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理工B级 幺建华老师押题整理
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第三十二篇 Mind-reading1 Machine(B级)
A team of researchers in California has developed a way to predict what kinds of objects people are looking at by scanning what’s happening in their brains.
When you look at something, your eyes send a signal about that object to your brain. Different regions of the brain process the information your eyes send. Cells in your brain called neurons are responsible for this processing.
The fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)2 brain scans could generally match electrical activity in the brain to the basic shape of a picture that someone was looking at.
Like cells anywhere else in your body, active neurons use oxygen. Blood brings oxygen to the neurons, and the more active a neuron is, the more oxygen it will consume. The more active a region of the brain, the more active its neurons, and in turn, the more blood will travel to that region. And by using fMRI, scientists can visualize3 which parts of the brain receive more oxygen-rich blood — and therefore, which parts are working to process information.
An fMRI machine is a device that scans the brain and measures changes in blood flow to the brain. The technology shows researchers how brain activity changes when a person thinks, looks at something, or carries out an activity like speaking or reading. By highlighting the areas of the brain at work when a person looks at different images, fMRI may help scientists determine specific patterns of brain activity associated with different kinds of images.
The California researchers tested brain activity by having two volunteers view hundreds of pictures of everyday objects, like people, animals, and fruits. The scientists used an fMRI machine to record the volunteers’ brain activity with each photograph they looked at. Different objects caused different regions of the volunteers’ brains to light up on the scan, indicating activity. The scientists used this information to build a model to predict how the brain might respond to any image the eyes see.
In a second test, the scientists asked the volunteers to look at 120 new pictures. Like before, their brains were scanned every time they looked at a new image. This time, the scientists used their model to match the fMRI scans to the image. For example, if a scan in the second test showed the same pattern of brain activity that was strongly related to pictures of apples in the first test, their model would have predicted the volunteers were looking at apples.
词汇: scan /skAn/ v. &n. 扫描 neuron /5njuErCn/ n. 神经元visualize /5vIzjJElaIz/ v.使可见;设想 注释:
1. Mind-reading: 能读出(猜出)人的想法的。 mind-read: 可做动词,如, As a successful salesman, he is able to mind-read his customers.
2. FMRI(functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging):功能性磁振造影。这是一种新兴的神经影像学方式,其原理是利用磁振造影来测量神经元活动所引发之血液动力的改变。
3. visualize: 意为 make(something)visible to the eye,即“使可见,使显现 ”。练习:
1. What is responsible for processing the information sent by your eyes?
A)A small region of the brain.
B)The central part of the brain.
C)Neurons in the brain.
D)Oxygen-rich blood.
2. Which of the following statements is NOT meant by the writer?
A)Ceils in your brain are called neurons.
B)The more oxygen a neuron consumes, the more blood it needs.
C)fMRI helps scientists to discover which parts of the brain process information.
D)fMRI helps scientists to discover how the brain develops intelligently.
3. “Highlighting the areas of the brain at work” means
A)“marking the parts of the brain that are processing information”
B)“giving light to the parts of the brain that are processing information” C)“putting the parts of the brain to work”
D)“stopping the parts of the brain from working”
4. What did the researchers experiment on?
A)Animals, objects, and fruits.
B)Two volunteers.
C)fMRI machines.
D)Thousands of pictures.
5. Which of the following can be the best replacement of the tide?
A)The Recent Development in Science and Technology.
B)Your Thoughts Can Be Scanned.
C)A Technological Dream.
