How AI Will Impact the Future of Work and Life
AI, or artificial intelligence, seems to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue these days. While I’ve been aware of this major trend in tech development for a while, I’ve noticed AI appearing more and more as one of the most in-demand areas of expertise for job seekers.
I’m sure that for many of us, the term “AI” conjures up sci-fi fantasies or fear about robots taking over the world. The depictions of AI in the media have run the gamut, and while no one can predict exactly how it will evolve in the future, the current trends and developments paint a much different picture of how AI will become part of our lives.
In reality, AI is already at work all around us, impacting everything from our search results, to our online dating prospects, to the way we shop. Data shows that the use of AI in many sectors of business has grown by 270% over the last four years.
But what will AI mean for the future of work? As computers and technology have evolved, this has been one of the most pressing questions. As with many technological developments throughout history, the advancement of artificial intelligence has created fears that human workers will become obsolete.
The reality is probably a lot less dire, but maybe even more complicated.
What is AI?
Before we do a deep dive on the ways in which AI will impact the future of work, it’s important to start simple: what is AI? A straightforward definition from Britannica states that artificial intelligence is “the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.”
“AI” has become a catchall term to describe any advancements in computing, systems and technology in which computer programs can perform tasks or solve problems that require the kind of reason we associate with human intelligence, even learning from past processes.
This ability to learn is a key component of AI. Algorithms, like the dreaded Facebook algorithm that replaced all our friends with sponsored content, are often associated with AI.
AI will probably not make human workers obsolete, at least not for a long time.
1．According to the passage, what is “AI”?In some islands north of Scotland, head lice, which live on the hair or skin of people or animals, were a part of life. If the lice left their host, he became sick and feverish. Therefore, sick people had lice put in their hair intentionally. There was a method to their madness: As soon as the lice had settled in again, the patient improved. The story explains the confusion of cause and effect. If the lice leave the sick, it is because he has a fever and they simply get hot feet. When the fever breaks, they return. We may laugh at this story, but false causality misleads us practically every day.
Consider the headline: “Fact: Women Who Use Shampoo XYZ Every Day Have Stronger Hair.” This statement says very little—least of all, that the shampoo makes your hair stronger. It might simply be the other way round: Women with strong hair tend to use Shampoo XYZ—and perhaps that’s because it says “especially for thick hair” on the bottle.
A further example: Scientists found that long periods in the hospital did harm to patients. This was music to health insurers’ ears, who, of course, are keen to make stays as brief as possible. But, clearly, patients who are dismissed immediately are healthier than those who must stay on for treatment.
Recently I read that students get better grades at school if their homes contain a lot of books. This study was surely a shot in the arm for booksellers, but it is also an example of false causality. This simple truth is that educated parents tend to value their children’s education more than uneducated ones do. Plus, educated parents often have more books at home. In short, a dust-covered copy of War and Peace alone isn’t going to influence anyone’s grades; what counts is parents’ education levels, as well as their genes.
Another example of false causality was the supposed relationship between the birth rate and the numbers of stork (鹳) pairs in Germany. Both were in decline, and if you plot them on a graph, the two lines of development from 1965 to 1987 appeared almost the same. Does this mean the stork actually does bring babies? Obviously not, since this was a purely accidental connection.
In conclusion: Connection is not causality. Take a closer look at linked events: Sometimes what is presented as the cause turns out to be the effect, or just the other way around. And sometimes there is no link at all—just like with the storks and babies.
1．Which is an example of false causality?| A．Women with strong hair tend to use a certain shampoo. |
| B．Birth rate and the stork population are connected. |
| C．Longer periods in the hospital benefit patients. |
| D．Lice can make a person sick and feverish. |
| A．pain | B．defeat | C．guidance | D．encouragement |
| A．their homes are full of books | B．they have read War and Peace |
| C．their educated parents value education | D．their parents are successful booksellers |
| A．connections are pure accidents | B．cause and effect are interdependent |
| C．connections are mostly cause and effect | D．linked events may turn out to be unrelated |
Would you rather be an impressive employee in an ordinary firm, or land a role at the most well-known company in your industry?
