It was my twelfth birthday, and what I really wanted was a new bicycle. But I knew my family couldn’t afford one.
A new bike was just a dream, so I wanted a nightstand (床头柜). I figured that at least I would have a safe place to keep my private things. So I asked my parents for a nightstand with lockable drawer (抽屉).
We went to the secondhand furniture store and found an old, dark brown nightstand. It didn’t look too cool, but at least it had drawers that I could keep locked. I decided that I would paint it to make it look better.
After we took it home, I was getting ready to paint it. When I pulled the drawers out, I felt something stuck (卡住) at the back of the bottom drawer. I reached in all the way to the back and was surprised to find a bag.
When opening the bag, I realized that there were some papers in it which were some kind of official-looking documents (文件). And beneath were a bunch of dollar bills! Talk about finding a treasure! And on my birthday!
I went ahead and read the papers, which turned out to be a will (遗嘱). Some old lady was leaving her savings to her son and grandchildren. The old lady must have died and nobody knew the money. Her family donated the nightstand to the secondhand furniture store and it was now in my hands.
I counted the money, over 1,000 dollars in total. I was going crazy. With this money I could buy the coolest bicycle. I could even buy bicycles for my younger brothers. Maybe I could also get my parents a car.
What a dilemma! I could keep it and get all kinds of things for myself and my family. Or I could give it all back. “Somebody helps me with this!” I begged. But I really didn’t need anyone else to give me the answer. I already knew right from wrong. I decided not to fail this test. It was a test of honor-my honor.
I called my family into my bedroom and showed them what I had found.
Several days later, the old lady’s son and his wife came to my house.
| A．career | B．relief | C．treat | D．hustle |
Yours,
Li Hua
One way to know how much soda people drink is to ask them.
The problem? We tend to underestimate, lie or forget what we’ve consumed.
And this is a challenge for researchers who study the links between sugarsweetened beverages and obesity.
A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition explains a technique that could help researchers get a good measurement of sugary beverage consumption — by analyzing a piece of hair or a blood sample.
Researcher Diane O’Brien of the University of Alaska and her colleagues have used carbon isotope (同位素)analysis to develop their measuring tool. “We’re isolating the [carbon] isotope ratio in a specific molecule,” explains O’Brien. The molecule is an amino acid called alanine, which captures carbon from sugars.
It turns out that when you consume sweetened soda, slightly more of a particular kind of carbon called C13 gets trapped in alanine and incorporated into proteins. And proteins hang around in the body much longer than sugar does. So the scientists say they can sample proteins to look for extra amounts of C13 in alanine. People with a lot of C13 are likely to be people who have consumed a lot of corn syrup and cane sugar.
Using this technique, O’Brien says, you can capture a longerterm picture of sugar consumption compared with urine samples — which only reveal how much sugar a person has consumed in the past day or so.
Carbon isotope analysis has helped scientists piece together ancient dietary patterns, explains Dale Schoeller of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in a commentary about the study: “The use of stable isotope signatures has even provided information about the diet of Otzi aka The Iceman, the 5,000yearold natural mummy found in the Alps in 1991.”
And he writes that he thinks the technique will be helpful for researchers studying the obesity epidemic.
“This should be a major step toward resolving the controversy over the role of caloric sweetener intake in the development of obesity,” writes Schoeller.
THE TEENAGE BRAIN
Parents, teachers, and anyone who regularly deals with teenagers knows how difficult the adolescent years can be. Adolescents have always been known to do wild — even dangerous — things. This was thought to be due to the foolishness of youth. Now, brain-imaging technology allows scientists to study the physical development of the brain in more detail than ever before. Their discoveries have led to a new theory of why teens act the way they do.
Recently, scientists discovered that though our brains are almost at their full size by the age of six, they are far from fully developed. Only during adolescence do our brains truly “grow up”. During this time, they go through great changes, like a computer system being upgraded. This “upgrade” was once thought to be finished by about age 12. Now, scientists have concluded that our brains continue to change until age 25. Such changes make us better at balancing our impulses with the need to follow rules. However, a still-developing brain does this clumsily. The result, scientists claim, is the unpredictable behavior seen in teenagers.
