“NOW I just don’t believe that.” Surely all of us, at some point, have watched a movie and thought: It’s simply badly researched, or, the makers must think we’re idiots (白痴). Recently, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph ran a humorous piece on unconvincing tech moments from some top movies. Let’s see what all the fuss is about.
Telegraph writer Tom Chiver’s first example is from the end-of-the-world movie Independence Day, in which a character comes up with a virus capable of destroying Windows, the computer system the alien spacecraft uses. “It’s a good thing they didn’t have Norton Antivirus (诺顿防火墙)”, jokes Chivers.
It’s just one case of a movie that takes a lot of license with its science. Another one Chivers mentions is from Star Wars, where glowing beams of light traveling through space look very impressive. The problem is that in space there are no air particles for the light to reflect off. In re
ality, they’d be invisible, which wouldn’t look so cool on the big screen.
Chiver’s second piece of Star Wars nonsense is the sound the fighters make in the movies: “the bellow (咆哮) of an elephant mixed with a car driving on a wet road”. But sound needs a medium to travel through, like air. In space, there wouldn’t actually be any sound at all.
Few people would deny that the mind-bending Matrix films make for great viewing, but for Chivers, the science in the movies is a little silly. He comments “…the film is based on the idea that humans are kept alive as electricity generator. This is not just unlikely – it’s fundamentally impossible. They would need more energy to stay alive than they would produce. It’s like saying you’ll power your car with batteries, and keep the batteries charged by running a dynamo (发电机) from the wheels.”
And finally, as Chivers points out, DNA is not replaceable. But this bit of elementary genetics passed the makers of the 2002 Bond film Die Another Day by. In the film the bad guy has “gene therapy” to change his appearance and his DNA, which is completely impossible.What does the underlined sentence mean?
| A．The virus created by the character is capable of destroying spacecrafts. |
| B．Aliens’ using Windows system is totally unconvincing plot. |
| C．The spacecraft should have Norton Antivirus. |
| D．Norton Antivirus can stop a virus. |
We can learn from the example of the Star Wars that .
| A．in space, you can not hear anything |
| B．light beams travel via air particle in space |
| C．Chiver thinks the sound of the fighters is vivid |
| D．the invisible light beams are impressive in the movies |
Chiver uses the example of car batteries in Matrix to imply that .
| A．the basic idea of the film is rather ridiculous |
| B．the science in the movies is very convincing |
| C．the idea that humans can be kept alive as electricity generator is right |
| D．humans would stay alive as long as they would produce enough energy |
We can learn from the movie Die Another Day that .
| A．the idea of gene therapy is creative |
| B．the element of DNA should not be used |
| C．the makers of the 2002 Bond use the genetic technology |
| D．DNA can be replaced but in the real world it is impossible |
Why did Chiver write this passage?
A．To prove all these films are makin g mistakes. |
| B．To show his great concern for the movie industry. |
| C．To joke about some movies in the movie industry. |
| D．To call for the audience to find out mistakes from the movies. |
Canada 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.
Canada is a big country with six time zones. In the west, it is four a.m., and everyone is asleep, but in Halifax on the east coast it is eight o'clock and people are having breakfast. It is a cold Friday morning in November, and the temperature is ten degrees below zero Centigrade.
Argentina 9:00 a.m.
In Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, it is nine a.m. on a warm summer morning, and people are starting work or school. November is a summer month in Argentina because it is in the southern hemisphere（南半球）.
Scotland 12:00 noon
Scotland is part of the United Kingdom. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh, and the capital of the UK is London. It is twelve noon, or midday, in Edinburgh. Children are having lessons, but they are looking forward to the weekend because there is no school on Saturday and Sunday.
Egypt 2:00 p.m.
Friday is already the weekend in Egypt. Friday is a special day for Muslims, so schools, offices and shops are closed in all Arab countries. So now, at two p.m., most people in Egypt are having lunch with their families.
Japan 9:00 p.m.
Japan is seven hours ahead of Egypt, so it is already Friday evening there. The weekend is beginning. Most people are out with friends or watching television or playing computer games.
