backward to reflect the change of season．Temporal connection to the environment was vital to
their survival．Likewise，river time and other timekeeping systems we're developing may encourage
environmental awareness．
When St．Augustine admitted his inability to define time， he highlighted one of time 's most noticeable
qualities：Time becomes meaningful only in a defined context．Any timekeeping system is valid，and each is as
praiseworthy as its purpose．
.
31 What is the main idea of Paragraph 1？
A. Timekeeping is increasingly related to nature．
B. Everyone can define time on their own terms．
C. The qualities of time vary with how you measure it．
D. Time is a major concern of philosophers and scientists．
32. The author raises three questions in Paragraph 2 mainly to________．
A. present an assumption B. evaluate an argument
C. highlight an experiment D. introduce an approach
33. What can we learn from this passage？
A. Those who do not go on river time will live an imbalanced life．
B. New ways of measuring time can help to control Earth systems．
C. Atomic time will get ahead of river time if the rivers run slower．
D. Modern technology may help to shape the rivers’ temporal frame．
34. What can we infer from this passage？
A. It is crucial to improve the definition of time．
B. A fixed frame will make time meaningless．
C. We should live in harmony with nature．
D. History is a mirror reflecting reality．
【2020北京卷】
Baggy has become the first dog in the UK—and potentially the world—to join the fight against air pollution
by recording pollutant levels near the ground.Baggy wears a pollution monitor on her collar so she can take data measurements close to the ground. Her
monitor has shown that air pollution levels are higher closer to ground level, which has helped highlight concerns
that babies and young kids may be at higher risk of developing lung problems.
Conventional air pollution monitors are normally fixed on lampposts at about nine feet in the air. However,
since Baggy stands at about the same height as a child in a pushchair（婴儿车）, she frequently records pollution
levels which are much higher than the data gathered by the Environment A gency.
The doggy data research was the idea of Baggy's 13-year-old owner Tom Hunt and his dad Matt. The English
youngster noticed that pollution levels are around two-thirds higher close to the ground than they are in the air at
the height where they are recorded by the agency. Tom has since reported the shocking findings to the government
in an attempt to emphasise that babies are at higher risk of developing asthma（哮喘）.
Matt Hunt said he was "very proud" of his son because “when the boy gets an idea, he keeps his head down
and gets on with it, and he really does want to do some good and stop young kids from getting asthma."
“Tom built up a passion for environmental protection at a very early age," Matt added. “He became very
interested in gadgets（小装置）. About one year ago, he got this new piece of tech which is like a test tube. One
Sunday afternoon, we went out to do some monitoring, and he said, why don't we put it on Baggy's collar and let
her monitor the pollution？'So we did it."
Tom said, "Most of the time, Baggy is just like any other dog. But for the rest of the time she is a super dog,
and we are all really proud of her."
34. With a monitor on her collar, Baggy can ____________.
A. take pollutant readings B. record pollutant levels
C. process collected data D. reduce air pollution
35. What can we learn from the Baggy data?
A. High places are free of air pollution.
B. Higher pushchairs are more risky for kids.
C. Conventional monitors are more reliable.
D. Air is more polluted closer to the ground.
36. What is Tom's purpose of doing the research?
A. To warn of a health risk. B. To find out pollution sources.
C. To test his new monitor. D. To prove Baggy's abilities.
37. According to the passage, which word can best describe Tom Hunt?
A. Modest. B. Generous. C. Creative. D. Outgoing.
【2020年北京卷】Certain forms of AI are indeed becoming ubiquitous. For example, algorithms (算法) carry out huge volumes
of trading on our financial markets, self-driving cars are appearing on city streets, and our smartphones are
translating from one language into another. These systems are sometimes faster and more perceptive than we
humans are. But so far that is only true for the specific tasks for which the systems have been designed. That is
something that some AI developers are now eager to change.
Some of today’s AI pioneers want to move on from today’s world of “weak” or “narrow” AI, to create “strong”
or “full” AI, or what is often called artificial general intelligence (AGI). In some respects, today’s powerful
computing machines already make our brains look weak. A GI could, its advocates say, work for us around the
clock, and drawing on all available data, could suggest solutions to many problems. DM, a company focused on the
development of AGI, has an ambition to “solve intelligence”. “If we’re successful,” their mission statement reads,
“we believe this will be one of the most important and widely beneficial scientific advances ever made.”
