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Our brains have an "auto-correct" feature that we use when re-interpreting (重新解释) ambiguous sounds according to new research. The study sheds light on how the brain uses information gathered after the discovering of an initial sound to aid speech comprehension. The findings point to new ways we use information and context to aid in speech comprehension.

"What a person thinks they hear does not always match the actual signals that reach the ear, " explains lead author Laura Gwilliams. "This is because the brain re-evaluates the interpretation of a speech sound at the moment each following speech sound is heard in order to update interpretations as necessary, " Gwilliams says.

It's well known that the perception of a speech sound is determined by its surrounding context — in the form of words, sentences and other speech sounds. This plays out in everyday life — when we talk, the actual speech we produce is often ambiguous. For example, when a friend says she has a "dent (凹痕)" in her car, you may hear "tent". Although this kind of ambiguity happens regularly, we, as listeners, are hardly aware of it. "This is because the brain automatically resolves the ambiguity for us — it picks an interpretation and that's what we perceive to hear, " explains Gwilliams. "The way the brain does this is by using the surrounding context to narrow down the possibilities of what the speaker may mean. "

In the study, the researchers sought to understand how the brain uses this following information to adjust our perception of what we initially heard. To do this, they conducted a series of experiments in which the subjects listened to isolated syllables and similarly sounding words. Their results produced three primary findings: The brain's primary auditory cortex (听觉皮层) is sensitive to how ambiguous a speech sound is at just 50 milliseconds after the sound's appearance. The brain "replays" previous speech sounds while interpreting the following ones, suggesting re-evaluation as the rest of the word unfolds. The brain makes commitments to its "best guess" of how to interpret the signal after about half a second.

Robots are often cast in popular science fiction as the bad characters that take over the world and enslave mankind. But with the beginning of some serious diseases, robots are increasingly being employed as helpers, taking on often dull, difficult and dangerous tasks and thus reducing humans' exposure to some terrifying virus. 

In the United States, two of the main ways in which robotic technology is being used in the hospitals are to disinfect(消毒）hospital rooms and act as a telemedicine portal, allowing doctors and health care workers to communicate via video conference directly with patients without unnecessarily exposing themselves to those highly infectious virus. 

In Boston, doctors, researchers and robotics engineers have teamed up to bring a friendly, dog-like, four-legged robot named Spot into Brigham and Women' s Hospital, allowing doctors to communicate with patients via telemedicine. 

In March, at the start of the pandemic, a league from hospital, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Spot's manufacturer-Boston Dynamnics, began testing the robot's design to enable Spot to communicate with patients, thus reducing the exposure of frontline health care workers to the virus. In the place of a head, Spot has an iPad affixed to a stand, allowing doctors to conduct telemedicine services with their patients. 

"Most people actually really like it, " says Dr. Peter Chai, an emergency medicine physician who serves as the hospital's chief researcher on the robot project.

Researchers are working to increase the robot's diagnostic abilities, enabling it to measure the patients temperature and his or her respiratory rate (呼吸率）. 

Chai predicts that hospitals will continue to find more ways to use robots, and tie wonders whether robots can deliver supplies to rooms or see patients with other infectious diseases

I've been into volunteer work since childhood. As a girl, I volunteered at animal shelters, played music at nursing homes, and helped with community cleanup. In college, I volunteered heavily at a large yearly conference (会议), where I first met and fell in love with my husband Tom, who was on my team of co-volunteers.

Volunteering has been a way of life for me and I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it. Most of the time, you do feel that you're making a difference. Once I led a project that provided food to Syrian families. When it was nearing Ramadan, the biggest holiday season in Islam, I filled the food package with nuts, olive oil, sweets. . . We took the package and arrived just as a Syrian family was sitting on their floor for breakfast. They had nothing but some bread and a pot of tea. The mother cried when seeing us, saying she would never forget our kindness gratefully.

