2024年4月28日发(作者：)

英语阅读理解专练小卷（17）

Wanda Cinema

HOME COMING

Sept. 30 — Oct. 20

Time: 7: 15 p. m. (7: 00 p. m. on Sept. 30th)

Tickets: Monday — Thursday:

￥

35

Friday:

￥

39.9; Saturdays / Sundays:

￥

45.9

297

．

HOME COMING starts at ________ on Oct.17.

A

．

7:15 a. m. B

．

7:00 a. m. C

．

7:15 p. m.

298

．

If Mr. and Mrs. White want to go to the Wanda Cinema with their son on Monday, they need

to pay ________.

A

．￥

35 B

．￥

105 C

．￥

79.8

Whom should you marry? Where should you live? How should you spend your time? For

centuries, people have relied on their gut instincts (

直觉

) to figure out the answers to these

life-changing questions. Now, though, there is a better way. We are living through a data explosion,

as vast amounts of information about all aspects of human behavior have become more and more

accessible. We can use this big data to help determine the best course to chart.

There has long been overwhelming- and often surprising- evidence that algorithms (

算法

)

can be much better than people at making difficult decisions. Researchers have collected data on

various kinds of choices people make, the information they base those choices on, and how things

turn out. They have found, for example, that a simple data-driven algorithm would have been

better than judges at deciding whether a defendant should stay in jail (

监狱

) or be released; better

than doctors at deciding whether a patient should get a procedure; and better than school

principals at deciding which teachers should be promoted.

The power of data analysis has been proved in the sports and business worlds, too. As made

famous by the book and movie Moneyball, baseball teams found that algorithms were better than

scouts (

物色优秀运动员的人

) at picking players, and better than managers at picking strategies.

In finance, the hedge fund (

避险基金

) Renaissance Technologies dramatically defeated

competitors by seeking out patterns in stock market data and using them to inform its investment

strategy. Tech firms in Silicon Valley have found that data from experiments provides better

insights into how to design their websites than designers could.

These are the early days of the data revolution in decision-making. I am not claiming that we

can completely outsource (

外包

) our lifestyle choices to algorithms, though we might get to that

point in the future. I am claiming instead that we can all dramatically improve our

decision-making by consulting evidence mined from thousands or millions of people who faced

dilemmas similar to ours. And we can do that now.

299

．

What makes people better at finding answers to life-changing questions?

A

．

People’s better gut instincts. B

．

Changed human behavior.

C

．

The modern information era. D

．

Various courses accessible.

300

．

According to paragraph 2, algorithms might NOT defeat people in ______.

A

．

court rulings B

．

job promotions

C

．

operative estimation D

．

teaching practices

301

．

What can we learn from paragraph 3?

A

．

The plot of the movie Moneyball is related to successful data analysis.

B

．

Scouts and managers are not needed in successful baseball teams.

C

．

The hedge fund Renaissance Technologies had some financial problems.

D

．

Tech firms in Silicon Valley mainly relied on data to design websites.

302

．

Which of the following will the author most probably agree with?

A

．

The modern information era is mature enough to take advantage of.

B

．

People should outsource all the lifestyle choices to algorithms.

C

．

With big data people can learn from countless similar examples.

D

．

Face-to-face consultation will be the major trend in the future.

Gardeners who use pesticides are contributing to the decline of British songbirds, a study

suggests. Scientists have urged people to stop “spraying their gardens with poisons” in order to

halt bird decline and adopt instead wildlife-friendly practices. The results of the University of

Sussex study, which researchers call the first of its kind, were published in the journal Science of

the Total Environment.

The experiment, which surveyed 615 gardens in Britain, found 25% fewer house sparrows

when glyphosate (

草甘膦

) was used regularly. This is an ingredient found in commonly used

herbicide (

除草剂

) brands such as Roundup or Gallup. Slug pellets (

鼻涕虫杀虫剂

) also seemed

to have an impact on bird sightings; in gardens where Slug pellets were used, house sparrow

numbers were down by almost 40%.

Prof. Dave Goulson, of the school of life sciences at the University of Sussex, said, “The UK

has 22 million gardens, which collectively could be a fantastic refuge for wildlife, but not if they

are overly tidy and sprayed with poisons. We just don’t need pesticides in our gardens. Many

towns around the world are now pesticide free. We should simply ban the use of these poisons in

urban areas, following the example of France.” The Royal Horticultural Society, the UK’s leading

gardening charity, said the use of pesticides and herbicides should be avoided if possible and they

should only be used, if ever, in small and targeted applications.

The research also found that those who adopted wildlife-friendly practices such as planting

native shrubs and flowers, or digging a wildlife pond, saw more birds than those who did not.

Cannelle Tassin de Montaigu, a PhD researcher within the school of life sciences and an author of

the study, said, “It’s encouraging to find that simple measures, such as planting native shrubs and

trees and creating a pond, together with avoiding the use of pesticides, really make a measurable

difference to the number of birds you will see in your garden.”

303

．

What does the underlined word “halt” in paragraph 1 most probably mean?

A

．

Stop. B

．

Attract. C

．

Note. D

．

Witness.