D)A Device that can Help You Calculate.答案与题解:
1. C 文章第二段的昀后两个句子提供了答案。 Cells in your brain called neurons are responsible for this processing.这里的 processing指的就是上句中的内容。
2. D 的电容文章中没有出现。 A的内容在第二段可找到。 B的内容在第二段可找到。 C的内容在第五段可找到。
3. A highlight:使…显得突出,标出。 at work:正在工作的。这里指正在处理信息的(大脑区域)。
4. B答案在文章的第六段中可以找到。实验者让两个自愿受试者观看许多照片,并用 fMRI对设备测试他们的大脑在这一过程中的活动。
5.B A论述的范围太大。 fMR技术已不再是梦想,所以 C也不是正确选择。 D所述内容与文章完全不符。 B符合文章内容,是昀佳选择。
第三十四篇 Batteries Built by Viruses
What do chicken pox,the common cold, the flu,and AIDS have in common? They’re all disease caused by viruses,tiny microorganisms that can pass from person to person.It's no wonder1 that when most people think about viruses, finding ways t0 steer clear of2 viruses is what's on people's minds.
Not everyone runs from the tiny disease carders, though3.In Cambridge, Massachusetts4, scientists have discovered that some viruses can be helpful in an unusual way.They are putting viruses to work, teaching them to build some of the world's smallest rechargeable batteries.
Viruses and batteries may seem like an unusual pair,but they're not so strange for engineer Angela Belcher,who first came up with5 the idea.At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, she and her collaborators bring together different areas of science in new ways.In the case of the virus-built batteries, the scientists combine what they know about biology, technology and production techniques.
Belcher's team includes Paula Hammond,who helps put together the tiny batteries, and Yet-Ming Chiang, an expert on how to store energy in the form of a battery.“We’re working on things we traditionally don’t associate with nature.” says Hammond.
Many batteries are already pretty small.You can hold A.C and D batteries6 in your hand.The coin—like batteries that power watches are often smaller than a penny.However。every year,new electronic devices like personal music players or cell phones get smaller than the year before.As these devices shrink, ordinary batteries won't be small enough to fit inside.
The ideal battery will store a lot of energy in a small package.Right now,Belcher's model battery,a metallic disk completely built by viruses,looks like a regular watch battery.But inside,its components are very small—so tiny you can only see them with a powerful microscope.
How small are these battery parts? To get some idea of the size,pluck one hair from your head.Place your hair on a piece of white paper and try to see how wide your hair is—pretty thin,right? Although the width of each person's hair is a bit different,you could probably fit about l o of these virus—built battery parts,side to side,across one hair.These microbatteries may change the way we look at viruses7.
词汇:
chicken pox水痘
microorganism n.微生物
metallic adj.金属的
collaborator n.合作者,协作者
pluck v.拔,摘,采
注释:
1.no wonder:不足为奇的,难怪
2.steer clear of:避开,绕开
3.though:意思为“然而,可是”。在句中使用时通常放在句末。
4.Cambridge,Massachusetts:马萨诸塞州的剑桥市。本文第三段提到的the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge即指坐落于剑桥市的麻省理工学院。麻省理工学院于1861年由著名自然科学家威廉·巴罗吉杰斯创立。这是美国的一所私立研究型大学,培养高级科技人才和管理人才,是以理工科为主的、世界一流的综合性大学。
5.came up with:提出
6.A,C and D batteries:A、C、D均为电池型号。
7.These microbatteries may change the way we look at viruses:这些微型电池可能会改变我们看待病毒的方式。作者想表达的意思是:人们一直认为病毒有害无益,现在病毒可用来制作电池,人们对病毒的看法可能会因此而发生变化。
练习:
1.According to the first paragraph,people try to
A.kill microorganisms related to chicken pox,the flu,etc.
B.keep themselves away from viruses because they are invisible.
C.stay away from viruses because they are causes of various diseases.
D.cure themselves of virus—related diseases by taking medicines.
2.What is Belcher's team doing at present?
A.It is finding ways to get rid of viruses..
B.It is mass—producing microbatteries.
C.It is making batteries with viruses.
D.It is analyzing virus genes.
3.What expression below is opposite in meaning to the word "shrink" appearing in paragraph 5?
A.Broaden.
B.Spread.
C.Extend.