The answer to that question might seem highly personal, based on factors like whether or not you are a competitive person and how much you enjoy a challenge. In fact, there’s another strong factor at play: People from different cultures react very differently to that question. The psychologists from the University of Michigan asked people theoretical questions about the decisions they take. Specifically, the researchers compared people with East Asian backgrounds and European American backgrounds. They found that Americans are much more likely to favor being a big fish in a small pond. East Asians, and specifically Chinese people, are much more likely than Americans to lean towards being a smaller fish in a bigger pond.
Researchers first asked 270 students at a large American university whether they would rather be a “big fish in a small pond” or the opposite. Of the students with East Asian American backgrounds, three quarters said they’d rather be a small fish, compared with just under 60% of students with European American backgrounds who said the same.
The researchers then compared American and Chinese adults. They asked the participants whether they would rather attend a top university but perform below average, and whether they would rather work for a top global company but do less well in comparison to their peers. Over half the Chinese adults chose the famous university, compared with just a third of Americans. In the case of the firms, well over half of people from both groups chose to do better at a less well-known firm, but Chinese people were still more likely to choose being a “small fish” than were Americans.
The final experiment sought to discover how American and Chinese people made judgments about whether they were succeeding. They found that Chinese people were more likely to compare their performance to the performance of people in other groups. Americans, meanwhile, were more likely to compare themselves to people within the same group, to judge whether or not they were doing well.
In East Asian cultures, it’s “not enough that you know you’re doing well in your school,” said Kaidi Wu, a PhD student in psychology who led the research. “It is much more important that other people — an outsider, a family relative, a future employer who has five seconds to glance through your resume — also recognize your academic excellence.”
America is the opposite: “Think about how many times themes like ‘You are your own person’ or ‘Stop worrying about what other people think’ course through song lyrics and self-help books,” Wu said, concluding: “The choices we make are the products of our culture.”
1．The psychologists from the University of Michigan find that ______.| A．Americans tend to achieve success in a big company |
| B．Chinese are likely to perform better in a big company |
| C．Americans prefer to shine in a relatively small company |
| D．Chinese are comfortable with working in a small company |
| A．compare different attitudes towards competition | B．find different views about personal success |
| C．judge performances of different groups | D．confirm which culture is better |
| A．his neighbors | B．his classmates | C．his teachers | D．his parents |
| A．plays a key role in people’s choice making | B．shows who we grow up to be in the future |
| C．is the most important factor behind success | D．determines students’ academic performance |
Yours,
Li Hua
Since it was discovered in the 1980’s, the tourism industry
It must be an exciting, joyful and
Jamil Jan Kochai moved to America from Afghanistan at age one. At home, his family only spoke Pashto (普什图语), so when he reached first grade in an English-speaking school, he was
Then came Ms. Lung, Kochai’s second-grade teacher, who quickly realized that Kochai was
Sadly, Kochai
In the meantime, Kochai was starting to go after a successful career in writing. He has received many writing
Two years ago, Lung’s husband, Allen Lung, happened to read an article Kochai wrote for a literary magazine that
Kochai cried when he heard his teacher’s voice. He told Ms. Lung everything he had achieved was all thanks to her. They planned to meet
However, that moment didn’t come until August 13, 2023, when Kochai was doing a book signing event for his new novel. Allen approached Kochai, introduced himself, and brought him over to reunite with Ms. Lung. “I didn’t know why I didn’t see her
“My father used to say that every child is a rocket filled with
| A．hardly | B．gradually | C．possibly | D．completely |
| A．playing | B．preparing | C．struggling | D．exercising |
| A．extra | B．difficult | C．boring | D．simple |
| A．hid | B．won | C．sold | D．packed |
| A．lost touch with | B．lived up to | C．kept up with | D．got close to |
| A．correct | B．practical | C．fruitless | D．risky |
| A．instruments | B．tips | C．materials | D．prizes |
| A．caring for | B．searching for | C．turning to | D．cheering up. |
| A．blamed | B．examined | C．amused | D．mentioned |
| A．trained | B．admired | C．charged | D．contacted |
| A．wife | B．cousin | C．niece | D．daughter |
| A．receive | B．call | C．consult | D．teach |
| A．in order | B．in general | C．in person | D．in case |
| A．earlier | B．later | C．closer | D．farther |
| A．air | B．water | C．fuel | D．paper |
For those of us who grew up watching Star Trek, exploring space has been about discovering strange new worlds. And there are plenty of worlds to explore in time, but we still need major technological advancements to reach planets that are light years away.
