Until recently, the "science of the future" was supposed to be electronics and a
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Until recently, the "science of the future" was supposed to be electronics and artificial intelligence. Today it seems more and more likely that the next great breakthroughs in technology will be brought through a combination of those two sciences with organic chemistry and genetic engineering. This combination is the science of biotechnology.
Organic chemistry enables us to produce marvelous synthetic materials. However, it is still difficult to manufacture anything that has the capacity of wool to conserve (保存) heat and also to absorb moisture. Nothing that we have been able to produce so far comes anywhere near the combination of strength, lightness and flexibility that we find in the bodies of ordinary insects.
Nevertheless, scientists in the laboratory have already succeeded in "growing" a material that has many of the characteristics of human skin. The next step may well be "biotech hearts and eyes" which can replace diseased organs in human beings. These will not be rejected by the body, as is the case with organs from humans.
The application of biotechnology to energy production seems even more promising. In 1996 the famous science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke, many of whose previous predictions have come true, said that we may soon be able to develop remarkably cheap and renewable sources of energy. Some of these power sources will be biological. Clarke and others have warned us repeatedly that sooner or later we will have to give up our dependence on non-renewable power sources. Coal, oil and gas are indeed convenient. However, using them also means creating dangerously high levels of pollution. It will be impossible to meet the growing demand for energy without increasing that pollution to catastrophic (灾难性的) levels unless we develop power sources that are both cheaper and cleaner.
It is attempting to think that biotechnology or some other "science of the future" can solve our problems. Before we surrender to that temptation we should remember nuclear power. Only a few generations ago it seemed to promise limitless, cheap and safe energy. Today those promises lie buried in a concrete grave in a place called Chernobyl, in the Ukraine. Biotechnology is unlikely, however, to break its promises in quite the same or such a dangerous way.
小题1:According to the passage, the science of the future is likely to be ________.| A．electronics | B．biotechnology | | C．genetic engineering | D．nuclear technology |
小题2:The materials produced with organic chemistry are ________.at present.| A．as good as wool | | B．as good as an insect"s body | | C．better than natural materials | | D．not as good as natural materials |
小题3:According to the passage, it may soon be possible ________.| A．to transplant human organs | | B．to make artificial hearts and eyes | | C．to produce drugs without side effects | | D．to make something as good as human skin |
小题4:In 1996, Arthur C. Clarke predicted that_______.
A. the Chernobyl disaster would happen in two years
B. we will never stop using non-renewable power sources biological
C. oil, gas and coal could be repeatedly used in the future
D. power sources would be put into use soon
小题5:What do we learn from the last paragraph?| A．Biological power will keep all its promises. | | B．Biological power is cheaper than nuclear power. | | C．Biotechnology can solve all our future energy problems | | D．Biological power may not be as dangerous as nuclear power |
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答案
小题1:B
小题2:D
小题3:B
小题4:D
小题5:D |
解析
试题分析：文章大意：明天的科学将是有机化学和遗传工程学的结合，这就是生物科技。虽然目前有机化学生产的材料不如天然材料那么好，但是生物科技不会像原子能那样对人类有害。本文就讲了生物科技对人类的好处。
小题1:B细节理解题。根据第一段…combination of those two sciences with organic chemistry and genetic engineering. This combination is the science of biotechnology.很容易找出答案，明天的科技可能就是生物科技。所以答案选B。
小题2:D 细节理解题。 根据第二段it is still difficult to manufacture anything that has the capacity of wool to conserve (保存) heat and also to absorb moisture.可知，目前来说有机化学生产的材料不如羊毛保温吸潮。也就是说不如天然材料好。所以正确答案为D。
小题3:B 细节理解题。根据第三段The next step may well be "biotech hearts and eyes" which can replace diseased organs in human beings.可知，生物科技很可能制造出人工的心脏和眼睛来替代人身上患病的器官。所以答案选B。
小题4:D 细节理解题。根据第四段…said that we may soon be able to develop remarkably cheap and renewable sources of energy. Some of these power sources will be biological.可知，1996年Arthur C. Clarke就预言，我们很快就能生产出既便宜又可再生的能源…所以答案选D。
小题5:D 细节理解题。…nuclear power…Biotechnology is unlikely, however, to break its promises in quite the same or such a dangerous way.可知，生物科技不会像原子能科技那样对人类有危害。所以答案选D。 |
举一反三
It has been argued by some that gifted children should be grouped in special classes. The __ __ has been on the belief that in regular classes these children are held back in their intellectual (智力的) growth by learning situation that has designed for the children.