The studies confirm that teens are more likely to take risks and behave in extreme ways. Fortunately, the news isn’t all negative. As brain scientist B.J. Casey points out, the teen brain inspires such behavior in order to help teenagers prepare for adult life.
One way the brain does this is by changing the way teens measure risk and reward. Researchers found that when teens think about rewards, their brains release more of the chemicals that create pleasure than an adult brain would. Researchers believe this makes the rewards seem more important than the risks, and makes teens feel the excitement of new experiences more keenly than adults do.
Research into the structure of the teen brain also found that it makes social connections seem especially rewarding. As such, teens have an intense need to meet new people.
Scientists suggest this is because as teens, we begin to realize that our peers may one day control the world we live in. Because it is still developing, a teen brain can change to deal with new situations. It therefore connects social rewards with even more pleasure. In this way, the brain encourages teens to have a wide circle of friends, which is believed to make us more successful in life.
Alexander sang all the time. He simply liked singing and practiced it all the time. He sang in the shower, and he sang while he walked to school. Personally, Alexander believed his voice was imperfect. “There will be tryouts for boys’ choir this weekend in our school,” he heard Kevin announcing in class.
Everyone around school knew Kevin had a fantastic sing voice. More importantly, warm-hearted and helpful, Kevin was always generous to give someone a hand.
With the tryouts in mind and an initial surge of interest, he kept imagining himself as a member of the boys’ choir, his heart thudding (砰砰直跳). However, he would explode with anxiety when he thought of singing with others. After school, walking slowly, he debated (反复思考) whether to attend it, for fear of being a drag (拖累) on others. “It would be nice if I could solo (独唱)” he thought to himself. Just then, out of the room walked Kevin, whose eyes brimmed with smile. Kevin patted his shoulder and whispered, “Let’s sign up together.” Inspired, Alexander signed his name.
The next morning, Alexander came to the tryouts. Taking a deep breath, he walked into the building, and then noticed the other boys who were all practicing delightfully. Alexander was seated on the chair alone, looking at other competitors nervously and not knowing how to join them.
Later, the choir director walked in and declared:“The whole selection process includes the individual performance and the group singing” Immediately things started. When Alexander’s turn came, his voice filled the room, loud and clear. He felt satisfied when he was done. After a short pleasure, however, the fear of singing with others flickered across his mind, casting him a surge of gloom.
Then came the group singing.
| A. cultivate B. reassuring C. opposing D. objective E. confidence F. evidence G. perceived H. functioning I. estimate J. existing K. scientism |
Why Doubt Is Essential To Science
The confidence people place in science is frequently based not on what it really is, but on what people would like it to be. When I asked students at the beginning of the year how they would define science, many of them replied that it is a(n)
But doubt in science is a feature, not a bug. Indeed, science, when properly
As a historian of science, I would argue that it's the responsibility of scientists and historians of science to show that the real power of science lies precisely in what is often
Scientists understand this, but in the
Google’s £ 400m acquisition of the UK artificial intelligence research company DeepMind in 20l4 was testimony to the quality of British scientific research. Furthermore, the insistence of the three UK co-founders that their company would not move to California was seen as evidence of London’s potential to become a successful centre for technology innovation. Four years later, the future of the UK capital’s tech aspirations and of DeepMind’s centre of gravity look a lot less certain.
DeepMind’s announcement last week that it would transfer control of its health unit to a new Google Health division in California has raised questions about data privacy. The health unit has access to the records of 1. 6m patients of Britain’s National Health Service. After four years of relative operating freedom, the company is confronting the hard reality of being owned by Google. For Google, however, which has been patient so far about its return on investment, the time for DeepMind’s work to be commercialised-specifically a patient management App called Streams-appears to have arrived.
