-
专题
18
阅读理解（科普类）
< br>-
备战
2021
年高考英语精选
考点
专项突破题集
学校
:___________
姓名：
________
___
班级：
___________
考号：
___________
一、阅读选择
As
data and identity theft becomes more and more
common, the market is growing
for
biometric(
生物测量
)
technologies
—
like
fingerprint scans
—
to keep
others out of private
e-spaces. At
present, these technologies are still expensive,
though.
Researchers from Georgia Tech
say that they have come up with a low-cost
device(
装置
)
that
gets around this problem: a smart keyboard. This
smart keyboard precisely measures the
cadence(
节奏
) with
which one types and the pressure fingers apply to
each key. The keyboard
could offer a
strong layer of security by analyzing things like
the force of a user’s typing and the
time between key presses. These
patterns are unique to each person. Thus, the
keyboard can
determine people’s
identities, and by extension, whether they should
be given access to the
computer it’s
connected to
—
regardless of
whether someone gets the password right.
It also doesn’t require a new type of
technology that people aren’t already familiar
with.
Everybody uses a keyboard and
everybody types differently.
In a study
describing the technology, the researchers had 100
volunteers type the word
“touch” four
times using the smart keyboard. Data collected
from the
device could be used to
recognize different participants based
on how they typed, with very low error rates. The
researchers say that the keyboard
should be pretty straightforward to commercialize
and is
mostly made of inexpensive,
plastic-like parts. The team hopes to make it to
market in the near
future.
1
．
Why do the
researchers develop the smart keyboard?
A
．
To reduce
pressure on keys.
C
．
To replace the
password system.
B
．
To improve
accuracy in typing.
D
．
To cut the cost
of e-space protection.
2
．
What makes the
invention of the smart keyboard
possible
?
A
．
Computers are
much easier to operate.
B
．
Fingerprint
scanning techniques develop fast.
C
．
Typing patterns
vary from person to person.
D
．
Data security
measures are guaranteed.
3
．
What do the
researchers expect of the smart
keyboard
?
A
．
It’ll be
environment
-friendly.
C
．
It’ll be made
of plastics.
4
．
Where is this
text most likely from?
A
．
A diary.
B
．
A
guidebook
B
．
It’ll
reach consumers soon.
D
．
It’ll help
speed up typing.
C
．
A novel.
D
．
A magazine.
Bacteria are an annoying problem for
astronauts. The
microorganisms(
微生物
) from
our bodies grow uncontrollably on
surfaces of the International Space Station, so
astronauts
spend hours cleaning them up
each week. How is NASA overcoming this very tiny
big problem?
It’s turni
ng to
a bunch of high school kids. But not just any
kids. It is depending on NASA
HUNCH
high school classrooms, like the one science
teachers Gene Gordon and Donna
Himmelberg lead at Fairport High School
in Fairport, New York.
HUNCH is
designed to connect high school classrooms with
NASA engineers. For the
past two years,
Gordon’s students have been studying ways to kill
bacteria in zero gravity, and
they
think they’re close to a
solution(
解决方案
). “We don’t
give the students any breaks. They
have
to do it jus
t like NASA engineers,”
says Florence Gold, a project manager.
“There are no tests,” Gordon says.
“There is no graded homework. There almost are no
grades, other than ‘Are you working
towards your goal?’ Basically, it’s ‘I’ve got to
produce this
product and then, at the
end of year, present it to
NASA
．
’ Engineers come and
really do an
in-person review,
and
...
it’s not a very nice
thing at times. It’s a hard business review of
your
product.”
Gordon says the HUNCH program has an
impact(
影响
) on college
admissions and
practical life skills.
“These kids are so absorbed in their studies that
I just sit back. I don’t teach.”
And
that annoying bacteria? Gordon says his students
are emailing daily with NASA engineers
about the problem, readying a workable
solution to test in space.
5
．
What do we know
about the bacteria in the International Space
Station?
A
．
They
are hard to get rid of.
C
．
They appear in
different forms.
B
．
They lead to
air pollution.
D
．
They damage the
instruments.
6
．
What is the
purpose of the HUNCH program?
A
．
To strengthen
teacher-student relationships.
B
．
To sharpen
students’ communication skills.
C
．
To allow
students to experience zero gravity.
D
．
To link space
technology with school education.
7
．
What do the
NASA engineers do for the students in the program?
A
．
Check their
product.
C
．
Adjust
work schedules.
8
．
What is the
best title for the text?
A
．
NASA: The Home
of Astronauts
B
．
Space: The
Final Homework Frontier
C
．
Nature: An
Outdoor Classroom
D
．
HUNCH: A
College Admission Reform
Monkeys seem to have a way with
numbers.
A team of researchers trained
three Rhesus monkeys to associate 26 clearly
different
symbols consisting of numbers
and selective letters with 0-25 drops of water or
juice as a
reward. The researchers then
tested how the monkeys
combined
—
or
added
—
the symbols to
get the reward.
Here’s how
Harvard Medical School scientist Margaret
Livingstone, who led the team,
described the experiment: In their
cages the monkeys were provided with touch
screens. On
one part of the screen, a
symbol would appear, and on the other side two
symbols inside a circle
were shown. For
example, the number 7 would flash on one side of
the screen and the other end
would have
9 and 8. If the monkeys touched the left side of
the screen they would be rewarded
with
seven drops of water or juice; if they went for
the circle, they would be rewarded with the
sum of the
numbers
—
17 in this example.
After running hundreds of tests, the
researchers noted that the monkeys would go for
the
higher values more than half the
time, indicating that they were performing a
calculation, not
just memorizing the
value of each combination.
When the
team examined the results of the experiment more
closely, they noticed that the
monkeys
tended to underestimate(
低估
)
a sum compared with a single symbol when the two
were close in
value
—
sometimes choosing,
for example, a 13 over the sum of 8 and 6. The
underestimation was systematic: When
adding two numbers, the monkeys always paid
attention to the larger of the two, and
then added only a
fraction(
小部分
) of the smaller
number
to it.
“This
indicates that there is a certain way quantity is
represented in their brains, ”Dr.
Livingstone says. “But in this
experiment what they’re doing is paying more
attention to
the big
B
．
Guide project
designs.
D
．
Grade
their homework.
number than the little
one.”
9
．
What did the
researchers do to the monkeys before testing them?
A
．
They fed them.
C
．
They trained
them.
B
．
They
named them.
D
．
They measured
them.
10
．
How did
the monkeys get their reward in the experiment?
A
．
By drawing a
circle.
C
．
By
watching videos.
B
．
By touching a
screen.
D
．
By
mixing two drinks.
11
．
What did
Livingstone’s team find about the
monkeys?
A
．
They could
perform basic addition.
C
．
They could
memorize numbers easily.
B
．
They could
understand simple words.
D
．
They could hold
their attention for long.
12
．
In which
section of a newspaper may this text appear?
A
．
Entertainment.
California has lost half
its big trees since the 1930s, according to a
study to be
published Tuesday and
climate change seems to be a major
factor(
因素
).
The
number of trees larger than two feet across has
declined by 50 percent on more than
46,
000 square miles of California forests, the new
study finds. No area was spared or
unaffected, from the foggy northern
coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San
Gabriels
above Los Angeles. In the
Sierra high country, the number of big trees has
fallen by more than
55 percent; in
parts of southern California the decline was
nearly 75 percent.
Many factors
contributed to the decline, said Patrick McIntyre,
an ecologist who was the
lead author of
the study. Woodcutters targeted big trees. Housing
development pushed into the
woods.
Aggressive wildfire control has left California
forests crowded with small trees that
compete with big trees for
resources(
资源
).
But in comparing a study of California
forests done in the 1920s and 1930s with another
one between 2001 and 2010, McIntyre and
his colleagues documented a widespread death of
big trees that was evident even in
wildlands protected from woodcutting or
development.
The loss of big trees was
greatest in areas where trees had suffered the
greatest water
shortage. The
researchers figured out water stress with a
computer model that calculated how
much
water trees were getting in comparison with how
much they needed, taking into account
such things as rainfall, air
temperature, dampness of soil, and the timing of
snowmelt(
融雪
).
Since the 1930s, McIntyre said, the
biggest factors driving up water stress in the
state have
B
．
Health.
C
．
Education.
D
．
Science.
been rising temperatures, which cause
trees to lose more water to the air, and earlier
snowmelt,
which reduces the water
supply available to trees during the dry season.
13
．
What is the
second paragraph mainly about?
A
．
The seriousness
of big-tree loss in California.
B
．
The increasing
variety of California big trees.
C
．
The
distribution of big trees in California forests.
D
．
The influence
of farming on big trees in California.
14
．
Which of the
following is well-intentioned but may be bad for
big trees?
A
．
Ecological
studies of forests.
B
．
Banning
woodcutting.
C
．
Limiting
housing development.
D
．
Fire control
measures.
15
．
What
is a major cause of the water shortage according
to McIntyre?
A
．
Inadequate
snowmelt.
C
．
A
warmer climate.
16
．
What can be a
suitable title for the text?
A
．
California’s
Forests: Where Have All the Big Trees
Gone?
B
．
Cutting of Big
Trees to Be Prohibited in California Soon
C
．
Why Are the Big
Trees Important to California Forests?
D
．
Patrick
McIntyre: Grow More Big Trees in California
By the end of the
century
，
if not
sooner
，
the world’s oceans
will be bluer and greener
thanks to a
warming climate
，
according to
a new study.
At the heart of the
phenomenon lie tiny marine
microorganisms(
海洋微生物
) called
phytoplankton. Because of the way light
reflects off the
organisms
，
these
phytoplankton create
colourful patterns
at the ocean surface. Ocean colour varies from
green to blue
，
depending on
the type and concentration of
phytoplankton. Climate change will fuel the growth
of
phytoplankton in some
areas
，
while reducing it in
other spots
，
leading to
changes in the ocean's
appearance.
Phytoplankton live at the ocean
surface
，
where they pull
carbon dioxide(
二氧化碳
) into
the ocean while giving off oxygen. When
these organisms die
，
they
bury carbon in the deep
ocean
，
an
important process that helps to regulate the
global climate. But phytoplankton are
B
．
A longer dry
season.
