阅读理解 The human brain contains 10 thousand million cells and each of these ma
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less sure. Quite soon, in only l0 or 20 years, perhaps, we will be able to assemble a machine as complex
as the human brain, and if we can we will. It may then take us a long time to render it intelligent by loading
in the right software or by altering the architecture but that too
will happen.I think it certain that in decades, not centuries, machines of silicon(硅) will arise first to rival and then
exceed(超越) their human ancestors. Once they exceed us they will be capable of their own design in a
real sense they will be able to reproduce themselves. Silicon will have ended carbon"s long control. And
we will no longer be able to claim ourselves to be the finest intelligence in the known universe.
As the intelligence of robots increases to match that of humans and as their cost declines through
economies of scale we may use them to expand our frontiers, first on earth through their ability to withstand environments, harmful to ourselves. Thus, deserts may bloom and the ocean be mined. Further ahead, by a combination of the great wealth this new age will bring and the technology it will provide, the construction
of a vast, man-created world in space, home to thousands or millions of people, will be within our power.
B. By working hard for 10 or 20 years.
C. By either properly programming it or changing its structure.
D. By reproducing i
t.B. He believes that they will control us in the future.
C. He is not quite sure in what way they may influence us.
D. He doesn"t consider the construction of such machines possible.
B. a chemical element
C. an organic substance
D. human beings
B. it is able to bear the rough environment
C. it is made as complex as the human brain
D. its architecture is different from that of the present ones
self-reproduction.
B. with the rapi
d development of technology, people have come to realize the possibility of making amachine with human-like ability
C. once we make a machine as complex as the human brain. it will possess intelligence
D. robots will have control of the vast, man-made world in space
答案
举一反三
But unlike humans, plants can have their temperature taken from 3,000 feet away-straight up.
A decade ago, adapting the infrared (红外线) scanning technology developed for military
purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the
temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers
precisely target pesticide (***虫剂) s
praying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that don"t have pest problems.
Even better, Paley"s Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems
before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3,000 feet at night, an
infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a
color-coded map showing where plants were running "fevers". Farmers could then spot-spray,
using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would.
The bad news is that Paley"s company closed down in l984, after only three years. Farmers
resisted the new technology and long-term backers were hard to find. But with the renewed
concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get
back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. "This technique
can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States", says George Oerther of
Texas A & M. Ray Jackson, who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks
remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if Paley
finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.
B. facing an infrared scanner
C. in poor physical condition
D. exposed to excessive sun rays
B. draw a color-coded map
C. measure the size of the affected area
D. locate the problem area
B. consulting infrared scanning experts
C. transforming poisoned rain
D. detecting crop problems at an early date
o .B. its high cost
C. the lack of financial support
D. its failure to help increase production
technology may be brought back into operation because of .B. growing concern about the excessive use of pesticides on crops
C. the forceful promotion by the Dep
artment of AgricultureD. full support from agricultural experts
As many a dog owner will prove, our furry friends are listening. Now, for the doubters, there is
scientific proof that they understand much of what they hear.A border collie called Rico can fetch at least
200 objects by name, researchers in Germany say. The dog also appears to learn words for new objects
as easily as a 3yearold child would.Its wordlearning skill is as good as that of a parrot or chimpanzee.
In one experiment, the researchers took all 200 items that Rico is supposed to know and divided them randomly into 20 sets of 10 objects each. The dog waited with one of his owners in one room, while an
experimenter put a set of 10 objects into another room.Then, the owner told the dog to fetch one of the
items. The dog had to go to the other room and bring the object back
In four trials, Rico got 37 out of 40 commands right. Because the dog couldn"t see anyone to get
visual clues about what to bring back, the scientists concluded that he must understand the meanings of
certain words.
In another experiment, the scientists took one toy that Rico had never seen before and put it in a
room with seven toys whose names he already knew. The dog"s owner then told him to fetch the object,
using a word Rico had never heard.
In 7 out of 10 trials, Rico picked the right object, suggesting that he figured out the answer by process of elimination. A month later,he remembered half of the new names, which further impressed the
researchers.
Rico is probably smarter than the average dog, the scientists say. For one thing, he"s a border collie,
a breed known for its mental abilities.In addition, the 9yearold dog has been trained to retrieve toys by
their names since he was 9 months old.
It"s hard to know if all dogs understand at least some of the words we say. Even if they do, they can"t
talk back. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to sweettalk your pup every now and then. You might just get a big, wet
kiss in return!
