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In that peaceful seaside town, the sunlight was sprinkled on the scattered and orderly houses, and the sea breeze gently blew the palm trees on the street. Tom, a 17-year-old boy, lived in this place of the ocean atmosphere. Since he was a child, he had been fascinated by the boundless sea. Tom's father was a determined fisherman who had been with the sea all year round. Every time his father returned from a sea voyage, he would tell him the adventures at sea. These stories were like magic seeds, planting a deep love for the sea in Tom's heart. The small sailboat named "Seagull" in Tom's family carried countless childhood memories of his. Every scratch on the weathered boat recorded the adventure time they spent together.

One morning, as the sun was just peeking over the horizon, Tom received an invitation. It was from the local sailing club, inviting him to participate in a challenging long-distance sailing race that would take place in two weeks. The race promised not only a handsome trophy (奖杯) but also a scholarship to a top maritime (海事的) academy, which could help him achieve his dream of becoming a professional sailor.

At first, Tom was overjoyed. His eyes sparkled with excitement as he imagined himself driving his Seagull through the waves with grace and finally across the finish line. However, as the day progressed, doubts began to creep into his mind. He remembered the last time when he participated in a similar race, strong wind howled and the Seagull shook violently in the waves. Although he managed to complete the race, the fear of that frightening moment still lingered.

That night, Tom lay in bed, listening to the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore. He tossed and turned, with the vision of victory and the fear of the storm flashing in his mind. On one hand, he imagined himself standing on the podium (领奖台), accepting the cheers from the crowd. On the other hand, the memory of the storm and the fear of facing another dangerous situation made his heart tighten suddenly.

注意：

1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；

2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Paragraph 1:

The next day, Tom went down to the harbor where the Seagull was docked.

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Paragraph 2:

Finally, the day of the race arrived.

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(1)表达看法;

(2)你的建议。

注意：1. 词数80左右;

2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Sir or Madam,

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Yours,

Li Hua

Recently, Adam Clancy, a chemist at University College London has published the recipe for a sort of pasta (意大利面) — "nanotini", is only 372 nanometers wide and is only comprised two ingredients: flour and formic acid (甲酸). Clancy says it is skinniest pasta yet made, but he doesn't intend to create special s for Italian restaurants. Instead, his team are conducting research on starch (淀粉) nanofibers to make better bandages.

Ideal wound dressings aren't simple (barrier). They should also speed recovery. Starch nanofibers from plants have such advantages. Starch nanofibers can help the wound heal (incredible) faster than common ones. Because starch can promote the cells around injuries to grow. Also, starch has another natural strength. (extract) from green plants, it is one of the most common organic substances on the planet.

Previously, nanofibers (produce) from purified starch from corn and rice. This is the first time (employ) white flour. To make it, Clancy' s team first put the flour in acid. It broke up the starch bits so they could turn into thin strings. Next was a delicate, hours-long sequence of (heat) and cooling. followed was a complex process using electric charge. Finally, as the acid dried quickly in the air, the starch chains formed solid and the world's smallest pasta was born.

After returning to Venice, the brothers planned another journey to China. This time, they brought Marco. In 1271, they4. After three and a half years of traveling through Central Asia, the Polos eventually reached their5. Marco, then aged 21, became one of the few to be received by Kublai Khan. During their 17 years of stay in China, Marco was sent on many journeys around the country and its6 lands. In 1295 after7 numerous hardships, they returned home.

Marco' s8 of his journey, called The Travels of Marco Polo, became a best-seller due to its new9 into a distant part of the world. The information Marco10 offered readers fantastic details about the11 places. The book also12 practical information which13 to merchants who were interested in international trade. The improvement of maps of East Asia motivated navigation from west to east and14 trade relations. Henceforth, cooperation and trade between the East and West began to15.

You may have experienced the situation where someone staring at you, such as when you're quietly seated on a bus, only to find that the person across from you is looking at your feet. Did you put on two different shoes? No, you check your shoes — both are the same.