D
．
Dampness of the
air.
vulnerable to the ocean's warming
trend. Warming changes key characteristics of the
ocean and
can affect phytoplankton
growth
，
since they need not
only sunlight and carbon dioxide to
grow
，
but also nutrients.
Stephanie
Dutkiewicz
，
a scientist in
MIT's Center for Global Change
Science
，
built a
climate model that projects changes to
the oceans throughout the century. In a world that
warms
up by 3
℃，
it
found that multiple changes to the colour of the
oceans would occur. The model
projects
that currently blue areas with little
phytoplankton could become even bluer. But in
some waters
，
such
as those of the Arctic
，
a
warming will make conditions riper for
phytoplankton
，
and
these areas will turn greener. “Not only are the
quantities of phytoplankton
in the
ocean changing. ”she
said
，
“but the type of
phytoplankton is changing. ”
17
．
What are the
first two paragraphs mainly about?
A
．
The various
patterns at the ocean surface.
B
．
The cause of
the changes in ocean colour.
C
．
The way light
reflects off marine organisms.
D
．
The efforts to
fuel the growth of phytoplankton.
18
．
What does the
underlined word “vulnerable” in Paragraph 3
probably mean?
A
．
Sensitive.
C
．
Significant
19
．
What can we
learn from the passage?
A
．
Phytoplankton
play a declining role in the marine ecosystem.
B
．
Dutkiewicz's
model aims to project phytoplankton changes
C
．
Phytoplankton
have been used to control global climate
D
．
Oceans with
more phytoplankton may appear greener.
20
．
What is the
main purpose of the passage
？
A
．
To assess the
consequences of ocean colour changes
B
．
To analyse the
composition of the ocean food chain
C
．
To explain the
effects of climate change on oceans
D
．
To introduce a
new method to study phytoplankton
How does an
ecosystem
(
生态系统
)
work
?
What makes
the populations of different
species
the way they are
?
Why are
there so many flies and so few wolves
?
To find an answer
,
scientists have built mathematical
models of food webs
,
noting
who eats whom and how much
B
．
Beneficial
D
．
Unnoticeable
each one eats.
With such
models
,
scientists have
found out some key principles operating in food
webs.
Most food webs
,
for instance
,
consist of many weak links rather than
a few strong ones. When
a
predator
(
掠食动物
)
always eats huge numbers of a single
prey
(
猎物
),
the two species are
strongly
linked; when a predator lives on various
species
,
they are weakly
linked. Food webs
may be dominated by
many weak links because that arrangement is more
stable over the long
term. If a
predator can eat several species
,
it can survive the
extinction
(
灭绝
)
of one of them.
And if a
predator can move on to another species that is
easier to find when a prey species
becomes rare
,
the
switch allows the original prey to recover. The
weak links may thus keep
species from
driving one another to extinction.
Mathematical models have also revealed
that food webs may be unstable
,
where small
changes of top
predators can lead to big effects throughout
entire ecosystems. In the 1960s
,
scientists proposed that predators at
the top of a food web had a surprising amount of
control
over the size of populations of
other species
—
including
species they did not directly attack.
And unplanned human activities have
proved the idea of top-down control by top
predators to be true. In the
ocean
,
we fished for top
predators such as cod on an industrial
scale
,
while on
land
,
we killed off large
predators such as wolves. These actions have
greatly affected
the ecological
balance.
Scientists have built an
early-warning system based on mathematical models.
Ideally
,
the
system would tell us when to adapt
human activities that are pushing an ecosystem
toward a
breakdown or would even allow
us to pull an ecosystem back from the borderline.
Prevention is
key
,
scientists say, because once ecosystems
pass their tipping
point
(
临界点
),
it is
remarkably difficult
for them to return.
21
．
What have
scientists discovered with the help of
mathematical models of food webs
?
A
．
The living
habits of species in food webs.
B
．
The rules
governing food webs of the ecosystems.
C
．
The approaches
to studying the species in the ecosystems.
D
．
The differences
between weak and strong links in food webs.
22
．
A strong link
is found between two species when a predator
________.
A
．
has a
wide food choice
B
．
can easily find
new prey
C
．
sticks
to one prey species
D
．
can quickly
move to another place
23
．
What will
happen if the populations of top predators in a
food web greatly decline
?
A
．
The prey
species they directly attack will die out.
B
．
The species
they indirectly attack will turn into top
predators.
C
．
The
living environment of other species will remain
unchanged.
D
．
The
populations of other species will experience
unexpected changes.
24
．
What
conclusion can be drawn from the examples in
Paragraph 4
?
A
．
Uncontrolled
human activities greatly upset ecosystems.
B
．
Rapid economic
development threatens animal habitats.
C
．
Species of
commercial value dominate other species.
D
．
Industrial
activities help keep food webs stable.
25
．
How does an
early-warning system help us maintain the
ecological balance
?
A
．
By getting
illegal practices under control.
B
．
By stopping us
from killing large predators.
C
．
By bringing the
broken-down ecosystems back to normal.
D
．
By signaling
the urgent need for taking preventive action.
In the 1960s
,
while studying the volcanic history of
Yellowstone National Park
,
Bob Christiansen became puzzled about
something that
,
oddly
,
had not
troubled anyone
before: he couldn’t
find the park’s volcano. It had been known for a
long time that Yellowsto
ne
was volcanic in nature
—
that’s what
accounted for all its hot springs and other steamy
features.
But Christiansen couldn’t
find the Yellowstone volcano anywhere.
Most of us
,
when
we talk about volcanoes
,
think of the classic
cone(
圆锥体
) shapes of a
Fuji or Kilimanjaro, which are created
when erupting magma(
岩浆
)
piles up. These can form
remarkably
quickly. In 1943
,
a Mexican
farmer was surprised to see smoke rising from a
small
part of his land. In one week he
was the confused owner of a cone five hundred feet
high.
Within two years it had topped
out at almost fourteen hundred feet and was more
than half a
mile across. Altogether
there are some ten thousand of these volcanoes on
Earth
,
all but a few
hundred of them extinct. There
is
,
however
,
a second less k
nown type of
volcano that doesn’t
involve mountain
building. These are volcanoes so explosive that
they burst open in a single
big
crack
,
leaving behind a vast
hole, the caldera. Yellowstone obviously was of
this second
type
,
but Christiansen couldn’t
find
the caldera anywhere.
Just at this time NASA decided to test
some new high-altitude cameras by taking
photographs of Yellowstone. A
thoughtful official passed on some of the copies
to the park
authorities on the
assumption that they might make a nice blow-up
for one of the visitors’
centers. As soon as Christiansen saw
the photos
,
he realized why
he had failed to spot the
caldera:
almost the whole park
—
2.2
million acres
—
was caldera.
The explosion had left a hole
more than
forty miles across
—
much too
huge to be seen from anywhere at ground level. At
some time in the past Yellowstone must
have blown up with a violence far beyond the scale
of
anything known to humans.
26
．
What puzzled
Christiansen when he was studying
Yellowstone
?
A
．
Its complicated
geographical features.
B
．
Its ever-
lasting influence on tourism.
C
．
The mysterious
history of the park.
D
．
The exact
location of the volcano.
27
．
What does the
second paragraph mainly talk about
?
A
．
The shapes of
volcanoes.
B
．
The
impacts of volcanoes.
C
．
The activities
of volcanoes.
D
．
The heights of
volcanoes.
28
．
What does the
underlined word “blow
-
up” in
the last paragraph most probably mean
?
A
．
Hot-air
balloon.
C
．
Big
photograph.
We may think
we're a culture that gets rid of our worn
technology at the first sight of
something shiny and new, but a new
study shows that we keep using our old
devices(
装置
) well
after they go out of style. That’s bad
news for the environment —
and our
wallets
—
as these
outdated devices consume much more
energy than the newer ones that do the same
things.
To figure out how much power
these devices are using, Callie Babbitt and her
colleagues
at the Rochester Institute
of Technology in New York tracked the
environmental costs for each
product
throughout its life
—
from
when its minerals are mined to when we stop using
the
device. This method provided a
readout for how home energy use has evolved since
the early
1990s. Devices were grouped
by generation
—
Desktop
computers, basic mobile phones, and
box-set TVs defined 1992. Digital
cameras arrived on the scene in 1997. And MP3
players,
B
．
Digital camera.
D
．
Bird’s
view.
smart phones, and LCD
TVs entered homes in 2002, before tablets and
e-readers showed up in
2007.
As we accumulated more devices,
however, we didn't throw out our old ones.
living-room television is replaced and
gets planted in the kids' room, and suddenly one
day, you
have a TV in every room of the
house,
devices rose from four per
household in 1992 to 13 in 2007. We're not just
keeping these old
devices
—
we continue to use them.
According to the analysis of Babbitt's team, old
desktop
monitors and box TVs with
cathode ray tubes are the worst devices with their
energy
consumption and contribution to
greenhouse gas
emissions
（排放）
more than
doubling during
the 1992 to 2007
window.
So what's the
solution
（解决方案）
? The team's
data only went up to 2007, but the
researchers also explored what would
happen if consumers replaced old products with new
electronics that serve more than one
function, such as a tablet for word processing and
TV
viewing. They found that more on-
demand entertainment viewing on tablets instead of
TVs and
desktop computers could cut
energy consumption by 44%.
29
．
What does the
author think of new devices?
A
．
They are
environment-friendly.
C
．
They cost more
to use at home.
B
．
They are no
better than the old.
D
．
They go out of
style quickly.
30
．
Why did
Babbitt's team conduct the research?
A
．
To reduce the
cost of minerals.
B
．
To test the
life cycle of a product.
C
．
To update
consumers on new technology.
D
．
To find out
electricity consumption of the devices.
31
．
Which of the
following uses the least energy?
A
．
The box-set TV.
C
．
The LCD
TV
.
B
．
The tablet.
D
．
The desktop
computer.
32
．
What
does the text suggest people do about old
electronic devices?
A
．
Stop using
them.
C
．
Upgrade
them.
There’s a new
frontier in 3D printing that’s beginning to come
into focus: food.
Recent development
has made possible machines that print, cook, and
serve foods on a mass
B
．
Take them
apart.
D
．
Recycle
them.
scale. And the industry isn’t
stopping there.
