It"s not the flashiest car in the world. Not even close. But the 1971 Volkswagen

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It"s not the flashiest car in the world. Not even close. But the 1971 Volkswagen named Helioscan do something most cars can"t: nm on solar energy – energy from the sun"s light and heat!
Joshua Bechtold, 14, and the other students at the Riverside School in Lyndonville, Vermont, worked many months to get Helios ready for the 1999 American Tour de Sol （"Sol" is the Latin word for "sun"）. They named their car after Helios, the sun god in Greek mythology（神话）.
The 4-year-old Tour de Sol encourages the use of "green", or environmentally friendly, cars to help reduce pollution and save energy. It’s not a race. Cars are judged on fuel efficiency（耗油量） rather than speed. In the week-long event, 44 cars took the 350-mile tour from Waterbury, Connecticut, to Lake George, New York. Of the 23 student cars, Helios was the only one built by middle school students.
A teacher drove Helios, but the children talked with people wherever they stopped along the mad. "That was my favorite part," says Anna Browne, 15. "We explained how the car runs.”
Due in part to old, inefficient batteries（电池）, Helios finished fourth - out of four - in its kind, the sun-powered class. "We were there for the fun of it," Anna says. "We"re proud of Helios," says Ariel Gleicher, 14. "It"s a car that"s good for the environment."
64. What is special about the car Helios in the text?
A. It was built by middle school students.
B. It has an attractive design.
C. It was made in 1971.
D. It won the fourth prize.
65. How many sun-powered cars took part in the race?
A. 1.      B. 4.    C. 23.   D. 44.
66. What would be the best title for the text."?
A. The Making of Helios
B. 1999 American Tour de Sol
C. Sun-powered Cars on the Road
D. Use of Green Cars in Connecticut
67. The students felt proud of Helios because______.
A. it could run as far as 350 miles     B. it was favored by many children
C. it had high-quality batteries         D. it was driven by clean energy

答案

64---67 ABCD

解析

64.A 点评：由文章第三段的最后一句可知。
65.B 点评：由最后一段可知，一共有4辆太阳能动力汽车参加了比赛。
66.C 点评：文章主要说的是一辆由中学生设计的太阳能汽车的事情，附带说明其他环保型汽车，因此C项最合适。
67.D 点评：从最后一段可以看出，他们的汽车对环保有利，所以大家因它自豪。

举一反三

Grown-ups know that people and objects are solid. At the movies, we know that if we reach out to touch Tom Cruise, all we will feel is air. But does a baby have this understanding?
To see whether babies know objects are solid, T. Bower designed a method for projecting an optical illusion（视觉影像）of a hanging ball. His plan was to first give babies a real ball, one they could reach out and touch, and then to show them the illusion. If they knew that objects are solid and they reached out for the illusion and found empty air, they could be expected to show surprise in their faces and movements. All the 16-to 24- week -old babies tested were surprised when they reached for the illusion and found that the ball was not there.
Grown-ups also have a sense of object permanence. We know that if we put a box in a room and lock the door, the box will still be there when we come back. But does a baby realize that a ball that rolls under a chair does not disappear and go to never-never land?
Experiments done by Bower suggest that babies develop a sense of object permanence when they are about 18 weeks old. In his experiments, Bower used a toy train that went behind a screen. When 16-week-old and 22-week-old babies watched the toy train disappear behind the left side of the screen, they looked to the right, expecting it to reappear. If the experimenter took the train off the table and lifted the screen, all the babies seemed surprised not to see the train. This seems to show that all the babies had a sense of object permanence. But the second part of the experiment showed that this was not really the case. The researcher substituted（替换）a ball for the train when it went behind the screen. The 22-week-old babies seemed surprised and looked back to the left side for the train. But the 16-week -old babies did not seem to notice the switch（更换）. Thus, the 16-week-old babies seemed to have a sense of “something permanence,” while the 22-week-old babies had a sense of object permanence related to a particular object.
68. The passage is mainly about _____.
A. babies’ sense of sight                 B. effects of experiments on babies
C. babies’ understanding of objects         D. different tests on babies’ feelings
69. In Paragraph 3, “object permanence” means that when out of sight, an object ________.
A. still exists    B. keeps its shape        C. still stays solid       D. is beyond reach
70. What did Bower use in his experiments?
A. A chair.        B. A screen.      C. A film.         D. A box.
71. Which of the following statements is true?
A. The babies didn’t have a sense of direction.
B. The older babies preferred toy trains to balls.
C. The younger babies liked looking for missing objects.
D. The babies couldn’t tell a ball from its optical illusion.