Since the early days of AI, imagination has outpaced what is possible or even probable. In 1965, an
imaginative mathematician called Irving Good predicted the eventual creation of an “ultra-intelligent machine…
that can far surpass all the intellectual (智力的) activities of any man, however clever.” Good went on to suggest
that “the first ultra-intelligent machine” could be “the last invention that man need ever make.”
Fears about the appearance of bad, powerful, man-made intelligent machines have been reinforced (强化) by
many works of fiction — Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Terminator film series, for example. But if AI does
eventually prove to be our downfall, it is unlikely to be at the hands of human-shaped forms like these, with
recognisably human motivations such as aggression (敌对行为). Instead, I agree with Oxford University
philosopher Nick Bostrom, who believes that the heaviest risks from A GI do not come from a decision to turn
against mankind but rather from a dogged pursuit of set objectives at the expense of everything else.
The promise and danger of true A GI are great. But all of today’s excited discussion about these possibilities
presupposes the fact that we will be able to build these systems. And, having spoken to many of the world’s
foremost AI researchers, I believe there is good reason to doubt that we will see A GI any time soon, if ever.
42. What does the underlined word “ubiquitous” in Paragraph I probably mean?
A. Enormous in quantity. B. Changeable daily.
C. Stable in quality. D. Present everywhere.
43. What could AGI do for us, according to its supporters?
A. Help to tackle problems. B. Make brains more active.
C. Benefit ambitious people. D. Set up powerful databases.
,
44. As for Irving Good’s opinion on ultra-intelligent machines the author is ____________.
A. supportive B. disapproving
C. fearful D. uncertain
45. What can be inferred about AGI from the passage?
A. It may be only a dream.
B. It will come into being soon.
C. It will be controlled by humans.
D. It may be more dangerous than ever.Passage 01
（2024·北京朝阳·二模）Science begins with mystery. Arguably, the two greatest mysteries are the universe
and awareness-the vast world out there and the powerful world within. Scientists attracted by one can be called to
study the other, led by the thought that these mysteries are connected. Science writer George Musser’s book Putting
Ourselves Back in the Equation (方程) reviews their progress: Can physics unlock the mystery of awareness? Does
awareness form the basis of fundamental physics?
The result is an ambitious but ultimately disappointing tour, filled with breathless encounters with well-
known scientists. Representative of the cast is MIT’s Max Tegmark, who tells Musser, “If you look at the problems
that were still difficult to answer in fundamental physics, pretty much all of them trace back to awareness.”
The book shows how physicists are contributing to understanding the mind, continuing a long history of
physicists exploring other fields. Musser integrates physics with neuroscience, economies, mathematics and more.
Yet a key source of local knowledge is obviously absent — psychology. An early example: Musser rightly applauds
physicists’ contributions to artificial neural networks but is overly trustful of their implications, declaring that
“ChatGPT” is already starting to demonstrate a generalized intelligence like that of humans. Interviewing more
psychologists could have exposed the considerable gap remaining.
What about awareness itself? Why are some states associated with felt experience, such as the pain of a
headache and the sight of a sunset, but others not? Musser’s focus is integrated information theory(IIT). IIT begins
with five self-evident principles of awareness: awareness exists, and it is structured, specific, unified, and definite.
It then concludes assumptions concerning the causal structure of awareness systems, identifying awareness with
integrated information. Finally, IIT offers a mathematical measure of this quantity: an equation for awareness.
However, despite its enthusiasts, IIT has significant problems. Its working basis is unfounded, and serious
doubts surround its testability and definability. Of course, a theory of awareness must detail when, why, and to what
degree we are aware of ourselves. Here, psychology’s absence is most obvious. Over the last century, psychological
research has revealed countless phenomena of awareness, from models that alter awareness to methods that
stimulate unawareness; from extraordinary disorders of awareness to careful studies of metacognition (元认知).