Another time, some friends and I volunteered to a church with only a few elderly residents. The churchyard needed attention. We spent the weekend in the home of one of these old ladies so we could clean and repair the churchyard. I'll never forget the new life in her eyes as she stayed with us. It broke my heart to remember this old lady with pleasure for such small efforts we made.

Volunteer work is satisfying not because you have done some work, but because your presence has an effect on people around. It makes me grateful for what I have and gives me a chance to serve people. 

A SPECIAL DAY

When the 6 a. m. alarm went off on Father's Day, Helen's parents were awakened with a loud bang as she smashed （打碎） the piggy bank with hammer. "What's wrong?" exclaimed by Helen's mother, but Helen said it was a secret. She picked up the money on the ground, and rushed to the shoe cabinet to find father's shoes secretly. Ten minutes later, Helen came out of the door with a piece of paper in her hand without telling anyone.

Helen hurried to a shoe shop and said to the salesman, "I want to buy a pair of shoes for adults. Can you recommend one for me?" The salesman said, "What size do you want?" Helen immediately took a piece of paper out of her bag and gave it to the assistant. "Why are there shoes prints on the paper?" asked by the clerk curiously. Helen said, "It was my little idea. I drew a picture of my dad's shoes with a pen, and it was a great way to get the right shoes for him without letting him know." At the salesman's recommendation, Helen chose a pair of shoes, because her father had not bought a pair of good shoes for a long time, and his shoes were worn out and always wet on rainy days. The salesman took different sizes of shoes to make a comparison with the shoes on the paper, and finally decided on the right size. Then he smiled and handed it to Helen.

Helen took out a pile of one-dollar coins from her bag, and said to the clerk, "Here is all the pocket money I have saved." The salesman was amazed by this 6-year-old girl when counting the coins. He said to Helen, "Your money is just enough, you are a good girl and your father will be very happy for that."

注意：1、所续写短文的词数应为150词左右；2、续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。

Paragraph 1: 

When Helen returned home, she found her father standing at the door, angry but worried.

Paragraph 2: 

Helen took out the new shoes for her father from her bag. 

注意：1．词数80左右；2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

参考词汇：文化冲击culture shock

Dear Lily,

……

Yours,

Li Hua

Sharifkhuja has loved Chinese movies and culture since childhood. His father is also a huge fan of China. Before his （graduate）from high school, Sharifkhuja's father thought that his son was an （ambition）person and suggested that he go to China to learn Chinese in the future. Having studied Chinese for two years in Tajikistan, Sharifkhuja finally came to China （pursue） his dream.

Up to now, Chinese language and calligraphy （become）part of his life. In his first calligraphy class, Sharifkhuja said that writing with brushes was  amazing experience, which could help him feel the spirit of Chinese culture. Besides,  he enjoy s most is traditional Chinese music. Sharifkhuja is willing to share his experience in China with （he）family and friends and introduce Tajik culture to his Chinese pals.

Having stayed in China for many years, he hopes to work in the embassy（大使馆） a cultural ambassador between the two countries. Meanwhile, he also plans to return home as a Chinese teacher because  （use）the skills he acquired in China to improve the education of his motherland is one of his dreams.

However, no matter what Sharifkhuja chooses, his future will be （close）related to Chinese.

Whenever I visited my grandfather Jack, he burst with questions. Each time I 1 , however, his face would settle into a puzzled expression. He'd leaned closer. My 2 grew louder and louder until I was practically shouting at him. Then he raised his hands, and 3 me away with a resigned sigh.

Jack loved company, and loved having long 4 . But by the time he turned 80, more than 70% of his 5  was gone. Jack spent thousands on medical-grade hearing aids. They were functional, but made all noises loud. The devices became even less 6  as his ears got worse and worse. Simple conversations were 7  in shouting matches and frustration. Phone calls were impossible, either.

