Why do human beings still risk their lives under ground and doing one of the dir
题型：不详难度：来源：
Why do human beings still risk their lives under ground and doing one of the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the world？It’s an increasingly urgent question，given the recent highprofile(引人注目的) mining accidents in Sago，W.Va.and Huntington，Utah.A small group of engineers and robotics experts look forward to a day in the nottoodistant future when robots and other technology do most of the dangerous mining work.
Robotic technology，in particular，holds much promise，McAteer says，especially when it comes to mapping mines and rescuing trapped miners—the special operations of the mining industry.
One of the first mining robots was developed five years ago at CarnegieMellon University’s Robotics Institute.It was called Groundhog and it looked like a golf cart.It used lasers(激光器) to “see” in dark tunnels and map abandoned mines—some of the most dangerous work in the business.
The latest design is called Cave Crawler.It’s a bit smaller than Groundhog，and even more advanced.It can take photos and video and has sensors mounted(增加) that can detect the presence of dangerous gases.Incredibly，the robot has a real sense of logic.If it comes across an obstacle it gets confused.It has to think through the process and where to go next，and sometimes it throws_a_fit just like a real person.
The biggest obstacle，though，is cost.The original research project was federally funded，but that money has dried up，and it’s not clear where future funding will come from. Partly for that reason，and partly because of advances in safety，mining is not nearly as dangerous as it was in the past.Since 1990，fatalities(致命性) have declined by 67 percent and injuries by 51 percent，according to the National Mining Association.
Some experts predict that robots in mines will serve much of the same function that they do in the automotive industry.The robots do the most repetitive and dangerous jobs，but don’t eliminate(消除) the need for human workers.
小题1:The underlined phrase “throws a fit” in Paragraph 4 probably means “________”．| A．gets angry | B．gets sick | | C．becomes hungry | D．becomes cheerful |
小题2:We can infer from the last paragraph that ________.| A．robots in mines will serve much in the automotive industry | | B．there will be no need for human workers in mines | | C．the mine robots will have a very bright future | | D．robots in mines have a long way to go |
小题3:Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?| A．Mining robots do most of the mining work at present. | | B．Groundhog can discover the presence of dangerous gases. | | C．Experts are trying to make robots save miners in danger. | | D．Robots cannot do dangerous work in dark areas. |
小题4:What can be the best title for the text?| A．Mining Accidents in America | | B．Could Robots Replace Humans in Mines? | | C．Cave Crawler，the Latest Robot | | D．The Development of Robots |
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答案
小题1:A
小题2:C
小题3:C
小题4:B |
解析
小题1:A
解析 词义猜测题。根据第四段可知，遇到障碍时机器人会感到迷惑，然后思考程序和下一步该怎么走。有时(障碍不能解决时)也会像人一样大发脾气。throw a fit意为“大发脾气”，A项与之相符。
小题2:C
解析 推理判断题。根据最后一段可知，采矿机器人的前景广阔。
小题3: C
解析 细节理解题。综合第一段最后一句和第二段中的“...rescuing trapped miners...”可知答案为C项。
小题4: B
解析 标题归纳题。第一段引入话题“robots in mines”；第二、三、四段讲述采矿机器人的发展；第五段谈到发展存在的障碍；第六段指出，虽然有障碍但专家预测采矿机器人前景广阔。由此可知答案为C项。 |
举一反三
Businesses are witnessing a difficult time，which has in turn produced influence on consumers’ desire to go green.However，shoppers are still laying stress on environmental concerns.
Two thirds of customers say that environmental considerations inform their purchases to the same degree as they did a year ago，while more than a quarter say that they are now even better aware of the environmental effect on what they buy.
This may help to influence how shops store goods on their shelves.And the companies should still make efforts to become more environmentally friendly.Two out of three people think it is important to buy from environmentally responsible companies，with about one in seven saying that they had even decided to take their custom elsewhere if they felt a company’s environmental reputation was not good enough.
Harry Morrison，chief executive(主管)of the Carbon Trust，sympathizes：“I understand this situation where survival is very important now.But from environmental considerations，the clock is ticking—we don’t have much time.In addition，cutting carbon has an immediate effect as costs drop and a mediumterm benefit for the brand.”
Larger companies have an extra motivation to look at reducing their carbon footprint，as new rules next year will require businesses to buy carbon allowances to make up for their emissions(排放)．Those that have taken early action will have a head start.More than two thirds of consumers are not clear about which companies are environmentally responsible.This suggests that firms that are able to relay clearly their message to the public will be in a pole position to attract shoppers.