Although questionable, such phenomena are the data that any scientific theory of awareness must account
for. Yet these phenomena and ideas are almost nowhere in the book. Of course, psychology has not solved
awareness, but one cannot hope to explain awareness without confronting these data.
Awareness is genuinely mysterious. So is fundamental physics. But hoping that physics can solve awareness
while excluding other approaches is only a recipe for more mystery, not less.
28．What can we learn from Musser’s book?
A．IIT is acknowledged for its testability and definability.
B．Musser underestimates the impact of artificial intelligence.C．Using psychology is a trend for physicists exploring other fields.
D．Musser highlights physicists’ efforts to uncover the secret of awareness.
29．What can be inferred from the passage?
A．The link between physics and awareness has been established.
B．There is no doubt about the principles of an equation for awareness.
C．A multidisciplinary approach is essential to understanding awareness.
D．Study of awareness needs to ignore related psychological phenomena.
30．Regarding Musser’s view in his book, the author is .
A．neutral B．disapproving C．supportive D．uncertain
Passage 02
（2024·北京海淀·二模）The idea that aging reduces adults’ ability to imagine, a common theme in
children’s literature, is contradicted by psychological research. While children are often portrayed as more
imaginative, research indicates that adults not only keep this ability but sometimes surpass children in imaginative
thinking.
Children are frequently celebrated for boundless imagination. Yet, research reveals that their make-believe
games often center around realistic scenarios, such as cooking and cleaning, as demonstrated in a 2020 study
published in Journal of Cognition and Development. Another study, lasting for four decades, also suggests that
children are not naturally more imaginative than adults; their limitations result from a lack of knowledge and
expertise to effectively use their imaginative capacity as adults.
Imagination may have evolved for considering alternatives to reality, but we use it most naturally to explore
close alternatives, like preparing a different meal, rather than far alternatives, like riding on clouds. When we use
imagination to envision far alternatives — to innovate or invent — we’re not digging into an inborn appreciation of
the extraordinary; we’re using a tool designed to explore the ordinary. When considering alternatives to reality, we
fix our attention on possibilities that are physically reasonable, statistically probable, socially conventional and
morally permissible. When told about possibilities that violate such regularities, we usually deny they could
happen. Generally speaking, our ideas about what could happen are firmly rooted in what we expect to happen.
This mindset is also particularly apparent in young children. In a 2018 study I co-designed with psychologist
Jonathan Phillips, 4-year-olds were asked to help a distressed girl who disliked going to school due to missing her
mother. Among all the solutions given, they perceived the only possible solution was for her mother to do
something special after school to ease her concerns. Unexpected alternatives, such as snapping fingers and making
it Saturday, wearing pajamas to school or lying about school being closed, were all regarded impossible. From this,
we can conclude that children’s earliest intuitions (直觉力) about possibility confuse what could happen with what
should happen.
Historically, the improbable event of traveling faster than a horse was considered impossible, as was
traveling by air or traveling into space. Before the arrival of trains and planes, there were good reasons to think that
people could travel only so far and only so fast. But these reasons were empirical (经验主义的), not logical.
Imagination, on its own, lumps the improbable with the impossible, but we can combine imagination with other
abilities — namely, knowledge and reflection — to separate the two. While imagination in children often subjectsto expectation, adults can control their imaginative capacity for innovation by integrating it with accumulated
knowledge and reflective thinking.
31．According to the first two paragraphs, we know that _________.
A．children develop imagination through games
B．children face limitations in acquiring knowledge
C．adults are as good as children in imaginative thinking
D．adults’ imaginative ability is likely to stay constant with age
32．We can infer from the passage that _________.
A．expectation results from imaginative capacity
B．certain practical concerns can limit imagination
C．breaking regularities may lead to close alternatives
D．far alternatives are more important than close alternatives
33．The 2018 study shows that children _________.
A．came up with a wide range of alternatives B．were quicker to figure out solutions
C．took what should happen as possibilitiesD．used imagination in a reasonable way
34．The underlined word “lumps” in the last paragraph probably means _________.