There can be little doubt that classes can help the gifted children to graduate earlier and take their place in life sooner. However, to take these out of the regular classes may create serious problems.
Many are concerned that gifted children become and lose interest in learning. However this concern is more often from parents and teachers than from students, and some of these simply conclude that special classes should be set up for those who are talented. Some top students do feel bored in class, but why they so goes far beyond the work they have in school. Studies have shown that to be bored is to be anxious. The gifted child who is bored is an child.
| 小题1: | | A．principle | B．theory | C．arguement | D．classification |
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| 小题2: | | A．smart | B．poor | C．mature | D．average |
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| 小题3: | | A．regular | B．special | C．small | D．creative |
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| 小题4: | | A．children | B．programs | C．graduates | D．designs |
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| 小题5: | | A．doubted | B．bored | C．worried | D．tired |
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| 小题6: | | A．students | B．adults | C．scholars | D．teachers |
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| 小题7: | | A．believe | B．think | C．say | D．feel |
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| 小题8: | | A．outstanding | B．intelligent | C．anxious | D．ordinary |
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Pilling a cat can be a "terrible” experience. Cats don’t want something pushed down their throats, and they’ll fight with all their strength to prevent it. In fact, it’s amazing how powerful their small bodies can be.
The easiest way of pilling a cat is to press the pill into powder. Then mix the powder with a small amount of wet food. If your cat usually eats dry food, she will probably view the wet food as a treat and eat it up.
If your cat won’t eat the wet food that contains the pill or if she is too ill to eat, you can get a “pill gun”. There are some basic instructions. Getting your cat’s mouth to open is going to be the most difficult part. First, be sure the pill is in a handy place. Then you can put your cat on a bookshelf with her bottom in a corner or you can put her on your lap firmly tied. Have your cat facing to the right if you’re right-handed. With your left hand, hold your cat at the cheekbones, putting your palm (手掌) at the top of her head. Keeping your finger off the trigger (扳机), with your right hand, Insert the pill gun until the pill is positioned over the tongue and open throat Be sure to give your cat a treat directly after giving the pill.
If you don’t feel comfortable using a pill gun, you can try giving the pill by hand. Push your cat’s head backwards just far enough so that her nose is pointing towards the ceiling. At this point, most cats will slightly open their mouths. With the little finger or ring finger of the hand holding the pill, open the bottom jaw a little more. You may need to hold her top jaw with your other hand while doing this. Aim straight and lightly throw the pill or drop it. Most cats will then swallow the pill.
小题1:Pilling a cat can be a terrible experience because cats ______.| A．are amazingly powerful and dangerous | | B．may fight with all their strength against pills | | C．refuse something pressed down their throats | | D．are difficult to treat once they’ve got ill |
小题2:Which of the following statements is true according to the second paragraph?| A．Wet food with medicine is usually a treat to cats. | | B．Cats used to dry food must reject wet food. | | C．The easiest pilling is to press the pill into powder. | | D．Cats arc most likely interested in something new. |
小题3:Using a “pill gun”, you had better hold your cat ______ if you’re left-handed.| A．facing to the right | B．with your right hand | | C．at the head | D．on your lap firmly |
小题4:A cat probably opens its mouth naturally when ______.| A．its nose is straight upwards | B．it is touched by fingers | | C．its head is turning around | D．it is served with its favorite pills |
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Will online courses transform world of education?