Food
production
With a 3D printer, a cook
can print complicated chocolate sculptures and
beautiful pieces
for decoration on a
wedding cake. Not everybody can do that
—
it takes years of
experience,
but a printer makes it
easy. A restaurant in Spain uses a Foodini to
“re
-
create forms and pieces”
of food that are “exactly the same,”
freeing cooks to complete other tasks. In another
restaurant,
all of the dishes and
desserts it serves are 3D-printed,rather than farm
to table.
Sustainability(
可持续
性）
The global population is
expected to grow to 9.6 billion by 2050, and some
analysts
estimate that food production
will need to be raised by 50 percent to maintain
current levels.
Sustainability is
becoming a necessity. 3D food printing could
probably contribute to the
solution.
Some experts believe printers could use
hydrocolloids
(
水解胶体
) from
plentiful
renewables like
algae(
藻类
) and grass to
replace the familiar
ingredients(
烹饪原料
). 3D
printing can reduce fuel use and
emissions. Grocery stores of the future might
stock
lasts years on end, freeing up
shelf space and reducing transportation and
storage requirements.
Nutrition
Future 3D food printers could make
processed food healthier. Hod Lipson, a professor
at
Columbia University, said, “Food
printing could allow consumers to print food with
customized nutritional content, like
vitamins. So instead of eating a piece of
yesterday’s bread
from the supermarket,
you’d eat something baked just for you on
demand.”
Challenges
Despite recent advancements in 3D food
printing, the industry has many challenges to
overcome. Currently, most ingredients
must be changed to a
paste(
糊状物
) before a printer
can
use them, and the printing process
is quite time-consuming, because ingredients
interact with
each other in very
complex ways. On top of that, most of the 3D food
printers now are restricted
to dry
ingredients, because meat and milk products may
easily go bad. Some experts are
skeptical about 3D food printers,
believing they are better suited for fast food
restaurants than
homes and high-end
restaurants.
33
．
What benefit
does 3D printing bring to food production?
A
．
It helps cooks
to create new dishes.
B
．
It saves time
and effort in cooking.
C
．
It improves the
cooking conditions.
D
．
It contributes
to restaurant decorations.
34
．
What can we
learn about 3D food printing from Paragraphs 3?
A
．
It solves food
shortages easily.
B
．
It quickens the
transportation of food.
C
．
It needs no
space for the storage of food.
D
．
It uses
renewable materials as sources of food.
35
．
According to
Paragraph 4, 3D-printed food ________.
A
．
is more
available to consumers
B
．
can meet
individual nutritional needs
C
．
is more tasty
than food in supermarkets
D
．
can keep all
the nutrition in raw materials
36
．
What is the
main factor that prevents 3D food printing from
spreading widely?
A
．
The printing
process is complicated.
B
．
3D food
printers are too expensive.
C
．
Food materials
have to be dry.
D
．
Some experts
doubt 3D food printing.
37
．
What could be
the best title of the passage?
A
．
3D Food
Printing: Delicious New Technology
B
．
A New Way to
Improve 3D Food Printing
C
．
The Challenges
for 3D Food Production
D
．
3D Food
Printing: From Farm to Table
Plastic-Eating Worms
Humans
produce more than 300 million tons of plastic
every year. Almost half of that winds
up in landfills(
垃圾填埋场
), and
up to 12 million tons
pollute the
oceans. So far there is no effective way to get
rid of it, but a new study suggests an
answer may lie in the stomachs of some
hungry worms.
Researchers in Spain and
England recently found that the worms of the
greater wax moth
can break down
polyethylene, which accounts for 40% of plastics.
The team left 100 wax
worms on a
commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours,
and the worms consumed and
broke
dow
n about 92 milligrams, or almost 3%
of it. To confirm that the worms’ chewing alone
was not responsible for the
polyethylene breakdown, the researchers made some
worms into
paste(
糊状物
) and
applied it to plastic films. 14 hours later the
films had lost 13% of their mass
—
apparently broken down by
enzymes (
酶
) from the worms’
stomachs. Their findings were
published
in
Current Biology
in 2017.
Federica Bertocchini,
co-
author of the study, says the worms’
ability to break down their
everyday
food
—
beeswax
—
also allows them to break
down plastic.
＂
Wax is a
complex
mixture, but the basic bond in
polyethylene, the carbon-carbon bond, is there as
well,
＂
she
explains,
＂
The
wax worm evolved a method or system to break this
bond.
＂
Jennifer
DeBruyn, a microbiologist at the University of
Tennessee, who was not involved
in the
study, says it is not surprising that such worms
can break down polyethylene. But
compared with previous studies, she
finds the speed of breaking down in this one
exciting. The
next step, DeBruyn says,
will be to identify the cause of the breakdown. Is
it an enzyme
produced by the worm
itself or by its gut
microbes(
肠道微生物
)?
Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team’s
findings might one day help employ the enzyme
to break down plastics in landfills.
But she expects using the chemical in some kind of
industrial process
—
not simply
＂
millions of worms thrown on
top of the plastic.
＂
38
．
What can we
learn about the worms in the study?
A
．
They take
plastics as their everyday food.
B
．
They are newly
evolved creatures.
C
．
They can
consume plastics.
D
．
They wind up in
landfills.
39
．
According to
Jennifer DeBruyn, the next step of the study is to
.
A
．
identify other
means of the breakdown
B
．
find out the
source of the enzyme
C
．
confirm the
research findings
D
．
increase the
breakdown speed
40
．
It can be
inferred from the last paragraph that the chemical
might
.
A
．
help to raise
worms
B
．
help make
plastic bags
C
．
be
used to clean the oceans
D
．
be produced in
factories in future
41
．
What is the
main purpose of the passage?
A
．
To explain a
study method on worms.
B
．
To introduce
the diet of a special worm.
C
．
To present a
way to break down plastics.
D
．
To propose new
means to keep eco-balance.
Hollywood’s theory that machines with
evil(
邪恶
) minds will drive
armies of killer
robots is just silly.
The real problem relates to the possibility that
artificial intelligence(AI) may
become
extremely good at achieving something other than
what we really want. In 1960 a
well-
known mathematician Norbert Wiener, who founded
the field of
cybernetics
（控制论）
,
put it this way: “If we use, to achieve
our purposes, a mechanical agency with whose
operation
we cannot effectively
interfere(
干预
), we had better
be quite sure that the purpose put into the
machine is the purpose which we
r
eally desire.”
A
machine with a specific purpose has another
quality, one that we usually associate with
living things: a wish to preserve its
own existence. For the machine, this quality is
not in-born,
nor is it something
introduced by humans; it is a logical consequence
of the simple fact that the
machine
cannot achieve its original purpose if it is dead.
So if we send out a robot with the
single instruction of fetching coffee,
it will have a strong desire to secure success by
disabling
its own off switch or even
killing anyone who might interfere with its task.
If we are not careful,
then, we could
face a kind of global chess match against very
determined, super intelligent
machines
whose objectives conflict with our own, with the
real world as the chessboard.
The
possibility of entering into and losing such a
match should concentrate the minds of
computer scientists. Some researchers
argue that we can seal the machines inside a kind
of
firewall, using them to answer
difficult questions but never allowing them to
affect the real
world. Unfortunately,
that plan seems unlikely to work: we have yet to
invent a firewall that is
secure
against ordinary humans, let alone super
intelligent machines.
Solving the
safety problem well enough to move forward in AI
seems to be possible but
not easy.
There are probably decades in which to plan for
the arrival of super intelligent
machines. But the problem should not be
dismissed out of hand, as it has been by some AI
researchers. Some argue that humans and
machines can coexist as long as they work in
teams
—
yet that is
not possible unless machines share the goals of
humans. Others say we can
just “switch
them off” as if super intelligent machines are too
stupid to think of that possibility.
Still others think that super
intelligent AI will never happen. On September 11,
1933, famous
physicist Ernest
Rutherford stated, with confidence, “Anyone who
expects a source of power in
the
transformation of these atoms is talking
moonshine.” However, on September 12, 1933,
physicist Leo Szilard invented the
neutron-induced(
中子诱导
)
nuclear chain reaction.
42
．
Paragraph 1
mainly tells us that artificial intelligence may
.
A
．
run out of
human control
B
．
satisfy human’s
real desires
C
．
command armies
of killer robots
D
．
work faster
than a mathematician
43
．
Machines with
specific purposes are associated with living
things partly because they might
be
able to
.
A
．
prevent
themselves from being destroyed
B
．
achieve their
original goals independently
C
．
do anything
successfully with given orders
D
．
beat humans in
international chess matches
44
．
According to
some researchers, we can use firewalls to
.
A
．
help super
intelligent machines work better
B
．
be secure
against evil human beings
C
．
keep machines
from being harmed
D
．
avoid robots’
affecting the world
45
．
What does the
author think of the safety problem of super
intelligent machines?
A
．
It will
disappear with the development of AI.
B
．
It will get
worse with human interference.
C
．
It will be
solved but with difficulty.
D
．
It will stay
for a decade.
Before birth,
babies can tell the difference between loud sounds
and voices. They can
even distinguish
their mother’s voice from that of a female
stranger. But when it comes to
embryonic learning
(
胎教
), birds could rule the
roost. As recently reported in
The Auk:
Ornithological Advances
,
some mother birds may teach their young to sing
even before they
hatch
(
孵化
). New-
born
chicks can then imitate their mom’s call within a
few days of entering
the world.
This educational method was first
observed in 2012 by Sonia Kleindorfer, a biologist
at
Flinders University in South
Australia, and her colleagues. Female Australian
superb fairy
wrens were found to repeat
one sound over and over again while hatching their
eggs. When the
eggs were hatched, the
baby birds made the similar chirp to their
mothers
—
a sound that served
as their regular
＂
feed
me!
＂
call.
To
find out if the special quality was more
widespread in birds, the researchers sought the
red-backed fairy wren, another species
of Australian songbird. First they collected sound
data
from 67 nests in four sites in
Queensland before and after hatching. Then they
identified
begging calls by analyzing
the order and number of notes. A computer analysis
blindly
compared calls produced by
mothers and chicks, ranking them by similarity.
It turns out that baby red-backed fairy
wrens also emerge chirping like their moms. And
the more frequently mothers had called
to their eggs, the more similar were the babies’
begging
calls. In addition, the team
set up a separate experiment that suggested that
the baby birds that
most closely
imitated their mom’s voice were rewarded with the
most food.