The UK Company founded by Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman has repeatedly vindicated Google’s assessment of its world class artificial intelligence research. In2016, its AlphaGo programme beat the world’s best player of the fiendishly complex board game “Go” after thousands of practice games. In2017 its progeny, AlphaGo Zero, did it again---without any expert human input.
When algorithms beat humans at their own games it is impressive; when they start beating them at their work it becomes unsettling. This year, another DeepMind algorithm proved better than retinal specialists at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital at making referrals when tested on patient scans.
This was clear progress. DeepMind’s health work is what is most immediately relevant to Britons since, through a partnership with the Royal Free Hospital, it has access to the data of so many patients. The move to California has understandably raised privacy concerns at a time when big tech companies, including Facebook, are coming under growing scrutiny for the careless way they have exploited private data for commercial gain. Moreover, the transfer appears to contravene promises by DeepMind that “at no stage will patient data ever be linked or associated with Google accounts, products or services”. It is worrying that at the same time DeepMind’s independent review panel-set up to scrutinize its sensitive relationship with the NHS-is also being wound up.
DeepMind, which sees the move as a way of ensuring millions benefit from its work, claims that its contracts with the NHS are sufficient to protect patients’ data, which will remain under the strict control of Britain’s health service. Google has said nothing. There is a clear need for both companies to offer much greater assurances.
Last year, DeepMind set up an ethics and society department, whose independent advisers were selected for their integrity. They had a reputation for asking tough questions which set the company apart in the tech sector. If indeed the founders believed this culture would be unaffected by the gravitational pull of a buyer as powerful as Google, they were naive. WhatsApp and Instagram made the same mistake.
But for the sake of the NHS patients whose data are at issue, it is to be hoped that the same culture and integrity survives in California. The Silicon Valley mantra of “move fast and break things” might work for companies developing software. It has no place governing healthcare and technology.
1．The first paragraph is used to_________.| A．take about the future of DeepMind |
| B．remind readers of the cost of Google’s acquisition of DeepMind |
| C．leading to the problems that DeepMind will face |
| D．highlighting the quality of British scientific research |
| A．DeepMind has no relative operating freedom. |
| B．Google Health division is allowed to retrieve the records of 1. 6m patients. |
| C．Britain’s National Health Service leaks the private data of their patients. |
| D．Some companies have collected private data for commercial gain carelessly. |
| A．Both Google and DeepMind should offer the public much greater assurances. |
| B．WhatsApp and Instagram are likely to leak information of their clients. |
| C．People feel nervous about algorithms employed by high-tech. |
| D．The ethics and society department set up by DeepMind may work. |
| A．Critical | B．Positive |
| C．Negative | D．Ambiguous |
It’s hard to talk to dads sometimes. The roles we often expect our fathers to play—protector, provider—can make them difficult to understand. That’s how it was with my dad. He came to Canada at the age of ten and settled in an immigrant community. He was never much of a talker. He rarely drank. He didn’t tell stories about himself at the dinner table or when we went for walks in the park. He was a private person and seemed to want to stay that way.
It seemed impossible to ask him questions about his early life before I was born—his early hopes and dreams, his loves and heartbreaks, let alone share my own feelings with him. I didn’t want to threaten the integrity (完整) of his hard shell. I had gotten used to it, and it made me feel secure.
But when my relationship with my wife and career took a hit a year ago, things had to change. I was facing serious problems about my own nature, and I wanted to know whether he had faced them too, and I desperately needed to know how he had found his way, because I felt like I had lost mine.
In a severe moment of desperation, it occurred to me that sending an email might be the key. An email can be crafted slowly and carefully. He’d be up in his office-a comfortable place filled with bookshelves, dusty CD-ROMs and piles of old newspapers. I’d be at my desk in an apartment 20 minutes away. So I could speak at a comfortable distance and give him room to adjust.
So I wrote to him. I told him about my regrets and fears, and I asked him to answer, if he felt like it, and to share something about himself, something that would give me much-needed perspective on my life, especially on relationship and career.
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