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Supermarkets are trying out new computers that make shopping carts more intelligent (具备智能的). They will help shoppers find cups or toilet soap, and keep a record of the bill.
The touch-screen devices (触摸屏装置) are on show at the Food Marketing Institute"s exhibition here this week. "These devices are able to create value and get you around the store quicker," said Michael Alexandor, manager of Springboard Retail Networks Inc., which makes a smart cart computer called the Concierge.
Canadian stores will test the Concierge in July. A similar device, IBM"s "shopping buddy," has recently been test-marketed at Stop & Shop stores in Massachusetts.
Neither device tells you how many fat grams or calories are in your cart, but they will flash you with items on sale. The idea is to make it easier for people to buy, not to have second thoughts that maybe you should put something back on the shelf.
"The whole model is driven by advertisers" need to get in front of shoppers," said Alexandor. "They"re not watching 30-second TV ads anymore."
People can use a home computer to make their shopping lists. Once at the store, a shopper can use a preferred customer card to start a system (系统) that will organize the trip around the store. If you"re looking for toothpicks, you type in the word or pick it from a list, and a map will appear on the screen showing where you are and where you can find them.
The devices also keep a record of what you buy. When you"re finished, the device figures out your bill. Then you go to the checker or place your card into a self-checkout stand and pay.
The new computerized shopping assistants don"t come cheap. The Buddy devices will cost the average store about $160,000, and the Concierge will cost stores about $500 for each device.
53. The underlined word “they” (Paragraph 1) refers to_________.
A．supermarkets    B．shop assistants        C．shopping carts    D．shop managers
54. Which of the following is the correct order of shopping with the computerized shopping carts?
a. Start the system.                     b. Make a shopping list.
c. Find the things you want.             D. Go to a self-checkout stand.
A．abdc B．bacd        C．acbd          D．bcad
55. We can learn from the last paragraph that_________.
A．intelligent shopping carts cost a large sum of money
B．the Concierge is cheaper than the Buddy devices
C．shop assistants with computer knowledge are well paid
D．average stores prefer the Concierge to the Buddy devices
56. What might be the most suitable title for the text?
A．New age for supermarkets
B．Concierge and Shopping Buddy
C．New computers make shopping carts smarter
D．Touch-screen devices make shopping enjoyable

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Many cities around the world today are heavily polluted. Careless methods of production and lack of consumer demand for environment (环境) friendly products have contributed to the pollution problem. One result is that millions of tons of glass, paper, plastic, and metal containers are produced, and these are difficult to get rid of.
However, today, more and more consumers are choosing “green” and demanding that the products they buy should be safe for the environment. Before they buy a product, they ask questions like these: “Will this shampoo damage the environment?” “Can this metal container be reused or can it only be used once?”
A recent study showed that two out of five adults now consider the environmental safety of a product before they buy it. This means that companies must now change the way they make and sell their products to make sure that they are “green,” that is, friendly to the environment.
Only a few years ago, it was impossible to find green products in supermarkets, but now there are hundreds. Some supermarket products carry labels(标签) to show that the product is green. Some companies have made the manufacturing (生产) of clean and safe products their main selling point and emphasize it in their advertising.
The concern for a safer and cleaner environment is making companies rethink how they do business. No longer will the public accept the old attitude of “Buy it, use it, throw it away, and forget it. ”The public pressure is on, and gradually business is cleaning up its act.
64. It becomes clear from the text that the driving force(动力) behind green products is ______
A. public caring for the environment    B. companies desire for bigger sales
C. new ways of doing business      D. rapid growth of supermarkets
65. What would be the best title for the text?
A. Business and People B. Business Goes Green
C. Shopping Habits Are Changing D. Supermarkets and Green Products
66. The underlined word “it” in the fourth paragraph refers to _____
A. a selling point    B. the company name
C. a great demand for health foods       D. the manufacturing of green products