This observation
hints that effective embryonic learning could
signal neurological
(
神经
系统的
) strengths
of children to parents. An evolutionary inference
can then be drawn.
＂
As a
parent, do you invest in quality
children, or do you invest in children that are in
need?
＂
Kleindorfer asks.
＂
Our results suggest that
they might be going for
quality.
＂
46
．
The underlined
phrase in Paragraph 1 means
＂
____________
＂
.
A
．
be the worst
C
．
be the as bad
47
．
What are
Kleindorfer’s findings based on?
A
．
Similarities
between the calls of moms and chicks.
B
．
The observation
of fairy wrens across Australia.
C
．
The data
collected
from Queensland’s
locals.
D
．
Controlled
experiments on wrens and other birds.
48
．
Embryonic
learning helps mother birds to identify the baby
birds which ____________.
A
．
can receive
quality signals
B
．
are in need of
training
C
．
fit
the environment better
B
．
be the best
D
．
be just as good
D
．
make the
loudest call
Old
problem
，
new approaches
While clean energy is increasingly used
in our daily life
，
global
warming will continue for
some decades
after CO
2
emissions
(
排放
) peak. So even if
emissions were to begin to decrease
today
，
we would
still face the challenge of adapting to climate
change. Here I will stress some
smarter
and more creative examples of climate adaptation.
When it comes to
adaptation
，
it is important
to understand that climate change is a process.
We are therefore not talking about
adapting to a new
standard
，
but to a constantly
shifting set of
conditions. This is
why, in part at least
，
the US
National Climate Assessment says
that
：
“
There
is no ‘one?size fits all’ adaptation.”
Nevertheless
，
there are some
actions that offer much and
carry
little risk or cost.
Around the world,
people are adapting in surprising
ways
，
especially in some poor
countries. Floods have become more
damaging in Bangladesh in recent decades. Mohammed
Rezwan saw opportunity where others saw
only disaster. His
not-
for-
profit organization
runs
100 river boats that serve as
floating libraries
，
schools
，
and health
clinics
，
and are equipped
with solar panels and other
communicating facilities. Rezwan is creating
floating
connectivity(
连接
)
to replace flooded roads and highways. But he is
also working at a far more
fundamental
level
：
his staff show people
how to make floating gardens and fish ponds to
prevent starvation during the wet
season.
Elsewhere in Asia even more
astonishing actions are being taken. Chewang
Norphel lives
in a mountainous region
in India, where he is known as the Ice Man. The
loss of glaciers (
冰川
)
there due to global warming represents
an enormous threat to agriculture. Without the
glaciers,
water will arrive in the
rivers at times when it can damage crops.
Norphel's inspiration came
from seeing
the waste of water over winter, when it was not
needed. He directed the wasted
water
into shallow basins where it froze, and was stored
until the spring. His fields of ice supply
perfectly timed
irrigation(
灌溉
) water. Having
created nine such ice reserves, Norphel
calculates that he has stored about 200
，
000m
3
of water. Climate change is a continuing process,
so Norphel's ice reserves will not last
forever. Warming will overtake them. But he is
providing
a few years during which the
farmers will, perhaps, be able to find other means
of adapting.
Increasing Earth's
reflectiveness can cool the planet. In southern
Spain the sudden
increase of
greenhouses (which reflect light back to space)
has changed the warming trend
locally,
and actually cooled the region. While Spain as a
whole is heating up quickly,
temperatures near the greenhouses have
decreased. This example should act as an
inspiration
for all cities. By painting
buildings white, cities may slow down the warming
process.
In Peru, local farmers around
a mountain with a glacier that has already fallen
victim to
climate change have begun
painting the entire mountain peak white in the
hope that the added
reflectiveness will
restore the life-
giving ice. The
outcome is still far from clear. But the World
Bank has included the project on its
list of “100 ideas to save the
planet”
．
More
ordinary forms of adaptation are happening
everywhere. A friend of mine owns an
area of land in western Victoria. Over
five generations the land has been too wet for
cropping.
But during the past decade
declining rainfall has allowed him to plant highly
profitable crops.
Farmers in many
countries are also adapting like
this
—
either by growing new
produce, or by
growing the same things
differently. This is common sense. But some
suggestions for adapting
are not. When
the polluting industries argue that we've lost the
battle to control carbon
pollution and
have no choice but to adapt, it's a nonsense
designed to make the case for business
as usual.
Human beings will
continue to adapt to the changing climate in both
ordinary and
astonishing ways. But the
most sensible form of adaptation is surely to
adapt our energy
systems to emit less
carbon pollution. After all, if we adapt in that
way, we may avoid the need
to change in
so many others.
49
．
The underlined
part in Paragraph 2 implies
________
．
A
．
adaptation is
an ever-
changing process
B
．
the cost of
adaptation varies with time
C
．
global warming
affects adaptation forms
D
．
adaptation to
climate change is challenging
50
．
What is
special with regard to Rezwan's project?
A
．
The project
receives government support.
B
．
Different
organizations work with each other.
C
．
His
organization makes the best of a bad situation.
D
．
The project
connects flooded roads and highways.
51
．
What did the
Ice Man do to reduce the effect of global warming?
A
．
Storing ice for
future use.
B
．
Protecting the
glaciers from melting.
C
．
Changing the
irrigation time.
D
．
Postponing the
melting of the glaciers.
52
．
What do we
learn from the Peru example?
A
．
White paint is
usually safe for buildings.
B
．
The global
warming trend cannot be stopped.
C
．
This country is
heating up too quickly.
D
．
Sunlight
reflection may relieve global warming.
53
．
According to
the author, polluting industries should
________
．
A
．
adapt to carbon
pollution
B
．
plant
highly profitable crops
C
．
leave carbon
emission alone
D
．
fight against
carbon pollution
54
．
What's the
author's preferred solution to global warming?
A
．
Setting up a
new standard.
B
．
Reducing carbon
emission.
C
．
Adapting to
climate change.
D
．
Monitoring
polluting industries.
A
build-it-yourself solar still
(
蒸馏器
)
is one of the best
ways to obtain drinking
water in areas
where the liquid is not readily available.
Developed by two doctors in the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, it’s an
excellent water collector. Unfortunately, you must
carry the
necessary equipment
w
ith you, since it’s all but impossible
to find natural substitutes. The only
components required, though, are a 5
＇
×
5
＇
sheet of clear or slightly milky plastic, six feet of
plastic tube, and a
container
—
perhaps just a
drinking cup
—
to catch the
water. These pieces
can be folded into
a neat little pack and fastened on your belt.
To construct a working still, use a
sharp stick or rock to dig a hole four feet across
and
three feet deep. Try to make the
hole in a damp area to increase
the
water catcher’s
productivity.
Place your cup in the deepest part of
the hole. Then lay the tube in place so that one
end rests all
the way in the cup and
the rest of the line runs up
—
and out
—
the side of the hole.
Next, cover the hole with the plastic
sheet, securing the edges of the plastic with dirt
and
weighting the sheet’s center down
with a rock. The plastic should now form a
cone(
圆锥体
)
with
45-degree-angled sides. The low point of the sheet
must be centered directly over, and no
more than three inches above, the cup.
The solar still works by creating a
greenhouse under the plastic. Ground water
evaporates
(
蒸发
)
and collects on the sheet until small drops of
water form, run down the material and fall
off into the cup. When the container is
full, you can suck the refreshment zxxk out
through the
tube, and won’t have to
break down the still every time you need a
drink.
55
．
What do we
know about the solar still equipment from the
first paragraph?
A
．
It’s
delicate.
C
．
It’s
complex.
B
．
It’s
expensive.
D
．
It’s
portable.
56
．
What does
t
he underlined phrase “the water
catcher” in paragraph 2 refer to?
A
．
The tube.
C
．
The hole.
B
．
The still.
D
．
The cup.
57
．
What’s the
last step of constructing a working solar
still?
A
．
Dig a hole of a
certain size.
C
．
Weight the
sheet’s ce
nter down.
B
．
Put the cup in
place.
D
．
Cover
the hole with the plastic sheet.
58
．
When a solar
still works, drops of water come into the cup from
________.
A
．
the
plastic tube
C
．
the open air
Terrafugia Inc. said Monday
that its new flying car has completed its first
flight,
bringing the company closer to
its goal of selling the flying car within the next
year. The
vehicle
—
named the Transition
–
has two seats, four wheels
and wings that fold up so it can be
driven like a car. The Transition,
which flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes last
month, can
reach around 70 miles per
hour on the road and 115 in the air. It flies
using a 23-gallon tank of
gas and burns
5 gallons per hour in the air. On the ground, it
gets 35 miles per gallon.
Around 100
people have already put down a $$10,000 deposit to
get a Transition when they
go on sale,
and those numbers will likely rise after
Terrafugia introduces the Transition to the
public later this week at the New York
Auto Show. But don’t
expect
it to show
up in too many
driveways. It’s expected to cost $$279,
it won’t
help if you’re
stuck in traffic. The car
needs a
runway.
Inventors have been trying to
make flying cars since the 1930s, according to
Robert Mann,
an airline industry
expert. But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer
than anyone to making
the flying car a
reality. The government has already permitted the
company to use special
B
．
outside the
hole
D
．
beneath
the sheet
materials to make it easier
for the vehicle to fly. The Transition
is now going through crash
tests to make sure it meets federal
safety standards.
Mann said Terrafugia
was helped by the Federal Aviation
Administration’s decision five
years
ago to create a separate set of standards for
light sport aircraft, which are lower than those
for pilots of larger planes. Terrafugia
says an owner would need to pass a test and
complete 20
hours of flying time to be
able to fly the Transition, a requirement pilots
would find relatively
easy to meet.
59
．
What is the
first paragraph mainly about?
A
．
The basic data
of the Transition.
B
．
The advantages
of flying cars.
C
．
The potential
market for flying cars.
D
．
The designers
of the Transition.
60
．
Why is the
Transition unlikely to show up in too many
driveways?
A
．
It
causers traffic jams.
B
．
It is difficult
to operate.
C
．
It
is very expensive.
D
．
It burns too
much fuel.