A．mix B．match C．compare D．replace
Passage 03
【2024年人大附中高三三模】From Smells to Soundtracks
When a young sawfly, a bee-like insect, is threatened by its attackers like ants, it emits a mixture of
unpleasant smells to defend itself. These emissions can seriously annoy a potential enemy.
Scientists wanting to study these smelly compounds—to understand which aspects of them discourage
attackers and why—face great challenges. Meetups between sawflies and ants in a lab are difficult to carry out.
There are also a very limited quantity of the insects’ emissions. On the side, Jean-Luc Boevé, a zoologist who
studies insects, from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, is an amateur musician and composer. He
decided to try a different way—the sound approach. “To be honest, I considered this project so unpractical myself
that I set it aside,” he said. It was months before Boevé and his partner, Rudi Giot, finally made a resolution to get
started on it.
They chose 16 sawfly species’ emissions to translate into sounds. First, they figured out which molecules
(分子) were present in each smelly compound and in what amounts. Then they assigned various characteristics of
those molecules matching properties of sound. For example, smaller molecules like a kind of acid found in vinegar,
a sour-tasting liquid, evaporate (挥发) quickly, so Boevé and Giot assigned them sounds with higher pitch ( 音
高 ). Larger molecules were given lower-pitched sounds. In all, the scientists created individual audio descriptions
for 20 molecules. Then they combined the sounds of each molecule present in a sawfly’s smell to construct the
insect’s soundtrack. If a molecule was of higher proportion in an emission, they assigned it a higher volume. In
such a case, the smaller a molecule is, the higher its pitch will be; and the higher the proportion of a molecule is, the
higher its volume will be.To test out the audio descriptions they created, Boevé and Giot examined people’s reactions to the
soundtracks and compared them to ants’ reactions to the original smells. They played the 16 emission soundtracks
and the 20 molecule sounds through speakers to about 50 study participants. Then the scientists measured how far
people backed up to get to a “comfortable position” away from the noise. Most of the study volunteers told the
researchers that the high pitch, as well as the high volume, was what made them withdraw. “Ants and volunteers
moved away from a chemical and its matching soundtrack respectively,” the researchers wrote.
Boevé said he hoped the process would give other zoologists a new way to compare sawflies’ chemical
defenses with those from other insects. It may also offer researchers clues about which molecules fight off enemies
most.
27．What do we know about Boevé from paragraph 2?
A．He was devoted to the research for several months.
B．He started a new approach after months’ hesitation.
C．He came up with a creative idea thanks to a composer.
D．He was faced with difficulties in studying rare sawflies.
28．What can be concluded in terms of the sound approach?
A．The volume of sounds is based on the proportion of molecules.
B．Smaller molecules and lower pitch share similar characteristics.
C．Audio descriptions of the molecules can be divided into 16 kinds.
D．Participants were required to compare the sounds with the smells.
29．From paragraphs 4 and 5, we can learn that ________.
A．the soundtracks are more than what humans are likely to bear
B．the ants dislike the sounds as much as humans hate the smells
C．humans’ reactions to the sounds resemble ants’ responses to the smells
D．other zoologists are looking for innovative ways of studying molecules
30．This passage is mainly intended to ________.
A．explain ways to transfer smells into soundtracks
B．introduce research on sawfly’s effect on humans
C．demonstrate a scientific study on insects’smells
D．test out people’s reaction to various soundtracks
Passage 04
【2024年北京交通大学附中高三三模】Vaccines (疫苗) may soon make their first film appearance. Led by
expert Maria A．Croyle, researchers have developed a thin sheet that preserves vaccines for long periods without
refrigeration. This means the carefully cooled small bottles now used to ship vaccines could potentially be replaced
by lightweight films that can be mailed in an envelope and stored on a shelf.
Croyle’s laboratory began developing the technology in 2007. Inspired by amber’s ability to preserve the DNA
of insects, the researchers set out to create their own version of the substance by mixing “a lot of sugar and a little
bit of salt, much like hard candy”, Croyle explains. The vaccine-containing film is administered by mouth — sweetnews for many who dislike needles.
