Every year landslides (滑坡) cause 25 to 50 deaths and $1.5 billion in damage in the United States. They account for 15 percent of the deaths from natural disasters in Europe. And in December, a single event killed more than 200 people in the Philippines. Sending workers to stabilize (加固) mountainsides using steel bars and cement (水泥) can help prevent disaster, but it introduces new difficulties. Shaking drills produce harmful dust and loosen heavy, dangerous debris (岩屑). "It's quite a risky job,"says Giorgio Pezzuto of D'Appolonia, an engineering company in Italy.
D'Appolonia, working with eight other companies, may have an answer: a three-ton robot called Roboclimber. "The idea is to operate a machine far away that can drill without a human being on board,"says Pezzuto, manager for the project, which is supported by the European Commission. Engineers claim that the machine will be faster and cheaper than manual labor. The robot, a large radio-controlled four-legged mechanical spider(蜘蛛), has cost at least $2 million so far. The final product should be able to climb unstable mountainsides, drill holes, in_sert bars and cement, and collect data on the slope's stability. Testing should begin in May.
64. The underlined word "event"(in Paragraph 1) refers to _____.
A. landslide B. machine C. earthquake D. flood
65. The purpose in writing this text is _____.
A. to tell people how serious the damage caused by landslides is
B. to tell people that sending workers to stabilize mountainsides is a risky job
C. to introduce a product that can be used to stabilize mountainsides
D. to show people how to use a new product
66. What does the robot look like?
A. A human being. B. A spider. C. A truck. D. A drill.
67. The biggest advantage of this product is that _____.
A. it will be faster and cheaper than manual labor
B. it can climb mountainsides, drill holes, in_sert bars and cement
C. it can collect data on the slope's stability
D. it can drill without a human being on board
Although his 1-year-old smart-phone still works perfectly, Li Jijia already feels the need to replace it.
“There are many better ones available now. It's time to upgrade(更新）my phone.”
Li's impatience is shared by many. Shortly after the season when new products are released, many consumers feel the urge to upgrade their electronic equipment, even though the ones they have still work just fine.
As consumers' minds are occupied by Apple's newly released products and debate whether the Google tablet is better than the new Amazon Kindle, it might be time to take a step back and ask: “Do we really need the latest upgrades?"
According to Donald Norman, an American author, “planned obsolescence (淘汰）” is the trick behind the upgrading culture of today's consumer electronics industry.
Electronics producers strategically release new upgrades periodically, both for hardware and software, so that customers on every level feel the need to buy the newest version.
“This is an old-time trick- they're not inventing anything new,” Norman said. “This is a wasteful system through which companies-many of them producing personal electronics - release poor-quality products simply because they know that, in six months or a year, they'll put out a new one.”
But the new psychology of consumers is part of this system, as Norman admitted，“We now want something new, something pretty, the next shiny thing.” In its most recent year, Apple's profit margin was more than 21 percent. At Hewlett-Packard, the world's biggest PC maker, it was only 7 percent.
Apple's annual upgrades of its products create sales of millions of units as owners of one year's MacBook or iPhone line up to buy the newest version, even when the changes are slight.
As to Li Jijia, the need for upgrading his smart-phone comes mainly from friends and classmates. When they are switching to the latest equipment, he worries about feeling left out.
“Some games require better hardware to run, ”said Li. “If you don't join in, you lose part of the connection to your friends.”What's the author's attitude towards people's desire for new products?
| A．Supportive. | B．Happy. |
| C．Critical. | D．Unclear. |
Why is Apple Company interested in producing latest version of its product?
| A．To provide customers with better service. |
| B．To defeat other competitors like Hewlett-Packard. |
| C．To establish a favorable image of itself among its customers. |
| D．To make huge profits out of its business. |
How do the electronics companies successfully promote their latest products?
| A．They make full use of the "planned obsolescence” strategy. |
| B．They make a fool of customers by recycling their old products. |
| C．They control the customers' way of thinking while shopping. |
| D．They invent new products to attract the youth like Li Jijia. |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that Li Jijia feels the need to replace his smart-phone as a result of____.
| A．new psychology |
| B．pressure from friends and classmates |
| C．life style |
| D．friends' expectation |
Read the advertisements carefully. Then answer the questions that follow.
| FLORLST WANTED! Are you a creative and trained florist with at least two years of experience? Then this may be just what you are hunting. The city’s leading Florist Artist Studio needs another part-time member on their wedding team. Please phone 6098 7888 now! |
| WE NEED OFFICE CLRANERS! Three people are required for professional cleaning in the CBD area. Working hours from 5:00 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. Approximately five hours per shift. A good record is necessary. Experience preferred. Phone 6345 7843 now. |
| WANT TO WORK AS A DENTAL NURSE? This is an exciting opportunity for a qualified dental nurse with a confident and cheerful personality to work in the School Dental Health Schema. You must be able to get along well with children because work involves talking to group about dental health practices. For further information, visit our website at schooledntalservices@gov.sg. And fax your resume to 6234 4567. |
| INTERESTED IN CHILDCARE? Qualified person or preschool teacher needed for busy childcare center, south of the river. Full-time work guaranteed. Immediate start necessary. The candidate must be able to work as a co-operative team member. Phone 6345 2345 for an interview and fax resume to 6345 2345. |
You may find the advertisements above .
| A．in a store window |
| B．in a school magazine |
| C．in a newspaper |
| D．on a company notice-board |
The position of a(n) is a part-time job.
