Scientiststodayaremakinggreate

更新 2022-09-03
科目英语
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Scientists today are making greater effort to study ocean currents (洋流) . Most do it using satellites and other high-tech equipment. However, ocean expert Curtis Ebbesmeyer does it in a special way -- by studying movements of random floating garbage. A scientist with many years’ experience, he started this type of research in the early 1990s when he heard about hundreds of athletic shoes washing up on the shores of the northwest coast of the United States. There were so many shoes that people were setting up swap meets to try and match left and right shoes to sell or wear.
Ebbesmeyer found out in his researches that the shoes — about 60,000 in total — fell into the ocean in a shipping accident. He phoned the shoe company and asked if they wanted the shoes back. As expected, the company told him that they didn't. Ebbesmeyer realized this could be a great experiment. If he learned when and where the shoes went into the water and tracked where they landed, he could learn a lot about the patterns of ocean currents.
The Pacific Northwest is one of the world's best areas for beachcombing(海滩搜寻) because winds and currents join here, and as a result, there is a group of serious beachcombers in the area. Ebbesmeyer got to know a lot of them and asked for their help in collecting information about where the shoes landed. In a year he collected reliable information on 1, 600 shoes. With this data, he and a colleague were able to test and improve a computer program designed to model ocean currents, and publish the findings of their study.
As the result of his work, Ebbesmeyer has become known as the scientist to call with questions about any unusual objects found floating in the ocean. He has even started an association of beachcombers and ocean experts, with 500 subscribers from West Africa to New Zealand. They have recorded all lost objects ranging from potatoes to golf gloves.
The underlined phrase swap meets in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______________.

A．fitting rooms

B．trading fairs

C．business talks

D．group meetings

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第四节阅读理解（共20小题。每小题2分，满分40分）
It is well-known that fatigue driving(疲劳驾驶)is very dangerous．A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months．
The device is a kind of system, which is called Driver Alert，and it aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20％—40％that are caused by tiredness．Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30％ of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue．
Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband．The device，worn by drivers or pilots，gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey．After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel．A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response．
Driver’s response time is directly related to tiredness．Usually, a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond，but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds, it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy．
In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds，showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest．If the driver’s response continues to slow down，the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warns that the driver must stop as soon as possible．
The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing．If these tests, scheduled for six months’ time，are successful，the makers will bring the product to market within about a year．
1．According to the text，Driver Alert ________
A．aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents   B．has been on sale for12 months
C．has gone through testing at laboratories      D．aims to prevent drivers from sleeping
2．How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert?
A．By sounding a warning．           B．By checking the driving time．
C．By touching the wrist band．      D．By pressing the steering wheel．
3．We Can learn from the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time is ________.
A．about 400 milliseconds              B．over 4 seconds
C．below 500 milliseconds              D．about 4 minutes
4．What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?
A．The device is expected to be marketed in about one year．
B．The device will go through the tests soon．
C．The tests have been scheduled for six months．
D．All the drivers will soon use the Driver Alert．

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Say you meet with difficulty, what’s the first thing you do? Call your best friend and ask for help? It turns out that doing this may be better for you than you think. Researchers find that friendship has a big influence on your health, well-being and business.
One study from scientists recently found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22% less likely to die during a 10-year period than those with fewer friends. Other researchers discovered that having a strong social network could improve brain health as we age.
Even more interesting, feeling close to your friends may give you a different view on things. Researchers gathered 34 college students out side and asked them to estimate the steepness(估计陡峭程度) of a hill after climbing it. Those standing with friends gave lower estimates, and the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.
What is the reason that friends can make obstacles seem less difficult? “People with stronger friendship networks feel that there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen A. Roberto, director of the center of the hospital at Virginia Tech. “Friendship is a valued resource (宝贵的资源).”
It is truly the fact. Friends make your life better. They provide support in hard times. They inspire you to make changes in your life, encourage you to set goals and cheer you on every step of the way until you reach them.
Want to find out more about the power of friendship? Read “Be a Better Friend”, “Make New Friends” and “Keep the Old”.
1. According to the author, if you’ve lost your job you should        .
A. turn to your best friend      B. ask for advice from your teacher
C. face it bravely by yourself    D. ask your parents for help
2. We can learn from the study in Paragraph 2 that        .
A. people with a lot of friends can stay away from illnesses
B. people with many friends may enjoy a longer life
C. 22% of the people who have fewer friends have a short life
D. those who have fewer friends may die 10 years earlier.
3. The underlined word “obstacles” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to some thing___________
A. that you are hoping to achieve by a plan
B. that happens to you when you are working
C. that makes it difficult for us to achieve something
D. that you have been trying to do
4. The fifth paragraph was written to tell us that        .
A. we should make many friends B. true friendship lives long
C. friend ship has changed us     D. friendship should be valued