61
．
What is the
government’s attitude to the development of the
flying car?
A
．
Cautious
C
．
Ambiguous.
62
．
What is the
best title for the text?
A
．
Flying Car at
Auto Show
B
．
The
Transition’s First
Flight
C
．
Pilots’ Dream
Coming True
D
．
Flying Car
Closer to Reality
The
Intelligent Transport team at Newcastle University
have turned an electric car
into a
mobile laboratory named “DriveLAB” in order to
understand the challenges faced by
older drivers and to discover where the
key stress points are.
Research shows
that giving up driving is one of the key reasons
for a fall in health and
well-being
among older people, leading to them becoming more
isolated(
隔绝
) and inactive.
Led by Professor Phil Blythe, the
Newcastle team are developing in-vehicle
technologies
B
．
Favorable.
D
．
Disapproving.
for older drivers which they hope could
help them to continue driving into later life.
These include custom-made
navigation(
导航
) tools, night
vision systems and intelligent
speed
adaptations. Phil B
lythe explains: “For
many older people, particularly those living alone
or in the country, driving is important
for preserving their independence, giving them the
freedom to get out and about without
having to rely on others.”
“But we all have to accept
th
at as we get older our reactions slow
down and this often
results in people
avoiding any potentially challenging driving
conditions and losing confidence
in
their driving skills. The result is that people
stop driving before they really need to.” Dr Amy
Gu
o, the leading researcher
on the older driver study, explains, “The DriveLAB
is helping us to
understand what the
key points and difficulties are for older drivers
and how we might use
technology to
address these problems.”
“For example, most of us would
e
xpect older drivers always go slower
than everyone else
but surprisingly, we
found that in 30mph zones they struggled to keep
at a constant speed and
so were more
likely to break the speed limit and be at risk of
getting fined. We’re looking at the
benefit
s of systems which
control their speed as a way of preventing
that.”
“We hope that our
work will help with technological
solutions(
解决方案
) to ensure
that
older drivers stay safer behind
the wheel.”
63
．
What is the
purpose of the DriveLAB?
A
．
To explore new
means of transport.
C
．
To find out
older driver’s problems.
B
．
To design new
types of cars.
D
．
To teach people
traffic rules.
64
．
Why is driving
important for older people according to Phil
Blythe?
A
．
It
keeps them independent.
C
．
It builds up
their strength.
B
．
It helps them
save time.
D
．
It
cures their mental illnesses.
65
．
What do
researchers hope to do for older drivers?
A
．
Improve their
driving skills.
C
．
Provide tips on
repairing their cars.
66
．
What is the
best title for the text?
A
．
A new Model
Electric Car
C
．
Driving Service
for elders
Getting less
sleep has become a bad habit for most American
kids. According to a
new
survey(
调查
) by the National
Sleep Foundation, 51% of kids aged 10 to 18 go to
bed at 10
B
．
A
Solution to Traffic Problem
D
．
Keeping Older
Drivers on the Road
B
．
Develop driver-
assist technologies.
D
．
Organize
regular physical checkups.
pm or later
on school nights, even though they have to get up
early. Last year the Foundation
reported that nearly 60% of 7- to
12-year-olds said they felt tired during the day,
and 15% said
they had fallen asleep at
school.
How much sleep you need depends
a lot on your age. Babies need a lot of rest: most
of
them sleep about 18 hours a day!
Adults need about eight hours. For most school-age
children,
ten hours is
ideal(
理想的
). But the new
National Sleep Foundation survey found that 35% of
10- to 12-year-olds get only seven or
eight hours. And guess what almost half of the
surveyed
kids said they do before
bedtime? Watch TV
.
“More
children are going to bed with TVs on,
an
d there are more
opportunities(
机会
) to
stay awake, with more homework, the
Internet and the phone,” says Dr. Mary Carskadon,
a
sleep researcher at Brown University
Medical School. She says these activities at
bedtime can
zxxk get kids all excited
and make it hard for them to calm down and sleep.
Other experts say
part of the problem
is chemical. Changing levels of body chemicals
called hormones not only
make
teenagers’ bodies develop adult characteristics,
but also make it hard for teenagers to fall
asleep before 11 pm.
Because
sleepiness is such a problem for teenagers, some
school districts have decided to
start
high school classes later than they used to. Three
years ago, schools in Edina, Minnesota,
changed the start time from 7:25 am to
8:30 am. Students, parents and teachers are
pleased with
the results.
67
．
What is the
new National Sleep Foundation survey on?
A
．
American kids’
sleeping habits.
C
．
Activities to
prevent sleeplessness.
B
．
Teenagers’
sleep
-related diseases.
D
．
Learning
problems and lack of sleep.
68
．
How many hours
of sleep do 11-year-olds need every day?
A
．
7 hours.
C
．
10 hours.
B
．
8 hours.
D
．
18 hours.
69
．
Why do
teenagers go to sleep late according to Carskadon?
A
．
They are
affected by certain body chemicals.
B
．
They tend to do
things that excite them.
C
．
They follow
their parents’ examples.
D
．
They don’t need
to go to school early.
California Condor’s Shocking
Recovery
California condors are North America’s
largest birds, with wind
-length of up
to 3 meters. In
the 1980s, electrical
lines and lead
poisoning(
铅中毒
) nearly drove
them to dying out. Now,
electric shock
training and medical treatment are helping to
rescue these big birds.
In the late
1980s, the last few condors were taken from the
wild to be bred(
繁殖
). Since
1992,
there have been multiple
reintroductions to the wild, and there are now
more than 150 flying
over California
and nearby Arizona, Utah and Baja in Mexico.
Electrical lines have been killing them
off. “As they go in to rest for the night, they
just don’t
see the power lines,” says
B
ruce Rideout of San Diego Zoo. Their
wings can bridge the gap
between lines,
resulting in
electrocution(
电死
) if they
touch two lines at once.
So scientists
have come up with a shocking idea. Tall poles,
placed in large training areas,
teach
the birds to stay clear of electrical lines by
giving them a painful but undeadly electric
shock. Before the training was
introduced, 66% of set-freed birds died of
electrocution. This
has now dropped to
18%.
Lead poisonous has
proved more difficult to deal with. When condors
eat dead bodies of
other animals
containing lead, they absorb large quantities of
lead. This affects their nervous
systems and ability to produce baby
birds, and can lead to
kidney(
肾
) failures and
death. So
condors with high levels of
lead are sent to Los Angeles Zoo, where they are
treated with
calcium EDTA, a chemical
that removes lead from the blood over several
days. This work is
starting to pay off.
The annual death rate for adult condors has
dropped from 38% in 2000 to
5.4% in
2011.
Rideout’s
team thinks that the California condors’ average
survival time in the wild is now
just
under eight years. “Although these measures are
not effective forever, they are vital for
now,” he says. “They are truly good
birds that are worth every effort we put
in
to recovering
them.
”
70
．
California
condors attract researchers’ interest because they
_________.
A
．
are active at
night
B
．
had to be
bred in the wild
C
．
are found only
in California
D
．
almost died out
in the 1980s
71
．
Researchers
have found electrical lines are _________.
A
．
blocking
condors’ journey home
B
．
big killers of
California condors
C
．
rest places for
condors at night
D
．
used to keep
condors away
72
．
According to
Paragraph 5, lead poisoning _________.
A
．
makes condors
too nervous to fly
B
．
has little
effect o
n condors’ kidneys
C
．
can hardly be
gotten rid of from condors’ blood
D
．
makes it
difficult for condors to produce baby birds
73
．
This passage
shows that _________.
A
．
the average
survival time of condors is satisfactory
B
．
Rideout’s
research interest lies in
electric
engineering
C
．
the
efforts to protect condors have brought good
results
D
．
researchers
have found the final answers to the problem
A scientist working at her
lab bench and a six-old baby playing with his food
might
seem to have little in all,the
scientist is engaged in serious research to
uncover
the very nature of the physical
world,and the baby is,well, just
playing…right?Perhaps,but
some
developmental psychologists have argued that this
“play” is more like a scientific
investigation than one might think.
Take a closer look at the baby playing
at the table. Each time the bowl of rice is pushed
over the table edge, it falls in the
ground
—
and, in the process,
it belongs out important
evidence about
how physical objects interact; bowls of rice do
not flood in mid-sit, but require
support to remain stable. It is likely
that babies are not born knowing the basic fact of
the
universe; nor are they ever clearly
taught it. Instead, babies may form an
understanding of
object support through
repeated experiments and then build on this
knowledge to learn even
more about how
objects interact. Though their ranges and tools
differ, the baby’s investigation
and
the scientist’s experiment appear to share the
same aim(to learn about the natural
world),
overall approach (gathering
direct evidence from the world), and logic (are my
observations
what I expected?).
Some psychologists suggest that young
children learn about more than just the physical
world
in this
way
—
that they investigate
human psychology and the rules of language using
similar
means. For example, it may only
be through repeated experiments, evidence
gathering, and
finally overturning a
theory, that a baby will come to accept the idea
that other people can have
different
views and desires from what he or she has. For
example, unlike the child, Mommy
actually doesn’t like Dove
chocolate.
Viewing childhood
development as a scientific investigation throws
on how children learn, but
it also
offers an inspiring look at science and
scientists. Why do young children and scientists
seem to be so much alike? Psychologists
have suggested that science as an
effort
—
the desire to
explore, explain, and understand our
world
—
is simply something
that comes from our
babyhood. Perhaps
evolution provided human babies with curiosity and
a natural drive to
explain their
worlds, and adult scientists simply make use of
the same drive that served them as
children. The same cognitive systems
that make young children feel good about figuring
something out may ha
ve been
adopted by adult scientists. As some psychologists
put it, “It is
not that children are
little scientists but that scientists are big
children.”
74
．
According to
some developmental psychologists, ________.
A
．
a baby’s play
is nothing more than a game
.
B
．
scientific
research into babies; games is possible
C
．
the nature of
babies’ play has been thoroughly
investigated
D
．
a baby’s play
is somehow similar to a scientist’s
experiment
75
．
We learn from
Paragraph 2 that ________.
A
．
scientists and
babies seem to observe the world differently
B
．
scientists and
babies often interact with each other
C
．
babies are born
with the knowledge of object support
D
．
babies seem to
collect evidence just as scientists do
76
．
Children may
learn the rules of language by ________.