| A．florist | B．artist |
| C．preschool teacher | D．dental nurse |
Which of the following is the most important for the childcare job?
| A．Child food cooking skills. |
| B．Childcare experience and outgoing. |
| C．The ability to start work in 2 weeks. |
| D．The ability to work well with other people. |
The office cleaners will be required to work about hours a week.
| A．5 | B．10 | C．15 | D．20 |
A new report says promising children money to pass exams does not help exam grades. The report says parents could be wasting their money by using cash to get their kids to study more. However, the promise of a trip somewhere nice could encourage students to try harder and do better at school. Researchers from the University of Bristol (in England) and the University of Chicago (in the USA) looked at how promises of cash and tickets to events affected students' studying and learning. Over 10,000 pupils took part in the research throughout the year 2012. There was an improvement in classwork and homework, but this did not result in better test scores.
Lead researcher Dr Simon Burgess suggested the research looked at the wrong areas. He said it had not looked at the things that really got students to increase their effort. He added that: "Clearly, some pupils have a lot of goals and believe that education is a way of getting what they want out of life, but there are kids who think that working hard doesn't make a difference." He said these children think exam success is "all in your genes" because of their family background. Education expert Dr Kevan Collins said good teachers were better than promises of rewards to get children to study, especially for children from low-income families. He wrote: "What really makes the difference is how students are taught."What can encourage students to study more?
| A．music | B．trips |
| C．an iPad | D．money |
Which students really need good teachers?
| A．elite students | B．high school students |
| C．English students | D．poorer students |
What do some students think is because of “your genes”?
| A．genetics | B．money |
| C．exam success | D．ability at English |
We live in a technological society where most goods are mass-produced by unskilled labor. Because of this, most people think that craft no longer exists.
One of the ways these people wrongly support their view is by pointing to 100-year-old homes which are still solid, and arguing that it is the craftsmanship that is responsible for their durability, “Homes in those days were well-built.” they say. No doubt these homes were well-built, but what these people have done is mix up the quality of material used in the house with the quality of the craftsmanship.
Homes today could be built to last just as long as those old homes if people were willing or able to pay the price. For example, most people can no longer afford solid oak stairways, although they were once fairly common in older homes. Nor can they afford the high labor cost of employing a carpenter to build the stairway. Yet if someone can pay the high cost, there are still plenty of carpenters around able to make those stairway. And not only would these carpenters know how to build them, they would probably do a better job than carpenters of old.
One thing the modern carpenter has which enables him to do a better job is much more advanced tools. Such tools as laser beams and power planes help them lay out a house better and make more precision cuts on the wood. Also, it is not uncommon any more to find carpenters with college degrees and carpenters with a sold knowledge of mathematics, which would enable them to deal with more difficult house designs.
The problem of modern quality, then, really boils down to the problem of material, for the modern carpenter is just as able to produce craftsmanship as the carpenter of fifty yeas ago, but only if given proper material.Compared with the carpenters in the past, modern carpenters are ________ .
| A．more learned | B．more successful |
| C．more imaginative | D．more hardworking |
What does the underlined word “they” (paragraph 2) refer to?
| A．Carpenters who are fond of oak stairways. |
| B．People who think highly of carpenters of old. |
| C．Carpenters who have college degrees. |
| D．People who think that modern material is of low quality. |
What dose the third paragraph mainly discuss?
| A．People in the past preferred to use oak to build stairways. |
| B．It is now expensive to employ a carpenter. |
| C．Good carpenters still exist in modern times. |
| D．Modern houses last as long as the old ones. |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Carpenters Today and Yesterday |
| B．Craft, Back to Life? |
| C．History of Craftsmanship |
| D．Is Craft Dead? |
Be aware of those who use the truth to deceive. When someone tells you something that is true, but leaves out important information that should be included, he can create a false impression. For example, someone might say, “I just won a hundred dollars on the lottery. It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and turned it in for one hundred dollars!” This guy’s a winner, right? Maybe, or maybe not. We then discover that he bought two hundred tickets, and only one was winner. He’s really a big loser! He didn’t say anything that was false, but he omitted important information on purpose. That’s called a half-truth. Half-truths are not technically lies, but they are just as dishonest.
Untrustworthy candidates in political campaigns often use this tactic. Let’s say that during Governor Smith’s last term, her state lost one million jobs and gained three million jobs. Then she seeks another term. One of her opponents runs an advertisement, saying “During Governor Smith’s term, the state lost one million jobs!” That’s true. However an honest statement would have been, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state had a net gain of two million jobs.”
Advertisers will sometimes use half-truths. It’s against the law to make false claims so they try to mislead you with the truth. An advertisement might boast, “Nine out of ten doctors recommend Yucky Pills to cure nose pimples(粉刺).” It fails to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Corporation.
This kind of deception happens too often. It’s a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.Which statement is true according to the article?
| A．Whenever people tell the truth, they may lie |
| B．The truth can be used in dishonest ways. |
| C．All governors help their states. |
| D．You cannot trust lottery agent. |
The author clearly wants people ___________.
| A．not to trust any politician |
| B．to vote for female candidates |
| C．not to believe advertisements of any kind |
| D．to think carefully about what they read and hear |
Governor Smith’s opponents wanted __________.
| A．to beat her in the campaign |
| B．to make her a liar |
| C．to get jobs in the government |
| D．to detect her lie |
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