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Last week when I was sitting in my office, I heard an elderly lady talking on the phone about her husband. Her husband’s name was Ed. He dropped her off for her doctor’s appointment and was going to park the car and wait for her. She was so upset that she started to cry. I knew I should take action.
The lady told me her name was Helen and she called the restaurant she and her husband were going to have lunch at after her appointment to see if he was waiting for her there. She explained that she thought her husband parked the car in the parking lot and waited for her in the car but she didn’t find him there so she returned to see if he entered the medical building, but Ed was not there either. She regretted making her husband park the car alone since some signs of Alzheimer’ (早老性痴呆症)had appeared in his behavior. I asked a few nurses to help look for Ed inside and out side the medical building according to Helen’s description. Then I offered to drive Helen to the restaurant to see if Ed was waiting for her there.
On arriving at the parking lot of the restaurant, Helen began to search for Ed’s car but she failed, which suggested Ed wasn’t there. We decided to have a talk with the manager before we returned to the hospital. On our way to the manager’s office, I received a call from a nurse, who said they had found Ed. What a relief(安慰)! But we still needed to go on searching since he forgot where he parked his car! Fortunately, we didn’t have much difficulty finding it.
As I waved goodbye to the couple, I thought, “This is true love in life. The love is not romantic but it stays with us all the time.”
1. What did Helen do after she found Ed was missing?
A. She called the police.     B. She turned to the author.
C. She called the restaurant. D. She searched for him everywhere.
2. We learn from this passage that Ed              .
A. went to the restaurant himself     B. might have developed Alzheimer’s
C. visited his friend in the hospital    D. worried about his wife very much
3. When did the author know that Ed was found?
A. After the author and Helen returned from the restaurant.
B. While the author and Helen were on their way to the restaurant.
C. Before the author and Helen found the manager of the restaurant.
D. When the author and Helen arrived at the parking lot of the restaurant.
4. What can we infer from the passage?
A. The author was Helen’s friend.    B. The author had seen Ed before.
C. The author went to see his doctor. D. The author worked in the hospital.

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We know almost half the world is urban(都市的) now – but what will our world look like in the year 2100?
It took about a million years for the global human population to come up to 1 billion in 1800. In the next 200 years, it came up to 6 billion, and it will take only about 20 more years to add another billion. By 2100, the United Nations estimates that the global population will attain more than 10 billion.
By the end of 2008, slightly less than 50 percent of the global population lived in cities. If economic development proceeds at today’s pace, over the next century or so it is highly likely that 8 billion people will live in urban centers, up from today’s roughly 3.3 billion. Yes, the world will indeed be able to hold so many people. The major reason is urbanization(城市化). There will be many more new cities in the year 2100, and some of today’s large cities will become super cities, including Beijing, Delhi, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and so on. At the same time, recent advances in agriculture, energy, and water technologies suggest that human creations will keep up with population growth. Rural areas will return to an agrarian (农业的)centre to feed the growing cities. Languages will drop from the current 7,000 across the globe to less than a few hundred. English will be the primary language of the world.
As we compress(压缩) people into the urban center, and as we leave behind the rural areas to feed us – will we really live a happy life at that time? We will have to live together in large buildings in cities and save on energy and services delivery cost. There will be few chances for us to get close to nature. We really need to think about the effect of the things we have done and are doing now!
1. The underlined word “attain” in the second paragraph probably has the same meaning as “________”
A. increase      B. gain     C. reach     D. limit
2. With the development of urbanization, people in 2100 will have to      .
A. stay in urban areas and have no chance to get close to nature
B. develop industry rather than agriculture to create job opportunities
C. live a poor and unhappy life because there will be less energy to use.
D. make more creations in agriculture, energy, and water technologies
3. What is the author’s attitude towards urbanization?
A. supportive    B. disappointed   C. surprised    D. worried
4. What is the best title for this passage?
A. Global urbanization in the year 2100
B. The primary language in the future
C. Reasons for the rapid increase of population
D. The development of agriculture in 2100

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Jimmy was a twenty-year-old man. His father was a teacher and taught physics in a middle school and his mother worked in a shop. They lived a happy life until his parents died one night when suddenly an earthquake broke out. Luckily his sister took him to see their aunt in the city and they did not stay at home. Everything was destroyed in the earthquake and the two children got into trouble. Thanks to their aunt who was not rich enough, they grew up but they lived a hard life. His sister was so sad that she became a nun(修女). After he finished middle school, he was introduced to and owner of a hotel and began to work there.
One day the young man fell to ground while he was cleaning a window on the second floor. One of his legs was broken and he had to be in hospital. He said to the nurse, “I’m a poor man, madam. Arrange a third-class ward(病房) for me, please.”
“Can’t anybody help you?”
“No, madam,” answered Jimmy. “I have only a sister. She’s a nun and she’s poor, too.”
“I don’t think so,” the nurse said angrily. “Nuns usually marry God. And God is the richest in the world, you know!”
“Well, then,” Jimmy said with a smile. “Please arrange a first-class ward for me and post the bill to my brother-in-law.”
1. Jimmy’s parents died           .
A. in an accident   B. in a war   C. in an earthquake   D. from a disease
2. Jimmy and his sister escaped from the earthquake because          .
A. they played outside        B. they were in a safe place
C. their parents saved them    D. the aunt saved them
3. The sister and brother lived a hard life because         .
A. they lost all                    B. they were too young
C. they were hurt in the earthquake    D. they had to look after themselves
4. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. The nurse would arrange a third-class ward for Jimmy.
B. Jimmy’s sister became a nun because of her illness.
C. The nurse would post Jimmy’s bill to God.
D. Jimmy had a rich brother-in-law.

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