Some may wonder what it feels like to attend a class at Stanford University. The recently popular MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) can satisfy this desire. But they are also most likely to change the situation of higher education. Only last month，both Peking University and Tsinghua University announced plans to start open online course on the edX platform，one of the world’s major providers of MOOCs，to explore this new form of online education.
Gaining momentum(势头)
“It’s not only a change of platforms from offline to online. It’s more about a reform of
teaching methods，even the whole education system，”said Chen Jining，president of Tsinghua University.
The potential of MOOCs to reform education has been obvious in the US ever since the immediate popularity of the course Artificial Intelligence，taught by Stanford University professor Sebastian Thrun, who later co-founded Udacity, a platform with 1.6 million enrolled(注册) students in 200 countries. According to Nature magazine，by June 2013，74 percent of universities in the US offered some type of online course. Lu Fang, vice-president of Fudan University，explains the appeal of MOOCs as a simple case of supply and demand：“The demand for high quality educational resources from both enrolled students and professionals is feeding the rise of MOOCs，in which classes usually taught by top teachers are available to everyone，”said Lu.
Too early to replace
With easy access and free of charge, MOOCs are said to have the potential to change the present education system. But there are barriers，because hardly any universities offer degree certificates, as college administrators point out, it’s difficult to confirm if students are foaming anything in MOOCs，reposed USA Today．
The Wall Street Journal also reposed that，presently，a typical MOOC student is likely to have
already graduated from college and is using the course to explore an interest or acquire professional
skills. Even so, an increasing number of undergraduates are signing up.
“What we are really establishing(创建)are educational pathways for people who want skills that are related to contemporary jobs，”Thrun told The Wall Street Journal．
小题1:MOOCs have been considered likely to reform education since___________．| A．the founding of Udacity | | B．the wide application of online education | | C．the popularity of the course Artificial Intelligence | | D．the opening of MOOCs on the edX platform in China |
小题2:According to Lu Fang, MOOCs have become popular because___________．| A．high quality educational resources are in demand | | B．students can attend courses in famous universities | | C．college students have access to famous teachers | | D．MOOCs have brought about revolution in education |
小题3:What can we learn from the passage?| A．Most of the MOOCs focus on professional training for college graduates． | | B．There are barriers for MOOCs to replace the present education system． | | C．International companies prefer applicants who graduate from MOOCs． | | D．More and more undergraduates have realized the limits of MOOCs． |
小题4:The author’s attitude towards MOOCs is___________．| A．doubtful | B．negative | C．critical | D．optimistic |
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What’s the greenest place in America? If you answered something like the warm sunlight of Santa Barbara, you’d be wrong. The greenest place in America has almost no sign of nature— the buildings outnumber the trees— and the air isn’t all that great. What it has is density(密度)and efficiency— the twin qualities that finally define green in the global warming time. Applying those standards，the greenest place in America is New York City— particularly，the overcrowded，overpriced island of Manhattan, which produces 30％ less per-capita(人均)greenhouse gas than that of the nation．
It’s that density that makes Manhattan so green. Manhattan’s population density is 800 times the national average. Density comes with negatives，certainly— small living spaces，air pollution— but it also enables amazing efficiencies．Over 80％ of Manhattanites travel to work by public transport, by bike or on foot— compared to an average of about 8％ everywhere else in the country. Manhattan’s apartment buildings are far more energy-efficient than the houses in the suburbs.
What’s true of New York City is more or less true of other American urban areas, which explains why a growing part of the environmental movement now focuses on greening cities, hoping to attract more Americans back downtown. There’s an effort to make cities more sustainable(可持续的)，by improving public transport，reducing air pollution and upgrading energy efficiency. But even more important, it is quite urgent to change decades of government policies that have been in favor of the suburbs，with disastrous consequences for energy，the environment and the climate.