B. Only a few dogs can talk back to its owner
C. if a chimpanzee is trained, it can a
lso recognize the names of objectsD. All dogs can understand words
B. 3 years.
C. over nine years.
D. more than eight years.
B. picking the right object by process of elimination
C. remembering all of the new names he learned
D. retrieving toys by their names
| A. Develop lasting personal relationships B. Always stay positive C. Educate yourself D. Stay in shape E. Live below your means F. Work towards a dream |
| 阅读理解。 |
| American society is not nap (午睡)-friendly. In fact, says David Dinges, a sleep specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,"There"s even a prohibition against admitting we need sleep". Nobody wants to be caught napping or found asleep at work. To quote a prov  erb:"Some sleep five hours, nature requires seven, laziness nine and wickedness eleven."Wrong. The way not to fall asleep at work is to take naps when you need them."We have to totally changeour attitude toward napping,"says Dr. William Dement of Stanford University, the godfather of sleep research. Last year a national commission led by Dement identified an"American sleep debt" which one member said was as important as the national debt. The commission was concerned about the dangers of sleepiness: people causing industrial accidents or falling asleep while driving. This may be why we have a new sleep policy in the White House. According to recent reports, President Clinton is trying to take a ha1f-hour snooze (瞌睡) every afternoon. About 60 percent of American adults nap when given the opportunity. We seem to have"a mid afternoon quiet phase," also called "a secondary sleep gate." Sleeping 15 minutes to two hours in the  early afternoon can reduce stress and make us refreshed. Clearly, we were bornto nap. We Superstars of Snooze don"t nap to replace lost shut-eye or to prepare for a night shift. Rather, we "snack" on sleep, whenever, wherever and at whatever time we feel like it. I myself have napped in buses, cars, planes and on boats; on floors and beds; and in libraries, offices and museums. |
| l. It is commonly accepted in American society that too much sleep is ._____ |
A. unreasonable B. criminal C. harmful D. costly |
| 2. The research done by the Dement Commission shows that Americans ________. |
| A. don"t like to take naps B. are terribly worried about their national debt C. sleep less than is good for them D. have caused many industrial and traffic accidents |
| 3. The purpose of this article is to.______ |
| A. warn us of the wickedness of napping B. explain the danger of sleepiness C. discuss the side effects of napping D. convince the reader of the necessity of napping |
| 4. The underlined phrase "American sleep debt" in Para. 3 is the result of ._____ |
| A. the traditional misconception the Americans have about sleep B. the new sleep policy of the Clinton Administration C. the rapid development of American industry  D. the Americans" worry about the danger of sleepiness |
| 5. The second sentence of the last paragraph tells us that it is .______ |
| A. preferable to have a sound sleep before a night shift B. good pr  actice to eat something light before we go to bedC. essential to make up for cost sleep D. natural to take a nap whenever we feel the need for it |
| 阅读理解。 |
| Psychologist George Spilich and colleagues at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, decided to find out whether, as many smokers say, smoking helps them to"think and concentrate." Spilich put young non-smokers, active smokers and smokers deprived (被剥夺) of cigarettes through a series of tests. In the first test, each subject (试验对象) sat before a computer screen and pressed a key as soon as he or she recognized a target letter among a grouping of 96. In this simple test, smokers, deprived smokers and non-smokers performed equally well. The next test was more complex, requiring all to scan sequences of 20 identical letters and respond the instant one of the letters transformed into a different one. Non-smokers were faster, but under the stimulation of nicotine, active smokers were faster than deprived smokers. In the third test of short-term memory, non-smokers made the fewest errors, but deprived smokers committed fewer errors than active smokers. The fourth test required people to read a passage, then answer questions about it. Non-smokers remembered l9 percent more of the most important information than active smokers, and deprived smokers bested those who had smoked a cigarette just before testing- Active smokers tended not only to have poorer memories but also had trouble separating important information from insignificant details. "As our tests became more complex." sums up Spilich," non-smokers performed better than smokers by wider and wider margins". He predicts, "smokers might perform adequately at many jobs- until they got complicated. A smoking airline pilot could fly adequately if no problems arose, but if something went wrong, smoking might damage his mental capacity." |
| l. The purpose of George Spilich"s experiments is ._____ |
| A. to test whether smoking has a positive effect on the mental capacity of smokers B. to show how smoking damages people"s mental capacity C. to prove that smoking affects people"s regular performance D. to find out whether smoking helps people"s short-term memory |
| 2. George Spilich"s experiment was conducted in such a way as to ._____ |
| A. compel the subjects to separate major information from minor details B. put the subjects through increasingly complex tests C. check the effectiveness of nicotine on smokers D. register the prompt responses of the subjects |
| 3. The underlined word "bested" in Para. 5most probably means_____ |
| A. beat B. envied C. caught up with  D. made the best of |
| 4. Which of the following statements is true?_____ |
| A. Active smokers in general performed better than deprived smokers. B. Active smokers responded more quickly than the other subjects. C. Non-smokers were not better than other subjects in performing simple tasks. D. Deprived smokers gave the slowest responses to the various tasks. |
| 5. We can infer from the last paragraph that ._____ |
| A. smokers should not expect to become airline pilots B. smoking in emergency cases causes mental illness C. no airline pilots smoke during flights D. smokers may prove unequal to handing emergency cases |