The film is tailored to suit each specific vaccine candidate and provide a protective coating. “We’ve learned
over time that the key to really stabilizing whatever the film holds is to have it intermixed with all the components,”
Croyle says, adding that the process is quick and uses affordable, standard equipment. “We really wanted to come
up with something that would be transferable to developing countries.”
Immunization (免疫) programs depend heavily on keeping vaccines cold (2℃ — 8℃) as they are transported,
sometimes over thousands of kilometers to far-away locations. Delivery can be difficult and costly, and transport
disruptions can cause the vaccines to be ineffective.
But this new product can store live viruses, bacteria and antibodies for several months at 20℃. In a paper
published in Science Advances, the scientists show that the live viruses in one vaccine were preserved in the film
even after 36 months. They also find that a flu vaccine suspended in their film compares favourably with a
traditional flu shot (流感预防针). “The study demonstrates early proof of concept for an exciting platform for
vaccine product development,” says Lisa Rohan, a pharmacologist, who was not involved in the study. She also
notes that each vaccine type would need a custom formulation (配方) for future stages of development.
Finding partners to mass-produce for clinical trials is the researchers’ most pressing problem, Croyle says.
They are also exploring packaging methods to keep their films stable up to 40℃.
Size is a major advantage — a letter-sized sheet of the film can carry more than 500 doses (剂) of vaccine,
about 1/900 the weight of the same amount of traditional doses. By making it easier and cheaper to ship and
preserve vaccines efficiently, Croyle says, the technology could vastly improve immunization rates the world over,
particularly in middle- to low-income countries.
28．What can we learn about the film?
A．It contains animal’s DNA． B．It will replace vaccines.
C．It comes in different flavours. D．It can hold bio-products.
29．The author mentions Lisa Rohan’s words to ______.
A．advise personalizing vaccines
B．suggest the product is promising
C．prove the study is supported widely
D．stress the functions of a new platform
30．What will be the next urgent task for Croyle’s team?
A．Advertising the film worldwide. B．Improving the film’s capacity.
C．Reducing the shipping cost. D．Seeking ideal manufacturers.
Passage 05
【2024年北京市朝阳区高三一模】The streets and roofs of cities all absorb heat, making some urban areas
hotter than rural ones. These “urban heat islands” can also develop underground as city heat spreads downward, and
subway tracks and other subsurface infrastructure(基础设施) also constantly radiate warmth into the surrounding
earth.
A new study of downtown Chicago shows underground hotspots may threaten the very same structures thatgive off the heat in the first place. “Without anyone realizing it, the city of Chicago’s downtown was deforming,”
says study author Rotta Loria, an environmental engineer.
Humans aren’t the only potentially affected. “For a lot of things in the subsurface, it’s kind of ‘out of sight, out
of mind’,” says Grant Ferguson, a geologist. But the underground world is full of creatures that have adapted to
subsurface existence such as insects and snails. As the temperature rises because of climate change and
underground urban development, scientists are keeping eyes on the potential implications for underground
ecosystems.
But the question of how underground hotspots could affect infrastructure has gone largely unstudied. Because
materials expand and contract with temperature change, Rotta suspected that heat coming from underground could
be contributing to wear and tear on various structures. To understand how underground temperature difference has
affected the ground’s physical properties, he used a computer model to simulate( 模 拟 ) the underground
environment from the 1950s to now—and then to 2050. He found that by the middle of this century, some areas
may lift upward by as much as 0.50 inch or settle by as much as 0.32 inch, depending on the soil makeup of the
area involved. Though these may sound like small displacements, Rotta says they could cause cracks in the
foundations of some buildings, causing buildings to fall.
Kathrin Menberg, a geoscientist in Germany, says these displacement predictions are far beyond her guesses
and could be linked to the soft, clay-heavy soils. “Clay material is particularly sensitive,” she says, “It would be a
big issue in all cities worldwide that are built on such material.”
Like climate change above the surface, underground changes occur gradually. “These effects took decades to
develop,” Ferguson says, adding that increased underground temperatures would likewise take a long time to
dissipate on their own. “We could basically turn everything off, and it’s going to remain there, the temperature
signal, for quite a while.”
