相关试卷

The Age of Information is bulging: if you tried to download all the data available today, you'd need more than 180 million years to do so. But you are wrong to assume that all information would stimulate a boost of innovation to match the output of data. Indeed, the last time we found ourselves in a period of significant innovation was over 120 years ago, called the Age of Insight.

Innovations, big or small, start with a new idea. Often, these ideas occur as a moment of insight —the result of a novel connect ion in our brains made between existing and new information. Studies show insights involve quiet signals deep in the brain. Anything that helps us notice quiet signals can increase the chance of insights. However, it's becoming more challenging to find those signals today, every moment filled with an endless supply of content.

Besides, we also want to increase the quality of them to sort through big new ideas and find the really valuable ones that can be hard to measure. Launched in 2015, the Eureka Scale （尤里卡量表）allows us to assess the strength of our insight experiences on a five-point scale, namely, intense emotions, motivation, memory advantage, aftershocks, and following ideas. The Scale combines these five variables into a single value to define the importance of a new idea and has broad applications for measuring and improving individual and organizational performance. Even it can be used to measure the impact of different kinds of work environments and learning approaches on participants' growth. The level-5 insight, involving the richest emotion, motivation, and lasting impact, holds the greatest significance.

In order for organizations to benefit from another age of insight, it's not enough to try to access more data or increase the number of insights we generate. Instead, it's about making space for the biggest ideas to emerge from all the information. Using the Scale as a way to measure how important ideas are will enable better decision-making toward practical and competitive outcomes. If we're to enter a new age of insight, we must make timely and necessary changes to design our environments for the best insight possible to surface.

In parts of Africa, people communicate with a wild bird—the greater honeyguide—to locate bee habitats and harvest honey. It's a rare example of cooperation between humans and wild animals, and a potential instance of cultural co-evolution. Brian Wood and Claire Spottiswoode were lead authors on a study showing how this valuable partnership is maintained and varies across cultures.

"Our study demonstrates the bird's ability to learn distinct voiced signals, expanding possibilities for mutually beneficial cooperation with people," Wood said. "Honeyguides seemingly know the landscape well, gathering knowledge about the location of bee nests and sharing with people who are eager for the bird's help," Spottiswood e said. The honeyguides also benefit from locating the colonies: They eat the leftover honeycomb.

Their study was done in cooperation with the Hadza in Tanzania and the Yao community of Mozambique. The prior work in both communities documented differences in how each culture attracts honeyguides. Among the Hadza, a honey-hunter announces a desire to partner with the bird by whistling. In Mozambique, Yao honey-hunters do so with a "Brr!"followed by a "hmm!"

Using mathematical models and audio playback experiments, the team studied these signals, their usefulness to people and their impacts on birds. They experimentally exposed honeyguides to the same prerecorded sounds, hoping to test whether honeyguides had learned to recognize and prefer the specialized signals local honey-hunters used or were naturally attracted to all such signals.

The honey guides in Tanzania were over three times more likely to cooperate when hearing the calls of local Hadza people than the calls of "foreign" Yao. Those in Mozambique were almost twice more likely to cooperate when hearing the local Yao call than the "foreign" Hadza whistles.

The study proposes that differences in honeyguide-attracting signals are not random, but make practical sense. While honey-hunting, both the Hadza and Yao come across mammals, but only the Hadza hunt them, using bows and arrows. The Hadza's hunting might explain the less notable whistles they use. Filmed interview s show Hadza hunters explaining they can escape being detected by their prey because their whistles "sound like birds." Contrarily, the signal the Yao use to communicate with the honeyguide can help scare off animals they find dangerous.

Working at a bank in New York City in the mid-2010s, Anna Sacks was not living the life she wanted. Sure, she was happy. But she wanted to do something that felt important.

Some people seeking meaning might read a self-help book or perhaps volunteer a few hours a week. Sacks packed up her life and moved to Connecticut to participate in Adamah, a farming program that focuses on sustainable living and growing sustainable food. When she return ed to New York, her life was with a new purpose and many new skills to make her dreams a reality.

"One of the things that really stuck with me from Adamah was how little waste they produced and how they handled the waste they did have, primarily through composting（堆肥）," she says. The Adamah program opened Sacks' eyes to the damage consumer culture is doing on a local, national, and global level, and the need to find solutions. So in 2017, she began what she calls "trash walking".