D.Expand:
4. Which of the following is true of Belcher's battery mentioned in paragraph 6?
A.It is made of metal.
B.It is a kind of watch battery.
C.It can only be seen with a microscope.
D.It is a metallic disk with viruses inside it.
5. How tiny is one battery part?
A.Its width is one tenth of a hair.
B.It equals the width of a hair.
C.It is as thin as a piece of paper.
D.Its width is too tiny to measure.
答案与题解:
1.C短文第一段的大致意思是,许多疾病都由病毒引起,诸如水痘、感冒和艾滋病,所以人们想尽办法躲避病毒。这是C所表达的意思。A不是正确选择,因为文章并没有说人们想方设法去杀死病毒。B的后半句的内容(病毒肉眼看不见)和D的内容(吃药治疗病毒引起的疾病)文中没有提到.
2.C短文的第二段明确提供了答案。
3.D 根据上下文,shrink在此的意思是“收缩”,即“缩小”。所以,它的反义词是expand(增大,扩张)。C不是正确选择,因为extend的意思是become longer,即“延伸”或“加长”。A的意思是“加宽”,也不是答案。B的意思是“伸展,展开”,在一定的上下文里也可以做shrink的反义词,但在第五段这个语境里,B不是最佳选择。
4.D第六段第二句中提到的metallic disk是指“金属圆盘”,它是微型电池的外形,其内部是由病毒构成的电池部件。微型电池不是由金属组成的,所以A不是答案。本段提到,这种电池looks like a regular watch battery,与手表里电池外形相似,但并不等同手表电池,所以B也不是正确选择。文章只是说电池的部件(但并没有说整个电池)小到只能用显微镜才能看到,所以C也不是正确的选择。D才是第六段所要表达的主要内容,因此是答案。
5.A 短文最后一段的第四句(“you could probably fit about lo of these virus-built battery parts,side to side,across one hair”)提供了本题的答案。
第三十五篇 Putting Plants to Work
Using the power of the sun is nothing new. People have had solar-powered calculators and buildings with solar panels for decades. But plants are the real experts: They’ve been using sunlight as an energy source for billions of years.
Ceils in the green leaves of plants work like tiny factories to convert sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into1 sugars and starches, stored energy that the plants can use. This conversion process is called photosynthesis. Unfortunately, unless you’re a plant, it’s difficult and expensive to convert sunlight into storable energy. That’s why scientists are taking a closer look at exactly how plants do it.
Some scientists are trying to get plants, or biological cells that act like plants, to work as miniature photosynthetic power stations. For example, Mafia Ghirardi of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.2, is working with green algae3. She’s trying to trick them into producing hydrogen4 instead of sugars when they perform photosynthesis. Once the researchers can get the algae working efficiently, the hydrogen that they produce could be used to power fuel cells in cars or to generate electricity.
The algae are grown in narrow-necked glass bottles to produce hydrogen in the lab. During photosynthesis, plants normally make sugars or starches. “But under certain conditions, a lot of algae are able to use the sunlight energy not to store starch, but to make hydrogen,” Ghirardi says. For example, algae will produce hydrogen in an air free environment. It’s the oxygen in the air that prevents algae from making hydrogen most of the time.
Working in an air free environment, however, is difficult. It’s not a practical way to produce cheap energy. But Ghirardi and her colleagues have discovered that by removing a chemical called sulfate from the environment that the algae grow in, they will make hydrogen instead of sugars, even when air is present.
Unfortunately, removing the sulfate also makes the algae’s cells work very slowly, and not much hydrogen is produced. Still, the researchers see this as a first step in their goal to produce hydrogen efficiently from algae. With more work, they may be able to speed the cells' activity and produce larger quantities of hydrogen.
The researchers hope that algae will one day be an easy-to-use fuel source. The organisms are cheap to get and to feed, Ghirardi says, and they can grow almost anywhere: “You can grow them in a reactor, in a pond. You can grow them in the ocean. There’s a lot of flexibility in how you can use these organisms.”