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Besides giving off gases and dusts into the air, humans produce waste that is poured on the environment. Often, this waste produced by major industries and people is harmful to both nature and human life.
One of the main causes of the large amount of dangerous waste is that people do not realize how large a problem it is. Because it can be simply removed and sent to a landfill（废渣填埋场）, the problem is often believed to end there. In addition, industries have often shown an unwillingness to find ways to deal with dangerous waste because of the related expenses. Many industries and governments build simple landfills to store waste, and often just pour waste chemicals into nearby bodies of water. Often, chemicals used for industrial production cause dangerous forms of waste. The amount of these chemicals has increased greatly in the past, but it is often difficult and expensive to get rid of these chemicals or to store them in a way safe to human life and the environment.
Every year, major health problems result from dangerous waste. Sadly, it is often only after someone has died or become seriously ill that governments will take measures to reduce levels of harmful waste.
Some governments have realized how serious the dangerous waste problem is and are now trying to settle this problem. They are also trying to limit the amount of waste industries are allowed to produce.
Not only governments but ordinary people as well must work together to solve the problem. They can choose not to buy those products which require the production of dangerous waste, and produce less harmful waste themselves. Many scientists think that waste production can be cut. The waste can be reduced by at least one third using existing technologies and methods.
72. What would be the best title for the text?
A. Measures of Reducing Dangerous Waste
B. Danger of Harmful Waste to Mankind
C. Dangerous Waste and Water Pollution
D. Environmental Protection
73. According to the text, people .
A. do not produce harmful waste in their daily life
B. do not know where to place the dangerous waste
C. are not clear about how serious the dangerous waste problem is
D. are not sure about where harmful waste ends
74. What troubles industries most in dealing with the dangerous waste problem?
A. How to get government support.
B. How to increase their production.
C. How to store harmful waste.
D. How to cut down the related costs.
75. What can be inferred from the passage?
A. The polluting industries are not allowed to sell their products.
B. Present technologies have settled the harmful waste problem.
C. Everyone should obey the government rules for the problem.
D. To solve the problem requires the efforts of the whole society.

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Move Earth—it’s no science fiction
LONDON-Scientists have found an unusual way to prevent our planet from overheating: move it to a cooler spot. All you have to do is send a few comets（彗星）in the direction of Earth, and its orbit will be changed. Our world will then be sent spinning into a safer, colder part of the solar system.
This idea for improving our climate comes from a group of US National Aeronautics and Space Administration（NASA） engineers and American astronomers. They say their plan could add another six billion years to the useful lifetime of our planet—effectively doubling its working life.
The plan put forward by Dr Laughlin, and his colleagues Don Korycansky and Fred Adams
,needs carefully directing a comet or asteroid so that it passes close by our planet and sends some of its gravitational energy to Earth.
“Earth’s orbital speed would increase as a result and we would move to a higher orbit away from the Sun,”Laughlin said.
Engineers would then direct their comet so that it passed close to Jupiter or Saturn. The comet would pick up energy from one of these giant planets. Later its orbit would bring it back to Earth, and the process would be repeated.
In the short term, the plan provides an ideal way to global warming, although the team was actually concerned with a much greater danger. The sun is certain to heat up in about a billion years and so “seriously compromise” our biosphere（生物圈）—by cooking us.
That’s why the group decided to try to save Earth.
The plan has one or two worrying aspects, however. For a start, space engineers would have to be very careful about how they directed their asteroid or comet towards Earth. The smallest miscalculation（误算）in orbit could fire it straight at Earth—with deadly consequences.
There is also the question of the Moon. As the current issue of Scientific American magazine points out, if Earth was pushed out of its current position it is “most likely the Moon would be stripped away from Earth,” it states. This would greatly change our planet’s climate.
1. What makes the scientists plan to move Earth?
A. A few comets are moving to the direction of Earth.
B. Earth’s working life is coming to an end soon.
C. Earth will become too hot for mankind to keep alive.
D. The moon is moving farther and farther away from Earth.
2.If the plan is successful, Earth will have a working life of ______years.
A.12 billion B.6 billion C.18 billion D.24 billion
3.What serious problems might the plan cause according to the passage?
A. The comet might hit Earth and man might lose the moon.
B. Earth might be moved too far away and man might be frozen to death.
C. The comet might hit Jupiter or Saturn and never return to Earth.
D. Earth’s working life might be greatly shortened.
4.What does the underlined word “compromise” mean?
A. provide B. benefit C. share D. endanger
5.Which of the following best shows how the plan would work?

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