New Zealand 12:00 midnight
It is late on Friday night, so most people are asleep. Now Saturday morning is arriving. It is morning in Canada too, but that is Friday morning!In eastern Canada, the time is _____ that in western Canada.
| A．four and a half hours behind | B．four hours ahead of |
| C．three hours ahead of | D．the same as |
While Canadian children in Halifax are having breakfast, Argentinean children are _____.
| A．sleeping | B．going home | C．at school | D．having supper |
It’s midday in the capital of _____ when it's 9:00 a.m. in the capital of Argentina.
| A．Japan | B．Canada | C．New Zealand | D．Scotland |
Two p.m. in Egypt is not a good time to telephone people in New Zealand, because in New Zealand _____.
| A．it’s midnight and most people are asleep |
| B．it’s noon and many people are having lunch |
| C．it’s the morning and many people are working |
| D．it’s the afternoon and most people are playing computer games |
What time is it in New Zealand if it's 11:15 p.m. in Japan?
| A．1:15 p.m. | B．2:15 p.m. | C．1:15 a.m. | D．2:15 a.m. |
Have you ever wondered why there are so many skin colors in the world? Do you know why people living in particular areas usually have a certain color? Biology and history are the two reasons for this.
Skin contains something called melanin, which determines a person’s skin color. The more melanin a person has, the darker his or her skin will be. The amount of and the production of melanin are controlled by genetics, but can be affected by other things, such as sunlight. If a person lives in a place with less sunlight, a person’s body will produce less melanin, making the skin lighter.
Skin color is also affected by another source ---- vitamin D. humans all need vitamin D to build bones. People can get it by eating foods such as fish and milk, or from sunlight, so sunlight absorbed by melanin cannot be used for vitamin D production. Therefore, a dark—skinned person will produce less vitamin D than a light—skinned person when they received the same amount of sunlight.
The connection between vitamin D production and skin color is clear when we look at evolution. The earliest humans lived in Africa, their dark skin produced less vitamin D because of their dark skin. As a result, their skin made less melanin, so they could get enough sunlight to produce vitamin D. their skin gradually got lighter and they lost hair. Now, people living in areas with strong sunlight like Africa, have darker skin, while people living in other areas have lighter skin. The exception to this is the Inuit, who live in a place with little sunlight, but have dark skin because they eat a lot of fish and have enough vitamin D.
Evolution has given us a rainbow of skin colors. Humans have always had melanin to determine our skin color. What has changed through history is the environment where we have lived. This has in turn changed our melanin production, and eventually, skin color.
| Brief 1 |
People living in a particular 2 usually have the same skin color and there are many different skin colors in the world. |
| Reason for skin color |
The reasons for different skin colors mainly 3 in biology and history. |
| Biology reasons |
The amount of melanin, by which a person’s skin color is __4 , varies from people to people. The more melanin a person has, the __5 his or her skin will be. Vitamin D is another source 6 skin color. Vitamin D is necessary for humans to build bones. Sunlight contributes to vitamin D in the skin. |
| Historical reasons |
The earliest people in Africa hioknj006Dad dark skin with hair covering it because the sunlight is very strong. When they moved to places where they could not get enough sunlight to __7___ vitamin D, their skin color became lighter. Generally speaking, people in areas with strong sunlight, have darker skin ____8 people in other areas have lighter skin. |
| 9 |
Melanin 10 an important role in our skin color. With our living environment changing, melanin production is changed, which leads to the changes in our skin color. |
Smart phones that react to your moods and televisions that can tell it’s you who’s watching are in your future as Intel Corporation’s top technology expert sets his sights on context-aware computing.
Chief technology officer Justin Rattner showed how personal devices will one day offer advice. “How can we change the relationship so we think of these devices not as devices but as assistants or even companions?” he asked.
Handheld devices could combine already common geographic location technology with data from microphones, cameras, heart and body monitors and even brain scans to offer their owners advice that today only a friend or relative could give.
“Imagine a device that uses a variety of sensors to determine what you are doing at an instant, from being asleep in your bed to being out for a run with a friend, ” Rattner said, “Future devices will constantly learn about who you are, how you live, work and play.’’
Rattner also demonstrated a television remote control that figures out who is holding it based on how it is held, and then learns the viewer’s entertainment preferences.
As the world leader for decades in microchips for servers and desktop computers, Intel is hurrying to catch up in the profitable market for smart phones like Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s Blackberry.
Telephones with e-mail, global positioning and media players are pointing the way to a future where ever more functions are packed into ever smaller mobile devices.
