2020-2021全国备战高考英语阅读理解的综合备战高考真题汇总含答案

一、高中英语阅读理解

1．阅读理解

If you're a fan of smart technology, you may have had some sleepless nights lately. That's because Alexa, the artificial intelligence (AI) behind US company Amazon's Echo smart speakers, has been "letting out an unprompted (自发的),creepy (令人毛骨悚然的)cackle for no apparent reason, according to BBC News.

Many social media users shared their stories of Alexa scaring them with the seemingly unprompted laugh.

"Every time Alexa laughs, an angel dies," Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk joked on social media.

On March 7, Amazon released an update that fixed the problem, saying that the laugh was caused by Echo devices mistakenly thinking that users had said the command " Alexa, laugh".

However, what should have been a funny story raised the ongoing topic of man versus machine. With the rise of artificial and robotic technology, "Digital machines started to demonstrate broad abilities in pattern recognition, complex communication, and other area that used to be particularly human," wrote Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee in their book The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. They believe that AI will "do more and more, and our lives will get better".

However, ever since the earliest days of AI there have been concerns that some day, software will take over the world, leaving the fate of humans unknown.

"With artificial intelligence we are order the demon (魔鬼)Musk told students during a meeting at MIT in 2014. "If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably that. So we need to be very careful

Many scientists have shared the same concern. The late British physicist Stephen Hawking said at a technology conference in Portugal in November that "computers can. in theory, imitate human intelligence, and exceed it ••• AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilization."

If creators are to safely control AL however, Hawking suggested that they "employ best practice and effective management".

I am an optimist and I believe that we can create AI for the good of the world," he said at the conference. "We simply need to be aware of the dangers, identify them, employ the best possible practice and management, and prepare for its consequences well in advance."

（1）What does the underlined word "cackle" in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A.movement

ughter

C.scream

D.story

（2）The story of Alexa is intended to .

A.lead into the discussion about humans and AI

B.prove artificial intelligence has its weaknesses