During. tours around her community, Sacks picks through garbage to look for reusable items. Soon, her "trash walking" expanded to include corporate trash along with residential trash. Surprisingly, she discovered a wide range of really great stuff—like clothing, decorations, and food —all of which she documents on TikTok.

Under the name The Trash Walker, Sacks quickly gained popularity for her videos that highlight the problems with consumerism. "The root issue is overproduction, which leads to overconsumption, which leads to a large amount of waste," she says.

The fact is, companies often choose to trash items rather than give them away to people who might need them. A big reason for this waste is the way our current tax laws are structured, Sacks says. Sellers who destroy goods can claim the cost as a loss on their taxes and be refunded. If they give away goods, they can claim only a small amount as a charitable reduction on their taxes.

Sacks' main focus is simply getting people to pay attention to how many unnecessary things they buy and then throw away. "Once you become aware of the way you consume, you can see ways you improve," she says.

From: Bridget Pecolini <bpecolini@mathcontest.com>

To: Anson Wong <mransonwong@email.com>

Re: Questions about online math contest

Date: February 18, 2024.

Dear Mr. Wong,

Thank you for your email. We're so glad your child is signed up to participate in our math contest. I hope it will be a rewarding and enriching experience for him.

You can access the training session and practice tests by logging into our website at www.mathcontest.com. Once you're signed in, you will see several tabs on the left-hand side.

One of them will say "Enrolled." If you click on the drop-down menu there, you'll find the name of the child you registered. If you click on the name, you'll be given the option of joining a training session or doing practice tests. Of course, you can choose neither.

I hope that answers your question!

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Sincerely,

Bridget Pecolini

My story started one autumn morning, at the bend on a path.

I was 13 years old, and was on the way to school. It was the first time I had caught sight of a fox. Fascinated to the point that I forgot all fear, I dared to go up to it. I had never come so close to a wild animal. There was nobody else around, only me and the fox.

"Hey, fox!" I tried to greet it, though my voice was so weak it felt like I was saying hello to myself. It didn't hear me. It stayed there and I watched it. My heart was beating flat out. It was so cute. For a moment, I thought I might be able to touch it.

Throughout the day at school, I could only think of the fox at the big beech（山毛榉）tree. At my return to the place where we met, I was sure I'd find it there.

And I did. This time I gathered a little bit more courage and called out to it, "Fox!" Of course it escaped. But that only made me long to meet it again. I decided that if I could find its kennel（洞）and catch it, I would try and tame（驯服）it, making it my friend.

Thus, I spent most of my free time in the forests trying to find the fox during the following months. But I never saw it again before winter came. During the winter, I followed its footprints far across the fields. Suddenly I was alarmed by the howling of wolves near me. I ran away frightened, stumbled and hurt my ankle. It healed very slowly, so that I had to stay at home during the winter, reading a book about animals of the forest and foxes.

When spring arrived, I was free again. I looked for fox kennels and waited for my fox. To my amazement, it had got young ones but kept moving because of my observations; therefore I decided to observe the fox from a longer distance.

注意：1.续写词数应为 150个左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

注意：1.写作词数应为80个左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Dear Patrick,

……

Yours,

Li Hua

Japan is a country known for its iconic landmarks, from ancient temples of Kyoto to neon-lit skyscrapers of Tokyo. However,  often goes unnoticed is the approach Japan （take）to beautify its manhole covers（窨井盖）since the 1980s. These metal plates, of which there are roughly 6,000, serve not only functional infrastructure but also as canvases showcasing cultural symbols.

Photographer Remo Camerota, documented these unique manhole covers in his book "Drainspotting," describes the experience of finding them as a treasure hunt. The designs on these manhole covers show Japan's （commit） to integrating functionality with art and culture. Each cover tells a story, whether it's representing a local festival, historical event, natural landscape.

The practice of decorating manhole covers has not only added touch of artistic genius to Japan's streets but has also become a popular tourist attraction. Visitors now （encourage）to seek out and appreciate these often overlooked pieces of urban art, adding a new dimension to their travel experiences.