The Carbon Trust believes that it can help by informing customers about the good work companies are doing.“When companies are granted(授予) the standard，they can use a logo(标识) in all their marketing which makes it clear that they are working towards cutting emissions，” Mr.Morrison said. (2010·福建，C)
小题1:What’s the main idea of the passage?| A．Businesses are finding ways to send their message to the shoppers. | | B．Companies will soon get information about cutting carbon emissions. | | C．Firms are making efforts to encourage customers to keep goods at home. | | D．Firms are urged to cut carbon emissions by shoppers’ environmental awareness. |
小题2:The underlined word “inform” in Paragraph 2 probably means “________”．| A．affect | B．change | C．disturb | D．reject |
小题3:According to Harry Morrison，businesses ________.| A．will benefit from cutting carbon emissions | | B．should buy carbon allowances for shoppers | | C．are required to make up for their carbon emissions | | D．have encouraged shoppers to take their custom elsewhere |
小题4:We can learn from the passage that businesses will________.| A．have a strong desire to reduce costs | | B．use the same logo in their marketing | | C．gain advantages by taking early action | | D．attract more shoppers by storing goods |
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Pessimistic，anxious and depressed people may have a higher risk of dementia (痴呆)，US researchers reported on Thursday.
A study of a group of 3,500 people showed that those who scored high for pessimism on a standardized personality test had a 30 percent increased risk of developing dementia 30 to 40 years later.
Those scoring very high on both anxiety and pessimism scales had a 40 percent higher risk，the study showed.
“There appears to be a doseresponse pattern.That is，the higher the scores，the higher the risk of dementia，”Dr Yonas Geda，a neuropsychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester，Minnesota who led the study，said in a statement.
Geda and his colleagues looked at the medical records of 3,500 men and women who lived near the clinic between 1962 and 1965.
They all took the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory，a standard personality and life experience test，Geda’s team told a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Miami.
In 2004，the team interviewed the participants or family members.
Those who scored higher for anxiety and pessimism on the test were more likely，as a group，to have developed dementia by 2004，including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular (血管的) dementia.
This did not mean a person who is pessimistic could assume he or she has a higher risk of developing dementia.
“One has to be cautious in interpreting a study like this，”Geda said.
“One cannot make a leap from group level data to the individual.Certainly the last thing you want to do is to say，‘Well，I am a pessimist；thus，I am doomed to develop dementia 20 or 30 years later，’because this may end up becoming a selffulfilling prophecy (预言)．”
And there is NOT any specific way to prevent dementia，although many studies have shown that a healthy diet，exercise，keeping active in other ways，doing puzzles and other activities lower the risk.
小题1:What is the passage mainly about?| A．It is impossible for people to avoid dementia. | | B．People who always have negative feelings may have a higher risk of getting dementia. | | C．If we have a healthy diet，we would have no chance of getting dementia. | | D．A person who is pessimistic has a higher risk of developing dementia. |
小题2:According to the passage，which of the following is TRUE?| A．There are many ways to prevent dementia effectively. | | B．A person who is pessimistic is sure to get dementia. | | C．Those who lead a happy life will not get dementia when they are old. | | D．Those who scored high for pessimism might have a higher risk of dementia. |
小题3:Which of the following does NOT help reduce the risk of getting dementia according to the passage?| A．A healthy diet. | B．Proper exercises. | | C．Doing puzzles. | D．Getting up early. |
小题4:Which of the following words is not close to the meaning of the word “pessimistic”？| A．Cheerless. | B．Optimistic. | | C．Unhappy. | D．Upset. |
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The library is one of the most popular places at a western university.Students turn to it for research，conversations about class，and many other services.
Compared with Chinese libraries，college libraries in the US and UK tend to offer more resources.A postgraduate at Yale University can borrow as many as 225 books at a time.
In addition to borrowing books，there are online and electronic resources.These include a database search of popular and academic material，such as LexisNexis Academic，which offers items from newspapers and magazines.
Although books and articles are the items that students ask for most frequently，some libraries provide audio and video recordings，maps and sheet music(活页乐谱)．At some schools，teachers and tutors put electronic copies of their teaching PPTs on the library web to give easier access for students.
Another useful service in western college libraries is the Interlibrary Loan.This allows a student at one school to borrow books from another school.The loan request is made through the student’s college library，which gets the book，gives it to the user，and arranges for its return.
Technology has brought more services to students and has made libraries attractive.Some universities have services for students to send messages through the computer or mobile texts to ask the library staff for information.
Earlier this year，Harvard University introduced a new Scan and Deliver service，allowing students to make requests for parts of books and articles.Requests made through the system are handled by library staff.The student receives an email with an Internet link to the scanned pages.The service is free and all material comes within four days.
It used to be that libraries didn’t allow food or drinks.But that rule is changing and many of them now contain a café so students can spend as much time as they want in the library.
Actually，some US university libraries are now allnight affairs，or have at least one study room open all night.