But Ferguson says this wasted heat energy could also be reused, presenting an opportunity to both cool the
subsurface and save on energy costs. Still, this assumption could fail as aboveground climate change continues to
boost underground warming. However slowly, this heat will gather beneath our feet. “It’s like climate change,”
Rotta Loria says. “Maybe we don’t see it always, but it’s happening.”
28．The author quotes Rotta Loria in Paragraph 2 mainly to _______.
A．make a prediction B．highlight a finding
C．draw a conclusion D．raise an assumption
29．What can we learn from this passage?
A．“Urban heat islands” extend underground to spare ecosystems.
B．Surface climate change contributes to the reuse of underground heat.
C．Underground temperatures mirror the ground’s physical characteristics.
D．Buildings may collapse as a potential consequence of underground heat.
30．What does the underlined word “dissipate” in Paragraph 6 probably mean?
A．Show. B．Stay. C．Develop. D．Disappear.
31．What does the author intend to tell us?
A．Underground climate change is a silent danger.B．Humans fail to notice the dramatic climate change.
C．Cooling the subsurface helps control urban heat rises.
D．Researching underground heat helps save on energy costs.
Passage 06
【2024年北京市房山区高三一模】A good meal has a positive impact on one’s mood. Those who feast on
Christmas buffet almost enjoy an immediate rise in their blood sugar. That will prompt a flood of chemicals that act
as happy hormones to rush through their brains.
But the pleasure goes deeper. Tyrosine and tryptophan are needed for the production, respectively, of
dopamine, a neurotransmitter (神经传递素) that controls feelings of pleasure and reward, and serotonin, another
such, which helps regulate mood. And cranberries are high in vitamin C, which is involved in converting dopamine
to noradrenaline, another neurotransmitter, and a lack of which seems to be associated with depression.
With mental-health disorders rising, a growing number of scientists are investigating how food or nutritional
supplements affect the mind. But separating the brain’s nutritional needs from those of the rest of the body is
difficult. Not possible for now, at least. And, compared with other fields, nutritional science is understudied. That is
partly because it is hard to do well. Randomised controlled trials (rcts), used to test drugs, are tricky. Few people
want to stick to an experimental diet for years. Instead, most nutritional science is based on observational studies
that try to establish associations between particular foods or nutrients and diseases. They cannot be used to
definitively prove a causal ( 因 果 关 系 的 ) connection between a disease and a particular contributing factor
in a diet. But as with smoking and lung cancer, put together enough of these kinds of trials and causal narratives
begin to emerge.
It is now clear that some diets are particularly good for the brain. One recent study concludes that sticking to
the “Mediterranean diet”, high in vegetables, fruit, pulses and wholegrains, low in red and processed meats and
saturated fats, decreases the chances of experiencing strokes, cognitive impairment and depression. Other recent
work looking at a “green” Mediterranean diet high in polyphenols found it reduced age-related brain atrophy.
Another version, the mind diet, emphasises, among other things, eating berries over other kinds of fruit and seems
to lessen the risk of dementia.
Scientists think such diets may work by reducing inflammation in the brain. This, in turn, may affect areas
such as the hippocampus, which is associated with learning, memory and mood regulation—and where new
neurons grow in adults. Studies in animals show that when they are fed a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids (from
walnuts, for example), flavonoids (consumed mainly via tea and wine), antioxidants (found in berries) and
resveratrol (found in red grapes), neuron growth is stimulated and inflammatory processes are reduced. This fits
with research suggesting that those who regularly eat ultra-processed, fried and sugary foods, which increase
inflammation in the brain, heighten their risk of developing depression.
31．Which of the following words can replace “tricky” in Paragraph 3?
A．Rare.
B．Tough.
C．Traditional.
D．Contradictory.32．How do researchers do observational studies in nutritional science?
A．By keeping at an experimental diet for years.
B．By carrying out randomized controlled trials.
C．By identifying a particular contributing factor.
D．By comparing findings of certain kinds of trials.
33．What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?
A．A diet rich in fruit is good for cognitive abilities.
B．People fond of sugary foods may be a risk lover.