A
．
exploring the
physical world
B
．
investigating
human psychology
C
．
repeating their
own experiments
D
．
observing their
parents’ behaviors
77
．
What is the
main idea of the last paragraph?
A
．
The world may
be more clearly explained through children’s
play.
B
．
Studyin
g babies’ play may lead to a
better understanding of science.
C
．
Children may
have greater ability to figure out things than
scientists.
D
．
One’s drive for
scientific research may become stronger as he
grows.
78
．
What is the
author’s tone when he discusses the connection
between scientists’ research and
babies’ play?
A
．
Convincing.
C
．
Confidence.
Chimps(
黑猩猩
) will
cooperate in certain ways, like gathering in war
parties to
protect their territory. But
beyond the minimum requirements as social beings,
they have little
instinct
(
本能
) to help one another.
Chimps in the wild seek food for themselves. Even
chimp
mothers regularly decline to
share food with their children. Who are able from
a young age to
gather their own food.
In the labor
atory, chimps
don’t naturally share food either. If a chimp is
put in a cage
where he can pull in one
plate of food for himself or, with no great
effort, a plate that also
provides food
for a neighbor to the next cage, he will pull at
random ---he just doe
sn’t care
whether his neighbor gets fed or not.
Chimps are truly selfish.
Human
children, on the other hand are extremely
corporative. From the earliest ages, they
decide to help others, to share
information and to participate a achieving common
goals. The
psychologist Michael
Tomasello has studied this cooperativeness in a
series of experiments
with very young
children. He finds that if babies aged 18 months
see an worried adult with
hands full
trying to open a door, almost all will immediately
try to help.
There are several reasons
to believe that the urges to help, inform and
share are not
taught .but naturally
possessed in young children. One is that these
instincts appear at a very
young age
before most parents have started to train children
to behave socially. Another is that
the
helping behaviors are not improved if the children
are rewarded. A third reason is that social
intelligence. Develops in children
before their general
cognitive
（认知的）
skills,at
least when
compared with chimps..In
tests conducted by Tomtasell, the children did no
better than the
chimps on the physical
world tests, but were considerably better at
understanding the social
world
The cure of what children’s minds have
and chimps’ don’t in what Tomasello calls what.
Part of this ability is that they can
infer what others know or are thinking. But that,
even very
B
．
Confused.
D
．
Cautious.
young children want to be part of a
shared purpose. They actively seek to be part of a
“we”, a
group that intends to work
toward a shared goal.
79
．
What can we
learn from the experiment with chimps?
A
．
Chimps seldom
care about others’ interests.
B
．
Chimps tend to
provide food for their children.
C
．
Chimps like to
take in their neighbors’ food.
D
．
Chimps
naturally share food with each other.
80
．
Michael
Tomasello’s tests on young childre
n
indicate that they____.
A
．
have the
instinct to help others
B
．
know how to
offer help to adults
C
．
know the world
better than chimps
D
．
trust adults
with their hands full
81
．
The passage is
mainly about ____.
A
．
the helping
behaviors of young children
B
．
ways
to train children’s shared
intentionality
C
．
cooperation as
a distinctive human nature
D
．
the development
of intelligence in children
El Nifio, a Spanish term for “the
Christ child”, was named by South American
fisherman who noticed that the global
weather pattern, which happens every two to seven
years,
reduced the amount of fishes
caught around Christmas. El Nifio sees warm water,
collected
over several years in the
western Pacific, flow back eastwards when winds
that normally blow
westwards weaken, or
sometimes the other way round.
The
weather effects both good and bad, are felt in
many places. Rich countries gain more
from powerful Nifio, on balance, than
they lose. A study found that a strong Nifio in
1997
helped American’s economy grow by
15 billion
, partly because of better
agricultural harvest,
farmers in the
Midwest gained from extra rain. The total rise in
agricultural in rich countries in
growth than the fall in poor ones.
But in Indonesia extremely dry forests
are in flames. A multi-year drought
(
干旱
）
in
south-east Brazil is becoming worse.
Though heavy rains brought about by El Nino may
relieve
the drought in California, they
are likely to cause surface flooding and other
disasters.
The most recent powerful
Nino, in 1997-98, killed around 21,000 people and
caused
damage worth $$36 billion around
the globe. But such Ninos come with months of
warning, and
so much is known about how
they happen that governments can prepare.
According to the
Overseas Development
Institute (ODI), however, just 12% of disaster-
relief funding in the past
two decades
has gone on reducing risks in advance, rather than
recovery and rebuilding
afterwards.
This is despite evidence that a dollar spent on
risk-reduction saves at least two on
reconstruction.
Simple
improvements to infrastructure
(
基础设施）
can reduce the spread
of disease. Better
sewers
(
下水道）
make it less likely
that heavy rain is followed by an outbreak of the
disease of
bad stomach. Stronger
bridges mean villages are less likely to be left
without food and
medicine after floods.
According to a paper in 2011 by Mr Hsiang and co-
authors, civil conflict
is related to
El Nino’s harmful effects—
and the
poorer the country, the stronger the link.
Though the relationship may not be
causal, helping divided communities to prepare for
disasters would at least reduce the
risk that those disasters are followed by killing
and
wounding people. Since the poorest
are least likely to make up for their losses from
disasters
linked to El Nino, reducing
their losses needs to be the priority.
82
．
What can we
learn about El Nino in Paragraph 1?
A
．
It is named
after a South American fisherman.
B
．
It takes place
almost every year all over the world.
C
．
It forces
fishermen to stop catching fish around Christmas.
D
．
It sees the
changes of water flow direction in the ocean.
83
．
What may El
Ninos bring about to the countries affected?
A
．
Agricultural
harvests in rich countries fall.
B
．
Droughts become
more harmful than floods.
C
．
Rich countries’
gains are greater than their losses.
D
．
Poor countries
suffer less from droughts economically.
84
．
The data
provided by ODI in Paragraph 4 suggest
that_________.
A
．
more investment
should go to risk reduction
B
．
governments of
poor countries need more aid
C
．
victims of El
Nino deserve more compensation
D
．
recovery and
reconstruction should come first
85
．
What is the
author’s purpose in writing the
passage?
A
．
To introduce El
Nino and its origin.
B
．
To explain the
consequences of El Nino.
C
．
To show ways of
fighting against El Nino.
D
．
To urge people
to prepare for El Nino.
The
oddness of life in space never quite goes away.
Here are some examples.
First consider
something as simple as sleep. Its position
presents its own challenges. The
main
question is whether you want your arms inside or
outside the sleeping bag. If you leave
your arms out, they float free in zero
gravity, often giving a sleeping astronaut the
look of a
funny
ballet
（芭蕾）
dancer. “I’m an
inside guy,” Mike Hopkins says, who returned from
a
six-
month tour on the
International Space Station. “I like to be wrapped
up.”
On the station, the
ordinary becomes strange. The exercise bike for
the American
astronauts has no
handlebars. It also has no seat. With no gravity,
it’s just as easy to pedal
violently.
You can watch a movie while you pedal by floating
a microcomputer anywhere you
want. But
station residents have to be careful about staying
in one place too long. Without
gravity
to help circulate air, the carbon dioxide you
exhale
（呼气）
has a tendency to
form an
invisible
（隐形的）
cloud around your head. You can end up with
what astronauts call a
carbon-dioxide
headache.
Leroy Chiao, 54, an American
retired astronaut after four flights, describes
what happens
even before you float out
of your seat. “Your inner ear thinks you’re
falling. Meanwhile your
eyes are
telling you
you’re standing straight.
That can be annoying
－
that’s
why some people
feel sick. “Within a
couple of days truly terrible days for
some
－
astronauts’ brains
learn to
ignore the panicky signals
from the inner ear, and space sickness disappears.
Space travel can be so delightful but
at the same time invisibly dangerous. For
instance,
astronauts lose bone mass’
That’s why exercise is considered so vital that
National Aeronautics
and Space Administ
ration
（
NASA
）
puts it right on the workday schedule. The focus on
fitness is as much about
science and the future as it is about keeping any
individual astronaut
healthy. NASA is
worried about two things: recovery time once
astronauts return home, and,
more
importantly, how to maintain strength and fitness
for the two and a half years or more that
it would take to make a
round-
trip to Mars’
86
．
What is the
major challenge to astronauts when they sleep in
space?
A
．
Deciding
on a proper sleep position.
B
．
Choosing a
comfortable sleeping bag.
C
．
Seeking a way
to fall asleep quickly.
D
．
Finding a right
time to go to sleep.
87
．
The astronauts
will suffer from a carbon-dioxide headache when
.
A
．
they circle
around on their bikes
B
．
they use
microcomputers without a stop
C
．
they exercise
in one place for a long time
D
．
they watch a
movie while pedaling
88
．
Some
astronauts feel sick on the station during the
first few days because
.
A
．
their senses
stop working
B
．
they have to
stand up straight
C
．
they float out
of their seats unexpectedly
D
．
their brains
receive contradictory messages
89
．
One of NASA’s
major concerns about astronauts is
.
A
．
how much
exercise they do on the station
B
．
how they can
remain healthy for long in space
C
．
whether they
can recover after returning home
D
．
whether they
are able to go back to the station
Life in the Clear
Transparent animals let light pass
through their bodies the same way light passes
through
a window. These animals
typically live between the surface of the ocean
and a depth of about
3,300 feet---as
far as most light can reach. Most of them are
extremely delicate and can be
damaged
by a simple touch. Sonke Johnsen, a scientist in
biology, says, “These animals live
through their life alone. They never
touch anything unless they’re eating it, or unless
something
is eating them.”
And they are as clear as glass. How
does an animal become see-through? It s trickier
than
you might think.
The
objects around you are visible because they
interact with light. Light typically travels
in a straight line. But some materials
slow and scatter (
散射
) light,
bouncing it away from its
original
path. Others absorb light, stopping it dead in its
tracks. Both scattering and absorption
make an object look different from
other objects around it, so you can see it easily.
But a transparent object doesn’t absorb
or scatter light, at least not very
much. Light can
pass through it without
bending or stopping. That means a transparent
object doesn’t look very
different from
the surrounding air or water. You don’t see it you
see the things behind it.