What we are doing in space today is providing unbelievable benefits right now, right here on Earth. From space, we can monitor, manage and care for our planet. Satellite-based sensors show us the short- and long-term effects of human activity on our environment. Many companies are using their interest in space to help solve problems here, from using hyperspectral imaging(高光谱成像), which enable us to map vegetation(植被) and rain forests, to microsatellites that provide global connectivity for the network of things.
My company, OneWeb, is focusing on what I believe is one of the world’s most important issues: the need for equal access to the Internet. The Internet has become our economic lifeblood. And yet, nearly half of the world’s population doesn’t have Internet access. Space is playing a key role in bridging this digital divide. OneWeb is launching 1,980 satellites to help bring Internet access to people everywhere, and our first production satellites are already flying in space and have shown very high download speeds.
Fiber and cable Internet access technologies already cover most financially viable(可行的) major cities. Similarly, these regions will also be the first to be served with 5G. Poor communities are the last to get connected, and without connectivity, those communities have no chance to lift themselves from poverty. OneWeb’s satellites will reach every community in the world and enable equal access to the Internet for the world’s less developed places.
Fifty years from the day when man first walked on the moon, we are still only approaching the possible. There will be tens of thousands of new satellites, space stations and factories in the coming years to bring advancements in communications, scientific research, monitoring the earth, exploring space and more. This is exciting, but we must take action carefully.
1．What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．Benefits space exploration can bring to us. |
| B．Problems space exploration leads to. |
| C．Steps of space exploration requires. |
| D．Equipment space exploration needs. |
| A．Increase download speeds. |
| B．Narrow the gap in Internet learning. |
| C．Help people set up and maintain a website. |
| D．Enable people to make use of the Internet equally. |
| A．More than six decades ago, man first walked on the moon. |
| B．More than half of the world’s people have no access to the Internet. |
| C．OneWeb’s satellites will make it possible for most people to be served with 5G. |
| D．Without the Internet, poor communities can hardly help themselves out of poverty. |
| A．The risks of furthering space exploration. |
| B．The value of setting up space stations. |
| C．The way we could monitor our earth. |
| D．The features of microsatellites. |
A British woman, Dr. Mantri, growing up in India started to notice her son, Dhruv, was struggling with simple math problems when he was in the fifth grade. After noticing this, she started using an abacus (算盘) to help her son visually (形象化地) understand mathematics.
“I would ask him something like 35 minus 13 but he ‘couldn’t’ do it,” said Dhruv’s mom Dr. Mantri. “I decided to change the way he looked at numbers,” she said. “An abacus is a tried and tested method, and the Egyptians used them for building the pyramid.” In just six days he started to make progress in using the abacus and would go on to become an outstanding kid with numbers, with even his classmates’ parents reaching out for help.
She never thought she would teach her son to use an abacus, which she used as a child in India and it was always helpful. Within six days she started to notice a difference and see results. So dramatic was the change that school staff asked him to perform with the abacus at a meeting, where some parents even came to ask for advice on using it for their kids.
IT specialist Dr. Mantri said the humble abacus can be used for calculations and kids enjoy learning on it because it’s like a game. “It becomes a playing tool for younger children, for it feels like a game. I think the success comes because children can touch and feel an abacus and visualize them,” she added.