C．Red grapes add fuel to inflammation in the brain.
D．Drinking tea can solve age-related brain problems.
34．What is mainly discussed in the passage?
A．The links between diets and diseases.
B．The significance of Mediterranean diet.
C．The function of various neurotransmitters.
D．The influence of nutrients on mental health.
Passage 07
【2024 年北京市东城区高三一模】Research spanning several decades demonstrates that you are more
likely to think the information that is repeated to be true than the information you hear only once. You usually
assume that if people put in effort to repeat a statement, this reflects the truth of the statement. This tendency-also
called the truth effect-is a bias (偏见) that can lead you to draw incorrect conclusions.
To what degree are people aware of the truth effect? This question was addressed in a paper in the journal
Cognition early this year.
In the critical study in this paper, participants did two sessions. In one session, they read about a hypothetical
(虚构的) study in which they were exposed to some statements and then were asked whether both statements they
had heard before as well as these new statements were true. They were asked to predict the proportion (比例) of
each statement that would be judged as true. They did this both as a prediction of other people’s performance as
well as a prediction of how they would do in this study.
At another session a few days later, participants actually performed this study, reading a set of 20 statements in
the hypothetical study again and then judging the truth of altogether 40 statements, half of which were from the
hypothetical study and the other half of which were new.
This study did replicate the well known truth effect. People were more likely to judge statements they had seen
before as true than statements that were new. Two interesting findings emerged from the prediction. First,
participants tended to underestimate the size of the truth effect for everyone. T hat is, while they did expect some
difference in judgments between the statements seen before and those that were new, they thought this difference
would be smaller than it actually was. Second, participants more significantly underpredicted the truth effect for
themselves compared to that for other people.
This study is particularly important in light of the amount of misinformation present in social media. Manypeople have the power to influence public opinion about important matters. Flooding social media feeds with
misinformation will lead people to believe this information is true just because it is stated. Recognizing that we are
all susceptible to this influence of repeated information should lead us to mistrust our intuition (直觉) about what
is true and to look up important information prior to using it to make important judgments and decisions.
28．In the first paragraph, the author intends to ______.
A．clarify a misconception B．present a phenomenon
C．challenge a statement D．confirm a theory
29．What can we learn from the study?
A．Impacts of the truth effect require further studies.
B．Making predictions before judgments is significant.
C．People have hardly any awareness of the truth effect.
D．People tend to believe they can make wiser judgments.
30．What does the word “susceptible” underlined in the last paragraph most probably mean?
A．Critical. B．Subject. C．Opposed. D．Adapted.
Passage 08
【2024 年北京市海淀区高三一模】Researchers hope brain implants will one day help people with
aphasia(失语症) to get their voice back—and maybe even to sing. Now, for the first time, scientists have
demonstrated that the brain’s electrical activity can be decoded and used to reconstruct music.
A new study analyzed data from 29 people monitored for epileptic seizures(癫痫发作), using electrodes(电
极) on the surface of their brain. As participants listened to a selected song, electrodes captured brain activity
related to musical elements, such as tone, rhythm, and lyrics. Employing machine learning, Robert Knight from UC
Berkeley and his colleagues reconstructed what the participants were hearing and published their study results. The
paper is the first to suggest that scientists can “listen secretly to” the brain to synthesize(合成) music.
To turn brain activity data into musical sound, researchers trained an artificial intelligence (AI)model to
decode data captured from thousands of electrodes that were attached to the participants as they listened to the song
while undergoing surgery. Once the brain data were fed through the model, the music returned. The model also
revealed some brain parts responding to different musical features of the song.
Although the findings focused on music, the researchers expect their results to be most useful for translating
brain waves into human speech. Ludovic Bellier, the study’s lead author, explains that speech, regardless of
language, has small melodic differences—tempo, stress, accents, and intonation—known as prosody(韵律). These
elements carry meaning that we can’t communicate with words alone. He hopes the model will improve brain-
computer interfaces (BCI), assistive devices that record speech-associated brain waves and use algorithms to
reconstruct intended messages. This technology, still in its infancy, could help people who have lost the ability to
speak because of aphasia.
