Your glasses may someday replace your smartphone, and some New Yorkers are ready

题型：不详难度：来源：

Your glasses may someday replace your smartphone, and some New Yorkers are ready for the switch. Some in the city can"t wait to try them on and use the maps and GPS that the futuristic eyewear is likely to include.
" I"d use it if I were hanging out with friends at 3 a. m. and going to the bar and wanted to see what was open," said Walter Choo, 40, of Fort Greene.
The smartphone-like glasses will likely come out this year and cost between $250 and $600, the Times said, possibly including a variation of augmented(增强的) reality, a technology already available on smartphones and tablets (平板电脑) that overlays information onto the screen about one"s surroundings. So, for example, if you were walking down a street, indicators would pop up showing you the nearest coffee shop or directions could be plotted out and come into view right on the sidewalk in front of you.
" As far as a mainstream consumer product, this just isn"t something anybody needs," said Sam Biddle, who writes for Gizmodo.com. " We"re accustomed to having one thing in our pocket to do all these things," he added, "and the average consumer isn"t gonna be able to afford another device (装置) that"s hundreds and hundreds of dollars. "
9to5Google publisher Seth Weintraub, who has been reporting on the smartphone-like glasses since late last year, said he is confident that this type of wearable device will eventually be as common as smartphones.
"It"s just like smartphones 10 years ago," Weintraub said. "A few people started getting emails on their phones, and people thought that was crazy. Same kind of thing. We see people bending their heads to look at their smartphones, and it"s unnatural," he said. " There"s gonna be improvements to that, and this a step there. "
小题1:One of the possible functions of the smartphone-like glasses is to ____.

A． program the opening hours of a bar

B． supply you with a picture of the future

C． provide information about your surroundings

D． update the maps and GPS in your smartphones

小题2:The underlined phrase "pop up" in the third paragraph probably means " ____".

A．develop rapidly	B．get round quickly
C．appear immediately	D．go over automatically

小题3:According to Sam Biddle, the smartphone-like glasses are ____.

A．necessary for teenagers

B．attractive to New Yorkers

C．available to people worldwide

D．expensive for average consumers

小题4:We can learn from the last two paragraphs that the smartphone-like glasses ____.

A．may have a potential market

B．are as common as smartphones

C．are popular among young adults

D．will be improved by a new technology

答案

小题1:C
小题2:C
小题3:D
小题4:A

解析

【主旨大意】B篇是一篇科技文章。介绍了一种象智能手机的眼镜，它的功能和缺陷及市场潜力。
小题1:考查细节题。从第三段的第二句话a technology already available on smartphones and tablets (平板电脑) that overlays information onto the screen about one"s surroundings.可知，这种象智能手机的眼镜可以提供周围环境的信息。选C.
小题2:考查猜词题。从句意看：如果你走在街上，眼镜上会立刻出现一个指示显示最近的咖啡店的位置。还有后面的暗示：come into view right，所以pop up这个词组是“突然出现”的意思。选C。
小题3:推理题。从第四段的Sam Biddle说的最后一句话and the average consumer isn"t gonna be able to afford another device (装置) that"s hundreds and hundreds of dollars. "可以推断出，对普通的消费者来说，这个手机太贵了，他们买不起。选D。
小题4:推理题。从倒数第二段的最后一句话，可以推断出这种象智能手机的眼镜可能有潜在的市场。选A。

举一反三

While Jennifer was at home taking an online exam for her business law class, a monitor（监控器）a few hundred miles away was watching her every move.
Using a web camera equipped in Jennifer’s Los Angeles apartment, the monitor in Phoenix tracked how frequently her eyes moved from the computer screen and listened for the secret sounds of a possible helper in the room. Her Internet access was locked - remotely - to prevent Internet searches , and her typing style was analyzed to make sure she was who she said she was: Did she enter her student number at the same speed as she had in the past? Or was she slowing down?
In the battle against cheating, this is the cutting edge and a key to encourage honesty in the booming field of online education. The technology gives trust to the entire system, to the institution and to online education in general. Only with solid measures against cheating, experts say, can Internet universities show that their exams and diplomas are valid - that students haven’t just searched the Internet to get the right answers.
Although online classes have existed for more than a decade, the concern over cheating has become sharper in the last year with the growth of "open online courses." Private colleges, public universities and corporations are jumping into the online education field, spending millions of dollars to attract potential students, while also taking steps to help guarantee honesty at a distance.
Aside from the web cameras, a number of other high-tech methods are becoming increasingly popular. Among them are programs that check students’ identities using personal information, such as the telephone number they once used.
Other programs can produce unique exam by drawing on a large list of questions and can recognize possible cheaters by analyzing whether difficult test question are answered at the same speed as easy ones. As in many university classes, term papers are scanned against some large Internet data banks for cheating.
小题1:Why was Jennifer watched in an online exam?