By the age of 12, Dhruv was giving online cyber security class and is now pursuing a career in data science and analytics. Dhruv has now got an apprenticeship (实习) at an international firm. During the four-year apprenticeship, he will spend one day a week studying Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Glasgow Caledonian University. “He is so confident now and I am so proud,” Dr. Mantri said, with Dhruv adding, “I don’t think my teachers would have guessed that I would be following a career in data science at that time.”
1．Why did Dr. Mantri begin to use an abacus to teach his son?| A．Her son showed high interest in the toy abacus. |
| B．Her son had some difficulty in learning maths. |
| C．Her son had talent for numbers when young. |
| D．Her son once watched others use an abacus. |
| A．The abacus had been out of date now. |
| B．The abacus had a very long history. |
| C．The abacus was easy for most people to use. |
| D．The abacus was a challenge for her son. |
| A．The way to teach children to learn on an abacus. |
| B．The development and change of the abacus in history. |
| C．The reason why children would love to learn on an abacus. |
| D．The disadvantage of using an abacus to calculate an amount. |
| A．He is a full-time student at Glasgow Caledonian University. |
| B．He is expert in data science and analytics now. |
| C．He gives online cyber security class now. |
| D．He works in an international company. |
Pilates (普拉提), yoga and the running machine get all the attention when it comes to popular ways to keep fit. There is, however, a more humble exercise that might not be so attractive, but has all the benefits—walking.
Certified fitness professional Jolynn Jaekel explains, "What I love about walking is that anyone can do it at any age and any fitness level. Plus it is good for your heart, your head and your wallet.”
A recent report detailed the health benefits of walking. The report found that walking regularly to fulfill (执行,履行) the 150 minutes of moderate (适度的) physical exercise every week, recommended by the UK's chief medical officer, could save 37, 000 lives each year.
Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California found that quick walking reduced the risk of heart disease more effectively than running. They observed participants aged between 18 and 80 over a six-year period and found that walking reduced the risk of heart disease by 9.3%, while running reduced it by 4. 5%. And there is even more good news: 30 minutes of quick walking over five days could help you sleep easily, according to research by Oregon State University. The study by the university showed that walking helped participants sleep better and feel more alert during the day.
The sooner you get started, the sooner you'll notice the differences in your mind and body. So, go out for your 30-minute walk in a nearby park or green space.
1．What does the underlined word "humble" probably mean in the first paragraph?| A．relaxing | B．plain |
| C．popular | D．active |
| A．It's loved by people of all ages. |
| B．It's much healthier than running. |
| C．It's becoming more and more popular. |
| D．It's a money-saving physical exercise. |
| A．Walking helps people with sleep problems. |
| B．Walking contributes to curing heart disease. |
| C．Walking is better than running in some cases. |
| D．Walking 150 minutes per week can save lives. |
| A．Lifestyle | B．Comment |
| C．Education | D．Science |
I’m often asked how to study English effectively. I think this means getting the most out of your study time, and that means variety.
Study Every Day
It’s important to study English every day. However, don’t exaggerate (夸张)!
A Little Grammar, a Little Listening, a Little Reading, and a Little Writing.
Give yourself one grammar goal when reading a new article or watching a new video. For example, try to write down each example of a form you are studying such as the present perfect. Use colored pens to highlight (使.....突出) forms that you are studying.
Use Different Learning Methods
Don’t just use one way to study English. Use many kinds of methods which will make all the parts of your brain help you.
Find Some Friends
You can practice the exercises together, have conversations together (in English), and, as you study English together, help each other with exercises you may not understand.
| A．Forget Grammar |
| B．Review Grammar as You Watch or Read |
| C．Here are some simple exercises to help you warm up |
| D．Here are some basic ideas to help you as you study English |
| E．Study for thirty minutes every day instead of two hours once a week |
| F．Make sure that you study a number of areas rather than focusing on just one |
| G．For example, if you are learning new vocabulary, create a word map, describe a picture, make a list... |
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