小题1:In western college libraries a postgraduate can ________.| A．have a free drink or a meal | | B．borrow as many books as they want | | C．ask questions and get answers from their tutors | | D．access not only books but other study resources |
小题2:LexisNexis Academic is the name of a ________.| A．guide | B．library | | C．database | D．university |
小题3:Which of the following are mostly needed by students in western libraries?| A．Books and articles. | | B．Audio and video recordings. | | C．Maps and sheet music. | | D．Tutors’ teaching PPTs. |
小题4:Which of the following statements is TRUE?| A．Chinese library services are better than western ones. | | B．Library staff play an important role in college library service. | | C．Postgraduates can post their own PPTs on the library website. | | D．24hour services are adopted in all western libraries nowadays. |
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Boiler rooms are often dirty and steamy，but this one is clean and cool.Fox Point is a very new 47unit living building in South Bronx，one of the city’s poorest areas.Twothirds of the people living there are formerly (以前) homeless people，whose rent is paid by the government.The rest are lowincome families.The boiler room has special equipment，which produces energy for electricity and heat.It reuses heat that would otherwise be lost to the air，reducing carbon emissions(碳排放)while also cutting costs.
Fox Point is operated by Palladia，a group that specializes in providing housing and services to needy people.Palladia received support from Enterprise Community Partners (ECP)，which helps build affordable housing by providing support to housing developers.
ECP has created national standards for healthy，environmentally (环境方面) clever and affordable homes which are called the Green Communities Standards.These standards include water keeping，energy saving and the use of environmentally friendly building materials.Meeting the standards increases housing construction costs by 2%，which is rapidly paid back by lower running costs.Even the positioning of a window to get most daylight can help save energy.
Michael Bloomberg，New York’s mayor，plans to create 165,000 affordable housing units for 500,000 New Yorkers.Almost 80% of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings，and 40% of those are caused by housing.So he recently announced that the city’s Department of Housing and Preservation and Development (DHPD)，whose duty is to develop and keep the city’s supply of affordable housing，will require all its new projects to follow ECP’s green standards.
Similar measures have been taken by other cities，such as Cleveland and Denver，but New York’s DHPD is the largest city developer of affordable housing in the country.(2010·四川，B)
小题1:What is the purpose of describing the boiler rooms in the first paragraph?| A．To explain the measures the city takes to care for poor people. | | B．To suggest that affordable housing is possible in all areas. | | C．To show how the environmentfriendly building works. | | D．To compare old and new boiler rooms. |
小题2:What is an advantage of the buildings meeting the Green Communities Standards?| A．Lower running costs. | | B．Costing less in construction. | | C．Less air to be lost in hot days. | | D．Better prices for homeless people. |
小题3:It can be learned from the text that________.| A．New York City is seriously polluted | | B．people’s daily life causes many carbon emissions in New York City | | C．a great number of people in New York City don’t have houses to live in | | D．some other cities have developed more affordable housing than New York City |
小题4:What is the main purpose of this text?| A．To call on people to pay more attention to housing problems. | | B．To prove that some standards are needed for affordable housing. | | C．To ask society to help homeless people and lowincome families. | | D．To introduce healthy，environmentally clever and affordable housing. |
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Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels，yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for.We do know，however，that they existed over 5,500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in 2002 in Slovenia.It is over 5,100 years old.Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn’t become popular for a while，though.This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around.
But it could also be because of a difficult situation.While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces，roads with smooth surfaces weren’t going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them.Eventually，road surfaces did become smoother，but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later.There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modern road design.
In the mid1700s，a Frenchman came up with a new design of road—a base layer(层) of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones.A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong，lasting road surface became a reality.At around the same time，metal hubs (the central part of a wheel)came into being，followed by the pneumatic tyre(充气轮胎) in 1846.Alloy wheels were invented in 1967，sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads(柏油路)．As wheel design took off，vehicles got faster and faster. (2013·重庆，C)
小题1:What might explain why transport wheels didn’t become popular for some time?| A．Few knew how to use transport wheels. | | B．Humans carried farming tools just as well. | | C．Animals were a good means of transport. | | D．The existence of transport wheels was not known. |
小题2:What do we know about road design from the passage?| A．It was easier than wheel design. | | B．It improved after big changes in vehicle design. | | C．It was promoted by fastmoving vehicles. | | D．It provided conditions for wheel design to develop. |
小题3:How is the last paragraph mainly developed?| A．By giving examples. | | B．By making comparisons. | | C．By following time order. | | D．By making classifications. |
小题4:What is the passage mainly about?| A．The beginning of road design. | | B．The development of transport wheels. | | C．The history of public transport. | | D．The invention of fastmoving vehicles. |
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