A．To correct her typing mistakes.

B．To find her secrets in the room.

C．To prevent her from slowing down.

D．To keep her from dishonest behaviors.

小题2:The underlined expression cutting edge in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to______.

A．advanced technique	B．sharpening tool
C．effective rule	D．dividing line

小题3: For Internet universities, exams and diplomas will be valid if _____.

A．they can attract potential students	B．they can defeat academic cheating
C．they offer students online help	D．they offer many online courses

小题4:Some programs can find out possible cheaters by _____.

A．checking the question answering speed

B．producing a large number of question

C．scanning the Internet test question

D．giving difficult test question

小题5: Which of the following is the best title of this passage?

A．The Advantages of Online Exams

B．The High-tech Methods in Online Courses

C．The Fight against Cheating in Online Education

D．The War against the Booming of Online Education

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案

Here is an astonishing and signficant fact:Mental work alone can’t make us tired. It sounds absurd. But a few years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue(疲劳). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered thett blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day labourer, we could find it full of fatigue toxins(毒素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxing at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours f efforts as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired.
Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue come from our mental and emotional(情感的) attitudes. One of England’s most outstanding scientists. J. A. Hadfield,says,“The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact,fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares,“One hundred percent of the fatigue of a sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”
What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired?Joy?Satifaction?No!A feeling of being bored,anger,anxiety,tenseness,worry,a feeling of nt being appreciated---those are emotions that tire sitting workers.Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue.We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.
小题1:What surprised the scientists a few years ago?

A．Fatigue toxinscould hardly be found in a labour’s blood.

B．Albert Eistein didn’t feel worn out after a day’s work.

C．The brain could wrk for many hours without fatigue.

D．A mental worker’s blood was filled with fatigue toxins.

小题2:According to the authour,which of the following can make sitting worker tired？

A．Challenge mental work.

B．Unpleasant emotions.

C．Endless tasks.

D．Physical labor.

小题3:What’s the authour’s attitude towards the scientists’ ideas?

A．He agrees with them.

B．He doubts them

C．He argues against them.

D．He hesitates to accept them.

小题4:We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energic, sitting workers need to ______.

A．have some good blood

B．enjoy their work

C．exercise regularly

D．discover fatigue toxin

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案

For some people, music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes (音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.
As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music set them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.
Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The difference is complex, and it doesn’t involve defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors.
Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed (诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say, ‘No thanks, I’m amusic,’” says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.” (335 words)
小题1:Which of the following is true of amusics?

A．Listening to music is far from enjoyable for them.

B．They love places where they are likely to hear music.

C．They can easily tell two different songs apart.

D．Their situation is well understood by musicians.

小题2:According to paragraph 3, a person with “defective hearing” is probably one who __________.

A．dislikes listening to speeches

B．can hear anything nonmusical

C．has a hearing problem

D．lacks a complex hearing system

小题3:In the last paragraph, Margaret expressed her wish that __________.

A．her problem with music had been diagnosed earlier

B．she were seventeen years old rather than seventy

C．her problem could be easily explained

D．she were able to meet other amusics

小题4:What is the passage mainly concerned with?

A．Amusics’ strange behaviours.

B．Some people’s inability to enjoy music.

C．Musical talent and brain structure.

D．Identification and treatment of amusics.

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案

(268 words)
小题1:According to Warranty Limitations, a product can be under warranty if __________.
A. shipped from a Canadian factory B. rented for home use
C. repaired by the user himself D. used in the U.S.A.
小题2:According to Owner’s Responsibilities, an owner has to pay for __________.

A．the loss of the sales receipt	B．a servicer’s overtime work
C．the product installation	D．a mechanic’s transportation

小题3:Which of the following is true according to the warranty?

A．Consequential damages are excluded across America.

B．A product damaged in a natural disaster is covered by the warranty.

C．A faulty cabinet due to rust can be replaced free in the second year.

D．Free repair is available for a product used improperly in the first year.

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案

A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.
“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.
They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.
While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.
Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”
(392 words)
小题1:The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.

A．they had no model in their mind

B．they did not have sufficient time

C．they had no ready-made components

D．they could not assemble the components

小题2:It can be inferred from paragraphs 3 and 4 that the robotic fly __________.

A．consists of a flight device and a control system

B．can just fly in limited areas at the present time

C．can collect information from many sources

D．has been put into wide application

小题3:Which of the following can be learned from the passage?

A．The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects.

B．Animals are not allowed in biological experiments.

C．There used to be few ways to study how insects fly.

D．Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments.

小题4:Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．Father of Robotic Fly

B．Inspiration from Engineering Science

C．Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect

D．Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案