Future research should investigate whether these models can be expanded from music that participants have
heard to imagined internal speech. If a brain-computer interface could recreate someone’s speech with the prosody
and emotional weight found in music, it could offer a richer communication experience beyond mere words.Several barriers remain before we can put this technology in the hands—or brains— of patients. The current
model relies on surgical implants. As recording techniques improve, the hope is to gather data non-invasively,
possibly using ultrasensitive electrodes. However, under current technologies, this approach might result in a lower
speed of decoding into natural speech. The researchers also hope to improve the playback clarity by packing the
electrodes closer together on the brain’s surface, enabling an even more detailed look at the electrical symphony the
brain produces.
28．What can we learn from the study?
A．Electrodes can analyze musical elements.
B．The decoding of brain data helps recreate music.
C．Machine learning greatly enhances brain activity.
D．The AI model monitors music-responsive brain regions.
29．What hopefully makes it possible to expand the model to speech?
A．The prosody of speech. B．The collection of brain waves.
C．The emotional weight of music. D．The reconstruction of information.
30．Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A．Unlocking the Secrets of Melodic Mind B．Brain Symphony: Synthesized Human Speech
C．BCI Brings Hope to People with Aphasia D．Remarkable Journey: Decoding Brain with AI
Passage 09
（2024·北京海淀·二模）We are a social animal. Indeed, it is our sociality — such as the ability to make
sense of each other, to communicate, to work cooperatively and, finally, to create culture — that marks us off from
other animal species.
But then why are we everywhere striving to increase our isolation and limit our contact with others? As
musician David Byrn e argues in an essay published last month, it is a striking fact about the new technologies that
have so come to shape our lives, that they have precisely this effect: they limit our need for human contact. Online
shopping? Check. Automated checkout? Check. Ride hail apps? Check.
Efficiency is the key. We purchase efficiency by limiting the human aspect, known as “autonomous
operation”. This is perhaps even more pronounced with new technologies on the horizon. Take the MOOC, the
teacher-less virtual classroom. As Byrn e notes, this is meant to deliver the values of a learning environment
without, well, without the environment — you get to stay at home — no teacher, but also, no fellow students.
Byrne isn’t claiming we are consciously choosing to isolate ourselves. We shop online because it is
convenient. The absence of contact with others is a side-effect. Maybe even an unavoidable one, as one of thethings that makes online shopping so easy is precisely the absence of contact with other people.
But Bryne’s thought is that whatever our intention, the tendency of our tech to isolate us may be a feature,
not a bug. His hypothesis is that we actually, at some level, crave (渴望) the increased isolation and we are actually
making technologies to satisfy impulses that, in some way, go beyond or against our social nature. But I wonder, is
this really new?
Even if we are social by nature, and do everything we can to embed ourselves socially, the need to find ways
to be alone is, well, nothing new. It’s also striking that the very activities that risk separating us — in the old days,
books, newspapers, TV; nowadays, the latest apps also connect us. We read about each other. What we read gives
us information to share with each other.
I am well aware of the data that shows the more time you spend on social media, the sadder and more
isolated and envious you feel of others. But how novel is the isolating effect of social media? Being there reminds
me a lot of what it was like to be social in high school — you have a vivid sense of your status and your standing in
relation to others, and you have to deal with that.
This may be isolating, sure. But it’s the isolating face of the social lives we’ve always had. It is isolating
because of the ways technology brings us into real contact with others, not because it removes that contact.
I wonder whether more isolation is a real option, after all.
28．Which of the following best reflects “autonomous operation”?
A．Getting a toothbrush via a hotel delivery robot.
B．Teaching mom how to establish a smart home.
C．Seeking help by calling human customer services.
D．Having an online meeting at home with colleagues.
29．Which of the following might the author agree?
A．Technology offers fresh insights into our social status.
B．Actions seemingly isolating can bond people.
C．Social platforms help bring people closer.
D．Social media has come to define our life.
30．What would be the best title for the passage?
A．What Technologies Do to Human Nature B．Do Technologies Shape Our Lives?
C．How Isolation Changes with ConnectionD．Can We Erase Human Element?