That’s exactly the difficult point. For all the high efficiency and convenience and richness of living in a city，there are disadvantages too．New York，for example，has some of the highest childhood asthma(哮喘)rates in the U.S.
So it’s welcome news that New York has continued to push its P1aNYC scheme, a long-term program to make the city greener and more sustainable over the next decades. Recently it announced an update to the plan that includes phasing out heavy heating oils in New York City apartment buildings by 2030，to be replaced with cleaner natural gas.
小题1:Manhattan is considered as the greenest place in America because of its__________| A．buildings and trees | B．density and efficiency | | C．sunlight and nature | D．transport and population |
小题2:We can infer from the passage that___________.| A．New Yorkers have urged the city government to carry out green policies | | B．the public transport and living space are quite satisfactory in New York | | C．life in the countryside is more comfortable and energy efficient than that in cities | | D．the significance of making cities greener is gained in promoting energy efficiency |
小题3:The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to___________.| A．New York city | B．PlaNYC scheme | | C．Manhattan | D．Santa Barbara |
小题4:The underlined part “phasing out” in the last paragraph probably means___________.| A．rapidly promoting dealing with | | B．widely suggesting researching on | | C．gradually stopping using | | D．immediately forbidding producing |
小题5:What would be the best title for the passage?| A．Manhattan the Greenest Place in America? | | B．The Higher Density，the Greener City? | | C．PlaNYC Scheme：New York City’s Future | | D．Living in Cities Does Good to the Environment |
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Coffee is a powerful beverage．On a personal level，it helps keep US awake and active．On a much broader level，it has helped shape our history and continues to shape our culture．
Coffee didn’t take off until the l400s when people figured out they could roast its seeds．By the l500s，the drink had spread to coffeehouses across the Arab world．Within another l50 years，it took Europe by storm．
“It actually had a major impact on the rise of business，” historian Mark Pendergrast says．Coffeehouses became a spot not just to enjoy a cup but to exchange ideas．The insurer Lloyd’s of London was founded hundreds of years ago in one of London’s 2,000 coffeehouses．Literature，newspapers and even the works of great composers like Bach and Beethoven were also spawned(涌现)in coffeehouses．
It is often said that after the Boston Tea Party of l773，when American colonists attacked British tea ships and threw boxes of tea into the harbor，Americans universally switched over to drinking coffee．In a letter John Adams wrote to his wife，Abigail，the Founding Father claims his love of tea but says he will have to learn to embrace coffee instead，because drinking tea had become a symbol of not loving the country．
For all the upsides coffee has brought the modern world，it also led to its fair share of downsides，too．Europeans carried coffee with them as they colonized various parts of the world，and this frequently meant they enslaved people in order to grow it．In Brazil — where slavery was legal until l888 — coffee plantations would use slash-and-burn agriculture，tearing down rain forests and planting coffee trees．Once the soil had been exhausted，growers would move on to another place．
And yet，coffee，as Pendergrast says，”had a very good impact in many ways on our civilization，even though it was，for a long time，grown by slaves．”
小题1:Why did people enjoy going to coffeehouses?| A．Because it was a fashion to drink coffee． | | B．Because coffeehouses provided a better flavor． | | C．Because they could stay awake and active there． | | D．Because they could exchange ideas there． |
小题2:What can we learn from the fourth paragraph?| A．American colonists made great profits by trading in coffee． | | B．Tea was regarded as a symbol of loving one’s country． | | C．Coffee became very popular after the incident in Boston． | | D．John Adams was the Founding Father of the Tea Party． |
小题3:In the fifth paragraph．the writer points out that __________ .| A．Coffee plantation was closely connected with slavery | | B．coffee plantation led to outdated agriculture in Brazil | | C．slavery in Brazil had been against the law until l888 | | D．slavery was responsible for the damage to rainforests |
小题4:What is mainly talked about in this passage?| A．Some interesting stories about coffee culture． | | B．Important Roles that coffee played in history． | | C．How coffee became the most popular beverage． | | D．How coffee affected America’s independence． |
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