A new study by Hannah Scott and colleagues from the University of London suggested that people stare because faces, especially the eyes, provide many useful non-verbal clues about a person's mental state. Observing what others look at offers a glimpse into their thoughts.

The study also found that people may focus on others' lips during talks. If you feel someone's gaze on your mouth while speaking, it's likely not an indication of romantic interest, but rather that they might not hear you well. Similarly, people may look at your hands when you gesture. As they may be trying to understand your actions when you are talking or performing a task.

The study showed that people tend to direct their gaze at the part of the body that provides the most information. They get the audience to focus on their faces while performing hand tricks. This technique helps switch attention from their hands during card tricks or coin magic.

Scott's study concluded that people are not naturally biased to focus on someone's face. Instead, they are drawn to the body parts that provide the most relevant information. But when someone is performing a manual task, it's the hands that draw the gaze. This also explains why magicians often talk to engage their audience's attention on their faces while performing tricks with their hands.

A. So, what causes such stares?

B. But it's not just eyes that draw stares.

C. The eyes, contain socially relevant information.

D. This explains how magicians apply misdirection.

E. If someone is speaking, the eyes attract attention.

F. Sometimes, such intense stares can make us feel uneasy.

G. The way people talk can also attract stares during conversations.

But what exactly is an AI agent? As a computer scientist, I offer this definition: AI agents are technological tools that can learn a lot about a given environment, and then — with a few simple prompts from a human — work to solve problems or perform specific tasks in that environment.

Simple AI agents can be taught to reply to standard questions sent over email. More advanced ones can book airline and hotel tickets for transcontinental business trips. Take Google's Project Mariner as a typical example. Recently, Google demonstrated it to reporters. It's a browser extension for Chrome that can reason about the text and images on your screen. In the demonstration, the agent helped plan a meal by adding items to a shopping cart on a grocery chain's website, even finding substitutes when certain ingredients were not available. A person still needs to be involved to finalize the purchase, but the agent can be instructed to take all of the necessary steps up to that point.

Actually, many of today's AI agents tend to be utility (实用) based, meaning they give more consideration to how to achieve their goals by themselves. They weigh the risks and benefits of each possible approach before deciding how to proceed. They are also capable of considering goals that conflict with each other and deciding which one is more important to achieve. They go beyond goal-based agents by prioritizing their users' unique preferences.

However, a breach (违反) of an AI agent's system could cause private information about your life and finances to fall into the wrong hands. Are you OK taking these risks if it means that agents can save you some work? What happens when AI agents make a poor choice, or a choice that its user would disagree with? Currently, developers of AI agents are keeping humans in the loop, making sure people have an opportunity to check an agent's work before any final decisions are made.

When a squirting cucumber is ready to spread its seeds, it's like a little explosion. The whole process is super fast, lasting only about 0.03 seconds. The green fruit, which is about 1.6 inches long when ripe, shoots out a mixture of seeds and sticky liquid. It does this at a speed of around 45miles per hour, and the seeds can go as far as 33 feet away.

A long time ago, in the Roman Empire, a naturalist named Pliny the Elder first wrote about these squirting cucumbers. He warned that the seeds shooting out could be dangerous for the eyes. In the 19th century, studies started to explore its high-pressure seed spray, yet many details remained unclear. Now, Scientists used special cameras like high-speed video and time-lapse photography. They also did CT scans and made 3D models for in-depth study.

What they found is that before the seeds shoot out, a lot is happening inside the cucumber. As it fills up with fluid, some of that fluid goes into the stem. This makes the stem thicker and stiffer, and the fruit changes from hanging straight down to an angle of about 45 degrees. Shooting seeds from this angle helps them go farther. Also, when the stem detaches (分离) from the fruit, it gives the fruit a spin, which spreads the seeds out in a wider arc, increasing the chance of new plant growth.

"Scientists often look to model organisms (生物) — certain species that are well-studied. But there's also much to be learned by studying outliers that receive less attention, such as the squirting cucumber", Hay, a German scientist, said. "Many interesting traits are not found inmodel organisms," she noted. "This new study shows how we can learn from diversity."