When I visited him in the fall of 2022,18 a pair of earphones. The earphones had a new 9 that lets a mobile phone transmit audio from the microphone directly to compatible（兼容的）hearing aids working with an app. I put them in my grandfather's ears, 10 the app on my phone and spoke into it. Then I watched Jack no d his head in 11 . He understood my words! And when he responded 12 and in complete sentences, it felt like a 13 had closed. Both of us were excited. For the first time in years, Jack and I talked clearly.

These days, Jack and his new earphones are 14 . He's fa r less lonely. He can finally meet people again and 15 entire conversations, as long as they speak into his phone. He is smiling the biggest smile I have seen on his face in years.

Taking a holiday doesn't mean letting go of all the eco-friendly choices. There are many ways you can have a much-deserved break without harming the environment.

Forget planes. While most forms of transport produce carbon dioxide, planes have a massive carbon footprint because of the huge number of miles they travel. Many of us ignore the endless beautiful scenery around us. There's the outstanding beauty of the Mississippi River.

Alternatively, you can drive your car to the Grand Canyon to see its splendor.

Pack with care.  All of their bottles, from shampoo and conditioner to body wash and moisturizer（润肤霜）, are now made from recycled plastic that can be repurposed again and again so no new plastic is produced. And their iconic soap bars now also come in plastic-free packaging.

Hotels can be huge producers of greenhouse gases. Think about the water that's wasted and all the buffet food that goes uneaten. So choose an eco-friendly option instead. Camping and a home stay —where you live with a family in their own home — are two of the best options. But if you insist on staying in the hotel, pick one made from sustainable materials.

Buy gifts responsibly. Bringing back gifts for friends and loved ones is part of the fun of a holiday. Avoid anything plastic, or if it is plastic, make sure it is 100% recyclable, and make sure your friends will love whatever you give them so it isn't just thrown in the bin headed for landfill.

A．Consider green accommodation.

B．But make sure you choose items carefully.

C．Think about living in an eco-friendly hotel.

D．It's also acceptable to live in a hotel using new energy.

E．So why not give up flying in favor of a holiday closer to home?

F．Take environmentally-friendly beauty and bath products with you.

G．So why do planes consume so much fuel compared with other transport?

Can you imagine what you wear can reveal a story about you?

Recent research shows that you can tell a lot about someone's personality, politics, status, age and income just from looking at a photo of their shoes or clothes. Did you ever notice that when former US president Barack Obama addressed a crowd of working class Americans, he would speak with no jacket and his sleeves rolled up? That silently and instantly communicated to the audience that he too was a hard worker.

When you're dressing or grooming, consider what it says about you and whether it's in line with the message you want to communicate. There's no right or wrong. It's all about context（情景）. A tie can make you look reliable and rooted in tradition. This might be important at an investment firm, where clients want to know that you're serious about managing their capital, a formal party like meeting the elders or even a wedding ceremony. But it can also come off as stuffy（刻板的）and resistant to change, which may be inappropriate for a newly-built tech company.

Of course, dressing smart is also important for your confidence and sense of self-empowerment. But your style does more than just send messages, to your mind or to others. New research shows it actually impacts how you think. Professional dress, one study found, increases abstract thinking and gives people a broader perspective. So that tie might actually be switching on your creativity button. "The formality（正式）of clothing might not only influence the way others perceive a person, and how people perceive themselves, but also could influence decision making in important ways through its influence on processing style," the study says. Professional clothes create social distance. When we are more socially distant, we tend to think in more distant, abstract terms.

Taking intentional command of how you dress and present is a good step in empowering yourself, accomplishing your goals, and living a more lucid life at the helm of your decisions. So pay attention!

In South Korea, students should pay for everything they learn in classes from K-pop auditions to real estate deals. Now, top Korean firms are introducing artificial intelligence in hiring and job seekers want to learn how to defeat the robots to get a job.

Many major South Korean companies like SK Innovation and Hyundai use AI in hiring, which generates classes for AI hiring booming fast. Career advisor Park Seong-jung is now offering a three-hour training course in handling recruitment, screening by computers, not people.