To
become transparent, an animal needs to keep its
body from absorbing or scattering
light. Living materials can stop light
because they contain pigments
(
色素
) that absorb specific
colors of light. But a transparent
animal doesn’t have pigments, so its tissues won’t
absorb
light.
According to
Johnsen, avoiding absorption is actually easy. The
real challenge is preventing
light from
scattering.
Animals are built of many
different materials---skin, fat, and more---and
light moves
through each at a different
speed. Every time light moves into a material with
a new speed, it
bends and scatters.
Transparent animals use different tricks to fight
scattering. Some animals
are simply
very small or extremely flat. Without much tissue
to scatter light, it is easier to be
see-through. Others build a large,
clear mass of non-living jelly-like
(
果冻状的
) material and
spread themselves over it.
Larger transparent animals have the
biggest challenge, because they have to make all
the
different tissues in their bodies
slow down light exactly as much as water does.
They need to
look uniform. But how
they’re doing it is still unknown. One thing is
clear: for these larger
animals,
staying transparent is an active process. When
they die, they turn a non-transparent
milky white.
90
．
According to
Paragraph 1,transparent animals
.
A
．
stay in groups
C
．
appear only in
deep ocean
B
．
can
be easily damaged
D
．
are beautiful
creatures
91
．
The
underlined word “dead” in Paragraph 3 means
.
A
．
silently
C
．
regularly
B
．
gradually
D
．
completely
92
．
One way for an
animal to become transparent is to
.
A
．
change the
direction of light travel
C
．
avoid the
absorption of light
B
．
gather
materials to scatter light
D
．
grow bigger to
stop light
93
．
The
last paragraph tells us that larger transparent
animals
.
A
．
move more
slowly in deep water
B
．
stay see-
through even after death
C
．
produce more
tissues for their survival
D
．
take effective
action to reduce light spreading
In the United States alone,over 100
million cell-phones are thrown away each
-phones are part of a growing mountain
of electronic waste like computers and
personal digital electronic waste
stream is increasing three times taster than
traditional garbage as a whole.
Electronic devices contain valuable
metals such as gold and silver.A Swiss study
reported
that while the weight of
electronic goods represented by precious metals
was relatively small in
comparison to
total waste,the
concentration
（含量）
of gold and
other precious metals was
higher in So-
called e-waste than in naturally occurring
minerals.
Electronic wastes also
contain many poisonous when the machines are
recycled and the harmful metals
removed,the recycling process often is carried out
in poor
countries,in practically
uncontrolled ways which allow many poisonous
substances to escape
into the
environment.
Creating products out of
raw materials creates much more waste material,up
to 100 times
more,than the material
contained in the finished er again the cell-
phone,and
imagine the mines that
produced those metals,the factories needed to make
the box and
packaging
（包装）
it
came wastes produced in the producing process are
harmful as
well.
The U.S
Environmental Protection Agency notes that most
waste is dangerous in that
production,
distribution,and use of products-as well as
management of the resulting waste-all
result in greenhouse gas
release.
waste at the start-for
instance,buying reusable products and recycling.
In many countries the concept of
extended producer responsibility is being
considered or
has been put in place as
an incentive
for reducing producers are
required to take
（
动机）
back
packaging they use to sell their products,would
they reduce the packaging in the first
place?
Governments'
incentive to require producers to take
responsibility for the packaging they
produce is usually based on ,they
ask,should cities or towns be responsible for
paying to deal with the bubble
wrap
（气泡垫）
that encased your
television?
From the governments' point
of view,a primary goal of laws requiring extended
producer
responsibility is to transfer
both the costs and the physical responsibility of
waste management
from the government
and tax-payers back to the producers.
94
．
By mentioning
the Swiss study,the author intends to tell us that
.
A
．
the weight of
e-goods is rather small
B
．
natural
minerals contain more precious metals
C
．
E-waste
deserves to be made good use of
D
．
the percentage
of precious metals is heavy in e-waste
95
．
The
responsibility of e-waste treatment should be
extended
.
A
．
from producers
to governments
B
．
from
governments to producers
C
．
from
individuals to distributors
D
．
from
distributors to governments
96
．
What does the
passage mainly talk about?
A
．
The increase in
e-waste.
C
．
The
seriousness of e-waste.
Suppose
you become a leader
in an
organization.
It’s
very likely
that
you’ll want to have volunteers to help
with the organization’
s activities.
To do so, it should help to understand
why people undertake volunteer work and
what keeps their interest in the work.
Let’s begin with the question of why
people volunteer. Researchers have
identified several factors that
motivate people to get involved. For example,
people
volunteer
to
express
personal
values
related
to
unselfishness,
to
expand
their
range
of
experiences,
and
to
strengthen
social
relationships.
If
volunteer
positions
do
not
meet
these
needs,
people
may
not
wish
to
participate.
To
select
volunteers, you may
need to understand the motivations of the people
you wish
to attract.
People
also
volunteer
because
they
are
required
to
do
so.
To
increase
levels
of
community
service,
some
schools
have
launched
compulsory
volunteer
programs.
Unfortunately, these programs can shift
people’s wish of participation from
an
internal factor (e.g. “I volunteer because it’s
important to me”) to an
external
factor
(e.g.
“I
volunteer
because
I’m
required
to
do
so”).
When
that
happens, people become
less likely to volunteer in the future. People
must be
sensitive to this possibility
when they make volunteer activities a must.
B
．
The creation of
e-waste.
D
．
The
management of e-waste.
Once
people
begin
to
volunteer,
what
leads
them
to
remain
in
their
positions
over
time?
To
answer
this
question,
researchers
have
conducted
follow-up
studies
in which they
track volunteers
over time.
For instance, one study
followed 238
volunteers in
Florida over a year. One of the most important
factors that
influenced their
satisfaction as volunteers was the amount of
suffering they
experienced
in
their
volunteer
positions.
Although
this
result
may
not
surprise
you,
it
leads
to
important
practical
advice.
The
researchers
note
that
attention
should be given to “training methods
that would prepare volunteers for
troublesome situations or provide them
with strategies for coping with the
problem they do experience”.
Another study of 302 volunteers at
hospitals in Chicago focused on
individual differences in the degree to
which people view “volunteer” as an
important social role. It was assumed
that those people for whom the role of
volunteer was most part of their
personal identity would also be most likely
to continue volunteer work.
Participants indicated the degree to which the
social role mattered by responding to
statements such as
“Volunteering in
Hospital is an important part of who I
am.” Consistent with the researchers’
expectations, they found a positive
correlation(
正相关
) between the
strength
of role identity and the
length of time people continued to volunteer.
These
results, o
nce again,
lead to concrete advice: “Once an individual
begins
volunteering, continued efforts
might focus on developing a volunteer role
identity....Items
like
T-shirts
that
allow
volunteers
to
be
recognized
publicly
for their
contributions can help stren
gthen role
identity”.
97
．
People
volunteer mainly out of __________.
A
．
academic
requirements
C
．
financial
rewards
B
．
social
expectations
D
．
internal needs
98
．
What can we
learn from the Florida study?
A
．
Follow-up
studies should last for one year.
B
．
Volunteers
should get
mentally prepared.
C
．
Strategy
training is a must in research.
D
．
Volunteers are provided
with
concrete advice.
99
．
What is most
likely to motivate volunteers to continue their
work?
A
．
Individual
differences in role identity.
B
．
Publicly identifiable
volunteer T-shirts.
C
．
Role identity
as a volunteer.
D
．
Practical
advice
from
researchers.
100
．
What is the
best title of the passage?
A
．
How to Get
People to Volunteer
C
．How to Keep Volunteers’
Interest
Activities
Daniel Anderson, a famous
psychologist, believes it’s important to
distinguish television’s
influences on
children from those of the family. We tend to
blame TV, he says, for problems it
doesn’t really cause, overlooking our
own roles in shaping children’s minds.
One traditional belief about television
is that it reduces a child’s ability to think and
to
understand the world. While watching
TV
, children do not merely absorb words
and images
(
影像
).
Instead, they learn both explicit and hidden
meanings from what they see. Actually,
children learn early the psychology of
characters in TV shows. Furthermore, as many
teachers
agree, children understand far
more when parents watch TV with them, explaining
new words
and ideas. Yet, most parents
use an educational program as a chance to park
their kids in front
of the set and do
something in another room.
Another
argument against television is that it replaces
reading as a form of entertainment. But
according to Anderson, the amount of
time spent watching television is not related to
reading
ability. TV doesn’t take the
place of reading for most children; it takes the
place of similar
sorts of recreation,
such as listening to the radio and playing sports.
Things like parents’
educational
background
have a stronger influence on
a child’s reading. “A child’s reading
ability is best predicted by how much a
parent reads.” Anderson says.
Traditional wisdom also has it that
heavy television-watching lowers IQ
(
智商
) scores and
affects school performance. But here,
too, Anderson notes that no studies have proved
it. In
fact, research suggests that
it’s the other way around. “If you’re smart young,
you’ll watch
less TV when you’re
older,” Anderson says. Yet, people of lower IQ
tend to be lifelong
television viewers.
For years researchers have attempted to
show that television is dangerous to children.
However, by showing that television
promotes none of the dangerous effects as
conventionally believed, Anderson
suggests that television cannot be condemned
without
B
．
How to
Study Volunteer Behaviors
D
．
How to Organize
Volunteer
considering other influences.
101
．
By watching
TV, children learn _________.
A
．
images through
words
B
．
more than
explicit meanings
C
．
more about
images than words
D
．
little about
people’s psychology
102
．
An
educational program is best watched by a child
_________.
A
．
on
his own
B
．
with
other kids
C
．
with
his parents
D
．
with his
teachers
103
．
Which of the
following is most related to children’s reading
ability?
A
．
Radio-listening
B
．
Television-
watching
C
．
Parents’
reading list
D
．
Parents’
educational background
104
．
Anderson
believed that _________.
A
．
the more a
child watches TV, the smarter he is
B
．
the younger a
child is, the more he watches TV
C
．
the smarter a
child is, the less likely he gets addicted to TV
D
．
the less a
child watches TV
, the better he
performs at school
105
．
What is the
main purpose of the passage?
A
．
To advise on
the educational use of TV
.
B
．
To describe
TV’s harmful effects on children.