词汇:
panel /5pAnl/ n.嵌板,发热板,仪器板 starch /stB:tF/ n. 淀粉
miniature /5minjEtFE/ adj.口巧.微型的 sulfate /5sQlfeit/ n. 硫酸盐,硫酸酯
carbon dioxide 二氧化碳 photosynthesis /7fEutEu5sinWEsis/ n. 光合作用
algae /5AldVi:/ n. 水藻,海藻
注释:
1. convert … into…:将……转换为 ……
2. Colo.:Colorado,(美国科罗拉多州)的缩写形式
3. Green algae: 绿藻
4.trick them into producing hydrogen: 想方设法使它们产生氢。 trick作为动词,有 “欺骗、哄骗 ”的意思,但是在这里的意思是 “设法”或“采取措施 ”。练习:
1. What does the writer say about plants concerning solar energy?
A) Plants are 'the real experts in producing solar energy.
B) Plants have been used to produce solar energy.
C) Plants have been using solar energy for billions of years.
D) Plants have been a source of solar energy.
2. Why do some scientists study how plants convert sunlight carbon dioxide, and water into sugars and starches?
A) Because they want algae to produce sugars and starches.
B) Because they want green plants to become a new source of energy.
C) Because they want to turn plant sugars to a new form of energy.
D) Because they want to make photosynthesis more efficient.
3. According to the fifth paragraph, under what conditions are algae able to use solar energy to make hydrogen?
A) When there is a lot of oxygen in the air.)
B) When there is no oxygen in the air.
C) When photosynthesis is taking place.
D) When enough starch is stored.
4. Researchers have met with difficulties when trying to make algae produce hydrogen efficiently. Which one of the following is one such difficulty?
A) It is not possible to remove sulfate from the environment.
B) It is not possible to work in an airfree environment to produce hydrogen.
C) It is not easy to make sugars instead of hydrogen.
D) It is too slow for algae to produce hydrogen when the sulfate is removed.
5. What is NOT true of algae?
A) They are easy to grow.
B) They can be a very good fuel source.
C) They are cheap to eat.
D) They can be used in many ways.
6. Why do some scientists study how plants convert sunlight carbon dioxide and water into sugars and starches?
A) Because they want algae to produce sugars and starch.
B) Because they want green plants to become a new source of energy.
C) Because they want to turn plant sugars to a new form of energy.
D) Because they want to make photosynthesis more efficient. 答案与题解:
1.C 根据文章第一段昀后一句的意思, C是正确选择:植物从来就利用阳光作为能源。
2.B文章的第三段说,科学家企图将植物或植物类生物细胞作为微型光合能源供应站来研究,并举例说,他们正在用绿藻进行实验,若成功,绿藻所产生的氢将可用来为汽车的燃料电池充电。所以答案是 B。
3.B 文章第四段告诉我们:… algae will produce hydrogen in an air free environment.没有空气的情况肯定就没有氧气了。该段昀后一句又说,是氧阻止绿藻制造氢。
4.D选项 A、B都不是正确答案,因为短文的第六段告诉我们, remove sulfate和 work in an air free environment都是可能的,但问题是两者都有弊端,使氢的制造不那么容易。 D所述内容就是困难之一:绿藻细胞因为没有了 sulfate而减缓工作速度,因此产生不了多少氢。
5.C 根据短文昀后一段的描述,绿藻可以在任何地方生长,它们是很容易使用的燃料能源,而且用途广泛,所以, A、B、C都是正确的描述,不是答案。 C是答案,因为 “The organisms are cheap to get and to feed”中的 feed是“养殖”的意思,不能解释为 “吃”。
第三十八篇
"Life Form Found" on Saturn's Titan
Scientists say they have discovered hints of alien life1 on the Saturn's moon2. The discovery of a sort of life was announced after researchers at the US space agency, NASA3, analyzed data from spacecr
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