How to get your tax refund
At the store
Get a Global Blue Tax Free Form. If you do not have a SHOP TAX FREE Card, see” How to fill in your Tax Free Forms.”
Make sure your Tax Free Form is filled in before arriving at the point of departure.
Remember no refund without:
Completed Receipts Customs Form attached validation(验证)
At the point of departure
For non-EU residents only Goods carried in checked-in luggage.
1. Check your luggage in at the check-in counter; tell the check-in clerk you need it back for Customs purposes.
2. Take the labelled luggage to Customs, show the goods, and have your Tax Free Forms stamped. 3. Cash in your stamped Form at the appropriate refund service provider.
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Goods carried in hand luggage:
1. Go to Customs after passport control, show the goods, and have your Tax Free Forms stamped. Please note: Customs clearance of goods in hand luggage can only take place at the last EU airport before you finally leave the EU.
2. Cash in your stamped Form at the appropriate bank counter or post it to the appropriate refund service provider.
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Allow time for the refund process. Go to Customs before or after check-in, see Refund Office list. Present your completed Tax Free Forms, receipts , passport , and purchased items to get a stamp.
Go to a Refund Office displaying the Global Blue logo(标识). Receive your refund paid to your credit card within five days or in cash.
In a rush? Mail your stamped and completed Tax Free Forms and receipts back to us in the
envelope provided and get your refund paid to your credit card within three weeks.
EU: European Union.
60. Whom is the above information intended for? A. EU residents who want to get their tax refunded. B. Non-EU residents who are going to travel in EU. C. EU residents who have Global Blue Tax Free Forms D. Non-EU residents who are leaving EU after purchase.
61. To get your tax refund , you need to ________ after having your luggage checked in if you’ve put your purchased goods in your check-in luggage.
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A. show your purchased goods to the check-in clerk B. cash in your stamped Form at the check-in counter C. take back your luggage to the Customs to get a stamp D. go to the Customs to fill in a form without the luggage. 62. What can be learned from the passage?
A. It’s a must to attach the receipts to the form to get your tax refund B. It’s unnecessary to show your passport to the Customs for a stamp C. You can get your refund in cash after posting your form if in a hurry D. You can get your refund by credit card at once at the appropriate counter.
( C )
A portrait created by artificial intelligence, or AI, made a historic
appearance on the auction(拍卖) block at Christie’s in New York City. It is the first artwork created by an algorithm(算法) to be offered for auction in the world of fine art.
The odd-looking painting of a fictitious man in a dark frockcoat left the auction block at Christie’s for a whopping US$432,500 on Oct. 25 in New York City.
The portrait — designed in the “Old Master” style reminiscent of European fine artists from centuries ago — only partially fills the canvas, leaving empty space around the central figure. It appears to represent a man with a blurred face, dressed in clothing similar to that worn by subjects painted by the Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn in the 17th century.
Of course, a computer didn’t automatically pick up a brush and become an artist. The AI that created the image had human programmers---a Parisian art collective called Obvious, Christie’s reported. Their cooperation, titled “Portrait of Edmond De Belamy, ” is part of a series of paintings of the fictional Belamy family and was expected to fetch $7,000 to $10,000, according to Christie’s.
To create the portrait, the Obvious team first fed the network a diet of 15,000 images painted between the 14th and 20th centuries, to train it to recognize visual elements in fine art, Obvious artists Hugo Caselles-Dupre’ told Christie’s. The algorithm that eventually created an original image had two parts that worked against each other, called the Generator (that makes the art) and a Discriminator(that tries to spot the difference between human-created and AI-created images), Caselles-Dupre’ explained: they called this AI “generate adversarial network”(GAN), Casells-Dupre’ explained.
GAN’s final image was then printed and framed, according to Obvious. At the bottome of the portrait is a mathematical formula(公式) representing the algorithm that created it, a nod to the relationship between the Generator and the Discriminator, Obvious artists wrote on the collective’s website.
The goal of the painting and of Obvious, also co-founded by Hugo Caselles-Dupre and Gauthier Vernier, was to prove “artificial intelligence can do more than operate driverless cars or transform manufacturing---it can be creative,” Consumer News and Business Channel reported.
Portraiture is a tough task for AI to take on, according to Christie’s, “since humans are highly
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accustomed to the curves and complexities of a face in a way that a machine cannot be.” This difficulty was part of Obvious’ thinking when they created the portrait.
“Edmond de Belamy” is one of eleven AI paintings made by Obvious.