Japan's （create）approach to decorating its manhole covers reflects the country's rich cultural heritage. These unique pieces of urban art are living proof of Japan's attention to detail and the importance placed on preserving and （celebrate）its cultural identity.

I'm a physical therapist（治疗师）for severely disabled children in the South Bronx. I had one student named Tamisha who was stuck in a wheelchair. She could 1 move her eyes. She couldn't speak, but I could basically 2 her mind.

Tamisha was very intelligent, and very humorous. If someone terribly dressed got on the elevator, she'd 3 her eyes and giggle. I'd have to 4 I didn't know what she was laughing in order to avoid embarrassing that person. We grew so close over the years. On Halloween I 5 her up as a butterfly, because that's how I saw her. She was 6 in this body, but she was a soul with so much depth and so much 7 .

When Tamisha graduated, my husband and I went to Home Depot and got paint, and butterflies, and rainbow decals（印花胶纸）. And we completely 8 her bedroom. We made her sleep in the living room 9 she wouldn't know it. But at the end of the weekend, when Tamisha's father carried her in, she started going wild. Her face 10 . She's making all kinds of sounds. Her father is holding her, and he's 11 . The makeover was a real 12 .

We've done about 20 of them now. Our process always begins with an 13 process. We ask the person: what makes you happy? What colors do you love? What are your favorite things? We let them design their 14 room. Then we become the 15 who bring that dream to life.

Advice on Choosing Your Career

You probably are very much concerned about which direction you take in your career, but before working through the process of generating and refining specific career choices, helicopter up to 10,000 feet from where you can view your overall career map, answer the big questions and set your overall direction. What is your aim? How long have you got? Remember that there are no right answers, only the best choice for you, based on what you know now.

Having laid out your overall map, set boundaries and defined your personal targets, you can then turn to practical issues.  Write down examples of how you demonstrate key employ ability skills such as team work, leadership, and communication.

 Go out and meet people, attend talks, go to relevant lectures, watch videos about industries and organizations, seek out websites that can give you objective and general career advice, for example, the open access Oxford university careers website.

Over time you can start to narrow down your choices and then choose one. 

In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off with a compass and direction, and a general destination of mapping the new Louisiana territories in America. But they had no exact map.  Your career will be much longer but, like Lewis and Clark, it is about direction, not destination.

A. Where, roughly, are you going?

B. Their successful expedition took two years.

C. In any event, you have a few years to explore.

D. Identify what you are good at, based on your skills and experiences.

E. That way, you'll be more focused and thus more likely to achieve your goal.

F. You are looking for a match to what might suit you now, but that changes over time.

G. Your care er project might take some time, as now you are probably short of information.

Turning around corners, weaving through traffic, every second matters. It is neither a street race nor a 007 chase, but the risky journey of a sushi（寿司）roll.

The streets of China are filled with delivery drivers racing noodles, sandwiches and soups across cities. While the everyday consumer may find these services convenient, most do not realize the true cost of their delivery. How much is that late-night snack really worth?

Strict time limits are the main concern for delivery drivers. The Chinese delivery app Meituan decreased the maximum time allowance from 50 minutes to 30 or even 20. Time literally means money: Surpassing the limit can result in fines, which are paid to the firm rather than to the consumers. Yet, beyond fines, there is often a great er cost. According to Pandaily News, one delivery worker is injured or killed in accidents every 2.5 days in Shanghai and, sadly, companies seldom provide insurance claims when their time limits lead to these consequences. Drivers are pushed to break traffic rules and risk their lives so your sushi is not a minute late.

Furthermore, low wages and extensive working hours exacerbate these issues. Some companies in China take advantage of the economic inequalities between China's large cities and less developed interior to offer extremely low pay to migrant delivery drivers while demanding long hours. Yet these long hours and low pay are common throughout the global delivery industry. In the United States, advertised earnings of $22 per hour are largely exaggerated while workers complain that food delivery apps rarely give them all their tips.

What is the solution? First, consumers should recognize what is behind their impossibly cheap and fast delivery: exploitation. We should expect more from the delivery app companies and less from their drivers. That is, we should pay more and wait longer while only ordering from companies who offer their drivers fair wages, insurance and a safe working environment. In the end, your sushi is just not worth it.