C
．
To explain
traditional views on TV influences.
D
．
To present
Anderson’s unconventional ideas.
C
The production
of coffee beans is a huge, profitable business,
but, unfortunately, full-sun
production
is taking over the industry and bringing about a
lot of damage. The change in how
coffee
is grown from shade-grown production to full-sun
production endangers the very
exi
stence of, certain
animals and birds, and even disturbs the world’s
ecological balance.
On a
local level, the damage of the forest required by
full-
sun fields affects the area’s
birds and
animals. The shade of the
forest trees provides a home for birds and other
special(
物种
) that
depend on the trees’ flowers and
fruits. Full
-sun coffee growers destroy
this forest home. As a
result, many
special are quickly dying out.
On a
more global level, the destruction of the
rainforest for full-sun coffee fields also
threatens(
威胁
)human life.
Medical research often makes use of the forests'
plant and animal
life, and the
destruction of such species could prevent
researchers from finding cures for certain
diseases. In addition, new coffee-
growing techniques are poisoning the water
locally, and
eventually the world's
groundwater.
Both locally and globally,
the continued spread of full-sun coffee
plantations (
种植园
)could
mean the destruction of the rainforest
ecology. The loss of shade trees is already
causing a
slight change in the world's
climate, and studies show that loss of oxygen-
giving trees also
leads to air
pollution and global warming. Moreover, the new
growing techniques are
contributing to
acidic(
酸性的
) soil conditions.
It is obvious that the way much coffee
is grown affects many aspects many aspects of
life, from
the local environment to the
global ecology. But consumers do have a choice.
They can
purchase shade-grown coffee
whenever possible, although at a higher cost. The
future health of
the planet and mankind
is surely worth more than an inexpensive cup of
coffee.
106
．
What
can we learn about full-sun coffee production from
Paragraph 4?
A
．
It
limits the spread of new growing techniques.
B
．
It leads to air
pollution and global warming.
C
．
It slows down
the loss of shade trees.
D
．
It improves
local soil conditions.
107
．
The purpose
of the text is to
.
A
．
entertain
B
．
advertise
C
．
instruct
D
．
persuade
108
．
Where does
this text probably come from ?
A
．
An agricultural
magazine.
B
．
A
medical journal.
C
．
An engineering
textbook.
D
．
A
tourist guide.
109
．
Which of the
following shows the structure of the whole text?
A
．
B
．
C
．
D
．
D
Their cheery song
brightens many a winter's day. But robins are in
danger of wearing
themselves out by
singing too much. Robins are singing all
night
一
as well as during the
day,
British-based researchers say.
David Dominoni, of Glasgow University,
said that light from street lamps, take away signs
and homes is affecting the birds'
biological clocks, leading to them being wide
awake when
they should be asleep.
Dr Dominoni, who is putting cameras
inside nesting boxes to track sleeping patterns,
said
lack of sleep could put the birds’
health at risk. His study shows that when robins
are exposed
to light at night in the
lab, it leads to some genes being active
at
the wrong time of
day. And the more
birds are exposed to light, the more active they
are at night.
He told people at a
conference,
increasing their song
output at night and during the day they are still
singing. Singing is a
costly behaviour
and it takes energy. So by increasing their song
output, there might
be some
costs of energy.
And it is not just
robins that are being kept awake by artificial
light. Blackbirds and seagulls
are also
being more nocturnal. Dr Dominoni said,
serious problem. I have people coming
to me saying `You are the bird expert. Can you
help us
kill these gulls?'.During the
breeding(
繁殖
)season, between
April and June, they are very
active at
night and very noisy and people can't
sleep.
Although Dr Dominoni has only
studied light pollution, other research concluded
that robins
living in noisy cities have
started to sing at night to make themselves heard
over loud noise.
However, some birds
thrive(
兴旺
)in noisy
environments. A study from California Polytechnic
University found more hummingbirds in
areas with heavy industrial machinery. It is
thought
that they are capitalising on
their predators(
天敌
)fleeing
to quieter
areas.
110
．
According to
Dr Dominoni's study, what cause robins to sing so
much?
A
．
The
breeding season.
B
．
The light in
modern life
C
．
The
dangerous environment.
D
．
The noise from
heavy machinery.
111
．
What is the
researchers' concern over the increase of birds'
song output?
A
．
The environment
might be polluted.
B
．
The birds'
health might be damaged.
C
．
The industry
cost might be increased.
D
．
The people's
hearing might be affected.
112
．
What does the
underlined word
A
．
Active at
night.
C
．
Active
during the day.
B
．
Inactive at
night.
D
．
Inactive
during the day.
113
．
Why do some
birds thrive in noisy environments?
A
．
Because there
are fewer dangers.
B
．
Because there
is more food to eat.
C
．
Because there
is less light pollution
D
．
Because there
are more places to take shelter.
E
No one is sure how the
ancient Egyptians built the pyramids near Cairo.
But a new study
suggests they used a
little rock‘n’roll. Long
-ago builders
could have attached wooden pole s
to
the stones and rolled then across the sand, the
scientists say.
“Technically, I think
what they’re proposing is possible,” physicist
Daniel Bonn said.
People
have long puzzled over how the Egyptians moved
such huge rocks. And there’s no
obvious
answer. On average, each of the two million big
stones weighed about as much as a
large
pickup truck. The Egyptians somehow moved the
stone blocks to the pyramid site from
about one kilometer away.
The most popular view is that Egyptian
workers slid the blocks along smooth paths. Many
scientists suspect workers first would
have put the blocks on
sleds(
滑板
). Then they would
have dragged them along paths. To make
the work easier, workers may
have__________either with wet clay or
with the fat from cattle. Bonn has now tested this
idea by building small sleds and
dragging heavy objects over sand.
Evidence from the sand supports this
idea. Researchers found small amounts of fat, as
well as
a large amount of stone and the
remains of paths.
However, physicist
Joseph West thinks there might have been a simpler
way , who led the
new study . West said
, “I was inspired while watching a television
program showing how
sleds might have
helped with pyramid construction . I thought ,
‘Why don’t they just try
rolling the
things?’“A square could be turned into a rough
sort o
f wheel by attaching wooden
poles to its sides , he realized . That
, he notes , should make a block of stone” a lot
easier to
roll than a
square”.
So he tried____.
He and his students tied some poles to
each of four sides of a 30-kilogram stone block.
That
action turned the block into
somewhat a wheel. Then they placed the block on
the ground.
They wrapped one end of a
rope around the block and pulled. The researchers
found they
could easily roll the block
along different kinds of paths. They calculated
that rolling the
block required about
as much force as moving it along a
slippery(
滑的
)path.
West hasn’t tested his idea on larger
blocks, but he thinks rolling has clear advantages
over
sliding. At least, workers
wouldn’t have needed to carry cattle fat or
wa
ter to smooth the
paths.
114
．
It’s widely
believed that the stone blocks were moved to the
pyramid site by ______.
A
．
rolling them on
roads
B
．
pushing
them over the sand
C
．
sliding them on
smooth paths
D
．
dragging them
on some poles
115
．
The
underlined part
“lubricated the paths”
in Paragraph 4 means____.
A
．
made the path
wet
B
．
made the
path hard
C
．
made
the path wide
D
．
made the path
slippery
116
．
What
does the underlined word “it”in Paragraph 7 refer
to?
A
．
Rolling the
blocks with poles attached.
B
．
Rolling the
blocks on wooden wheels.
C
．
Rolling poles
to move the blocks.
D
．
Rolling the
blocks with fat.
117
．
Why is
rolling better than sliding according to West ?
A
．
Because more
force is needed for sliding.
B
．
Because rolling
work can be done by fewer cattle.
C
．
Because sliding
on smooth road is more dangerous.
D
．
Because less
preparation on path is needed for rolling.
118
．
What is the
text mainly about ?
A
．
An experiment
on ways of moving blocks to the pyramid site.
B
．
An application
of the method of moving blocks to the pyramid
site.
C
．
An
argument about different methods of moving blocks
to the pyramid site.
D
．
An introduction
to a possible new way of moving blocks to the
pyramid site.
Whether in the
home or the workplace, social robots are going to
become a lot more
common in the next
few years. Social robots are about to bring
technology to the everyday
world in a
more humanized way, said Cynthia Breazeal, chief
scientist at the robot company
Jibo.
While household robots today do the
normal housework, social robots will be much more
like companions than mere tools. For
example, these robots will be able to distinguish
when
someone is happy or sad. This
allows them to respond more appropriately to the
user.
The Jibo robot, arranged to ship
later this year, is designed to be a personalized
assistant.
You can talk to the robot,
ask it questions, and make requests for it to
perform different tasks.
The robot
doesn’t just deliver general answers to questions;
it responds based on what it learns
about each individual in the household.
It can do things such as reminding an elderly
family
member to take medicine or
taking family photos.
Social robots are
not just finding their way into the home. They
have potential applications
in
everything from education to health care and are
already finding their way into some of these
spaces.
Fellow Robots is one
company bringing social robots to the market. The
company’s
＂
Oshbot
＂
robot is built to assist
customers in a store, which can help the
customers find items and help guide
them to the
product’s location in the
store. It can also speak
different
languages and make recommendations for different
items based on what the customer
is
shopping for.
The more interaction the
robot has with humans, the more it learns. But
Oshbot, like other
social robots, is
not intended to replace workers, but to work
alongside other employees.
＂
We
have
technologies to train social robots to do things
not for us, but with us,
＂
said Breazeal.
119
．
How are
social robots different from household robots?
A
．
They can
control their emotions.
B
．
They are more
like humans.
C
．
They do the
normal housework.
D
．
They respond to
users more slowly.
120
．
What can a
Jibo robot do according to Paragraph 3?
A
．
Communicate
with you and perform operations.
B
．
Answer your
questions and make requests.
C
．
Take your
family pictures and deliver milk.
D
．
Obey your
orders and remind you to take pills.
121
．
What can
Oshbot work as?
A
．
A language
teacher.
C
．
A shop
assistant.
B
．
A
tour guide.
D
．
A
private nurse.
122
．
We can learn
from the last paragraph that social robots will
_______.
A
．
train
employees
C
．
improve
technologies
B
．
be
our workmates
D
．
take the place
of workers
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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