63. It can be learned from the passage that the portrait “Edmond de Belamy”________. A. was sold at an unexpected high price B. was the first artwork sold at an auction C. is a painting created by means of brush D. is a man who once appeared at the auction 64. To create a portrait, AI needs to ________.
A. learn from plenty of images B. use an algorithm with many parts C. work against human painters D. recognize its human programmers 65. What can be conclude from the passage?
A. The mathematical formula at the bottom of the portrait is meaningless. B. The portrait was made to prove algorithms are able to imitate creativity C. It is more difficult for AI to operate driverless cars than to paint a portrait. D. AI is better at painting the curves and complexities of a face than a human 66. The passage mainly tells us that ________. A. AI will soon replace man in some fields B. an AI-created portrait sells high at an auction C. a proper algorithm is the key for AI to create art D. AI-created paintings are better received at auctions
Section C A. It’s that long-term exposure that experts find most worrisome. B. Car manufacturers are unaware of standards regulating air quality inside new cars. C. This is when components are still unstable and tend towards what is called off-gassing. D. Just reading a list of the substances is scary enough, and the danger of exposure is scarier still. E. The source of the smell so many buyers find appealing is in the various substances used in car construction. F. Fortunately, high concentrations of these compounds gradually disappear just a few months after manufacture.
Is New-car Smell Bad for Your Health?
The smell of a new car can be appealing in showrooms, for which there’s a good reason. That new car smell comes from a mixture of chemicals, some of which can be highly poisonous.
_____________. Many of these contain volatile(挥发性的) organic compounds(VOCs), some of which can be deadly in sufficient quantities. Others are just bad for you.
“It’s a chemical cocktail made up of lots of poisonous substances,” said Jeff Gearhart, Research Director of the Ecology Center in the US state of Michigan. The Ecology Center has been monitoring and testing chemical levels in the inside of the car for years, and has noted some improvement. But Gearhart says there is still work to be done.
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“There are over 200 chemical compounds found in vehicles,” he said. “Since these chemicals are not regulated, consumers have no way of knowing the dangers they face.”
___________ Immediate symptoms can range from a sore throat to headaches, dizziness, etc., depending on the sensitivity of an individual.
According to the US environmental Protection Agency, continued exposure to some of these can lead to reproductive impacts and damage to some organs and central nervous system----or even cancer.___________.
The danger is the greatest when the car is new, and the new car smell is most noticeable._________ It is the release of chemical vapours, which leads to the smell. Heat from a vehicle left in the sun can make matters worse, and speed up the chemical reaction. The danger is reduced over time, and experts say the worst is usually within about six months.
Experts advise the best thing that buyers can do to limit exposure is to keep the inside of the car well ventilated(通风的), especially during the first months of ownership. Park in the shade with the windows open when it’s safe to do so, or at least try to air it out before getting inside----especially on hot days.
IV. Summary Writing
Take Care of Your Spine (脊柱)
The spine stands at the center of your health, providing your body with structure and support. It also contains your spinal cord, a massive collection of nerves that sends electric signals from the rest of your body to your brain. Therefore, it’s important to take care of it.
Maintaining your good posture is one of the most important things you can do to keep your spine healthy. Proper posture means standing or sitting while keeping your spine straight, except for its natural curves. Posture comes into play even when you’re asleep. Sleeping on your side puts less stress on your spine than most other positions. Having a comfortable bed is also very important as sleeping in a position that isn’t comfortable can leave your back feeling sore the next day.
Exercise is also an important factor in the health of your spine. Staying still for too long---even if your posture is good---can be hard on your back. Especially if you work at a desk most of the day, it’s important to get up and stretch periodically. Stretches can help the muscles around your spine relax and allow bones to shift into better positions. Strength exercise with light weights or bodyweight exercises like pushups can also by strengthening the muscles around your spine. However, don’t overdo the exercise, as repeated motions can hurt the muscles around your spine.
Your diet also affects the health of your spine because many vitamins are necessary for bones and nerves. In particular, B vitamins help keep nerves healthy, so you may want to consider taking a supplement(补充物). Another important factor is vitamin D, which is essential for strong bones, but it’s also absorbed from sunlight, so it may help to do some of those back exercises outside.
V. Translation
Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets. 72. 科学家们惊叹于这些植物对城市环境的快速适应。（adaption） 73. 我妹妹的课堂笔记一向一目了然，值得学习。（enough）
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