Preparing for such tests doesn't necessarily involve simply memorizing answers. "Don't force a smile with your lips," Park Seong-jung told students looking for work in a recent session, one of many in which he said he has conducted for hundreds of people. "Smile with your eyes."

One AI video system review ed by Reuters asks candidates to introduce themselves, during which it spots and counts facial expressions including "fear" and "joy" and analyses word choices. It then asks questions that can be tough: "You are on a business trip with your boss and you spot him using the company credit card to buy himself a gift. What will you say?"

Kim Seok-wu, a 22-year-old senior at a top university, recently failed to get beyond an AI interview for a management position at a retail company. "I think I will feel hopeless if all companies go AI for hiring," Kim said. "The AI interview is too new, so job hunters don't know what to prepare for and any preparations seem meaningless since AI will read our faces if we make something up."

Tony Gemignani started rolling pizza dough（面团）when he was 17. "I loved it and customers loved it," said Gemignani.

More than three decades later, Gemignani, now 49, is a famous pizza acrobat（杂技演员）with 13 world titles. He has also won several Guinness World Records.

Pizza acrobatics（杂技） has been around since the 1980s. The sport is throwing stretched pizza dough in the air and using it to perform exciting tricks. Seeming to have no gravity（引力）, the do ugh is thrown straight into the air in perfect round plate.

It might seem like an unusual hobby, but throwing pizzas is no joke. Like other com-petitive sports, it requires focus, physical strength, and—perhaps most importantly—practice. Lots of practice.

"It's difficult. You need to move quickly and easily," said Gemignani, who initially practiced turning pizzas with wet towels, which he cut and attached together to form a 16-inch circle. "It takes a bit of perseverance（毅力）."

Also, he added, pizza dough can be easily broken. For example, warm weather makes dough softer, which is easier to tear in midair. "It's flexible, it can tear, and it changes shape," Gemignani said. However, the challenge is part of what attracts Gemignani to the sport.

Although Gemignani has performed thousands of times, "I still get nervous," he said. In addition to competition, he has traveled from London to Thailand—throwing pizzas at cancer camps, local festivals, sports games, talk shows, and other gatherings large and small. He especially loves performing for children. "It's so rewarding," said Gemignani, who has an 8-year-old son.

"I could never get tired of pizza," said Gemignani. "Pizza always takes you back to a time when things in life were much simpler," he said. "No stress. It's all about eating good food and having a good time."

Here are some of the best shopping malls in the world.

Mall of America （Minnesota, the United States）

It isn't just a shopping center; it's a destination. There are more than 520 stores,50 restaurants, more than 30 specialty（特产）food stores, 14 movie screens, a park, an aquarium, and other unique attractions like the LEGO Imagination Center. The mall is so large that it has its own Visitor's Guide.

West Edmonton Mall （Alberta, Canada）

The mall describes itself as "the greatest indoor show on earth". With over 800 stores, over 100 restaurants, an amusement park with roller coasters, a water park, a skating court, themed attractions, and hotels, you can spend your entire vacation within its walls. Shoppers at the West Edmonton Mall can enjoy everything from educational displays to dance parties.

Ala Moana （Hawaii, the United States）

Located in Honolulu, Hawaii, the mall owns a variety of unique features. It is the largest open-air mall. Swinging palm trees（棕桐树）and beautiful Hawaiian sun add to the atmosphere. Creating a Hawaiian experience seems to be part of its appeal because it offers a variety of events including daily classes, Hula shows, live Hawaiian music, and more. While you're there, also make sure to check out the Art Walk—a multi-million dollar collection of art.

Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel（Milan, Italy）

If antique（古老的）and period art is your thing, the Galleria Vitoria Emmanuele is a not-to-be-missed stop on your journey. Topped with glass round roofs, this masterpiece in architecture has interesting and significant history. Thought as one of the world's best shopping destinations, it is definitely known mostly for its ancient and splendid architecture, brand name stores, and historical significance.