The smart phone industry, including technology giants like LG and Samsung, is likely to sell 270 million phones this year and grow 25 percent in 2011, according to market research company IDC.
“I think you can expect to see features that support context-aware computing starting to appear in Intel products in the near future,” Rattner said.
But analysts say Intel faces an uphill battle getting its microchips into new phones as Nvidia, Marvell and Qualcomm have already made headway with cheap, lower-power processors based on designs by ARM Holdings.
Rattner recognized that questions about privacy and people’s willingness to be intimate with their computers will have to be settled before the future generation of smart phones he described takes off.
“If you think identity threat is a problem today, imagine when your whole context is readily available on the Net.”, he said.The future smart phones can do all of the following except _______.
| A．giving responses to the moods of the owners |
| B．giving proposals like assistants or companions |
| C．offering advice to their owners’ friends or relatives |
| D．telling the phone holders or carriers where they are |
Which of the following are smart phones according to the passage?
| A．iPhone and Blackberry | B．LG and Samsung |
| C．Marvell and Qualcomm | D．Nvidia and ARM Holdings |
From the passage we can infer that _______.
| A．Intel Corporation has become the world leader in the smar tphone market |
| B．Intel Corporation has fallen behind in the profitable market for smart phones |
| C．more functions packed into mobile phones will make mobile devices larger |
| D．the smart phone industry is likely to grow 25 percent in the year of 2011 |
The best title for the passage is likely to be _______.
| A．Smart phones and Televisions | B．Context-aware Computing |
| C．Personalized Televisions | D．Personalized Smart phones |
For more than six million American children, coming home after school means coming home to an empty house. Some deal with the situation by watching TV. Some may hide. But all of them have something in common. They spend part of each day alone. They are called latchkey children. They’re children who look after themselves while their parents work. And their bad condition has become a subject of concern.
Lynette Long was once the headmaster of an elementary school. She said, “We had a school rule against wearing jewelry. A lot of kids had chains around their necks with keys attached. I was constantly telling them to put them inside shirts. There were so many keys, it never came to my mind what they meant.” Slowly, she learned they were house keys.
She and her husband began talking to the children who had them. They learned of the impact(影响) working couples and single parents were having on their children. Fear is the biggest problem faced by children at home alone. One in each three latchkey children the Longs talked to reported being scared. Many had nightmares and were worried about their own safety.
The most common way latchkey children deal with their fears is by hiding. It might be in a shower stall, under a bed in a closet. The second is TV. They’ll often play it at high volume. It’s hard to get statistics on latchkey children, the Longs learned. Most parents are slow to admit they leave their children alone.The main idea about “latchkey children” is that they _______.
| A．are growing in numbers |
| B．are also found in middle-class neighborhoods |
| C．watch too much television during the day |
| D．suffer problems from being left alone |
Which sentence in the second paragraph is the topic sentence?
| A．We had a school rule against wearing jewelry. |
| B．A lot of kids had chains around their necks. |
| C．I was constantly telling them to put inside their shirts. |
| D．They were house keys. |
The main feeling these children have when they are at home by themselves is _______.
| A．tiredness | B．freedom | C．loneliness | D．fear |
We may draw a conclusion that _______.
| A．latchkey children enjoy having such a large amount of time alone |
| B．latchkey children try to hide their feeling |
| C．latchkey children often watch TV with their parents |
| D．it’s difficult to find out how many latchkey children there are |
Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life.
In some modern countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all — one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough; we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degree; they refuse to do what they think “low” work; and, in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful in such countries. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a professor; we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we should get terrible diseases in our towns…
In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we must be educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability and, secondly, that we can realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that is very bad to be ashamed of one’s work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society.The writer of the passage thinks that _______.
| A．education can settle most of the world’s problems |
| B．free education for all probably leads to a perfect world |
| C．free education won’t help to solve problems |
| D．all the social problems can’t be solved by education |
The writer wants to prove that _______.
| A．our society needs all kinds of jobs |
| B．our society needs free education for all |
| C．a farmer is more important than a professor |
| D．work with hands is the most important |
The purpose of education is _______.
| A．to choose officials for the country |
| B．to prepare children mainly for their future work |
| C．to let everyone receive education fit for him |
| D．to build a perfect world |
The passage tells us about _______ of the education.
| A．the means | B．the system | C．the value | D．the type |
粤公网安备 44130202000953号