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Wash Your Clothes with a Cup of Water?
A washing machine that uses only a cup of water to carry a full wash, leaving clothes completely dry, has been developed by British inventors. Researchers say the technology, which uses less than 2 percent of the water and energy of a traditional machine, could save billions of liters of water each year.
The machine works by using thousands of plastic chips— each about half a centimeter in size—to absorb and remove dirt. Around 20 kilos of the chips are added to each load, along with a cup of water and detergent（洗涤剂）. During the washing cycle, the water is heated to help dissolve the dirt, which is then absorbed by the plastic chips. The inventors say the chips should be removed at the end of each wash, but can be used up to 100 times.
The technology, called Xeros, is already being compared to the Dyson bagless vacuum cleaner, which revolutionized the home cleaning industry when it was first introduced to the public in the mid-1990s.
If adopted by many homes across the UK, the machine could save billions of liters of water each year. According to the research, washing machine use has risen by 23 percent in the past 15 years, up from three times a week in 1990 to an average four times now. The average UK household uses most 21 liters of water daily on clothes washing. Nationally, this equals to approximately 455 million liters of water a day — enough to fill 145 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Although the Xeros is now in the design and testing stage, the inventors say they are in talks with a commercial partner. The machine could be in the market as early as next year. Tests have produced quite astonishing results. “We’ve shown that it can remove all sorts of everyday stains including coffee and lipstick while using a tiny fraction of the water used by traditional washing machines,” said one of the inventors.
An expert said, “This is one of the most surprising and remarkable technologies I’ve had in recent years. Xeros has the ability to save billions of liters of water per year and, we believe, the potential to revolutionize the global laundry market.
64. Compared with the traditional washing machine, the most outstanding feature of the Xeros is that _________.
A. it doesn’t need any detergent
B. it saves a large amount of water
C. it can remove all sorts of everyday stains
D. the plastic chips can be removed at the end of each wash
65. The writer supports his idea with __________ in Paragraph 4.
A. examples B. words C. data D. imagination
66. What do we know about the Xeros from the passage?
A. It will be quite cheap as the plastic chips can be used up to 100 times.
B. It’ll take the place of the Dyson bagless vacuum cleaner in future.
C. The plastic chips play an important role in absorbing and removing the dirt.
D. It isn’t in the market now because no investors are willing to develop it.
67. What is the writer’s attitude toward the new technology in this passage?
A. Positive. B. Opposed. C. Indifferent. D. Doubtful.
The discovery of a dwarfed (矮个的)”human being” who lived in Flores .Indonesia, up to 18,000 years ago is changing the way we think about the human family .This “Flores Human”was three foot tall and her brain was smaller than that of the average chimp (黑猩猩),yet she and her relatives apparently lived fully human lives.They seem to have made tools ,worked together to find food and cook it,and perhaps even buried their dead with ceremony.
It was a major surprise to find tools associated with the new human family member .The tools are like those formerly seen only with European fossils (化石)from our own species;Homo sapiens (智人)；and the oldest of them were made 94,000 years ago .Homo sapiens is thought to have arrived in the island about 40,000 years ago ,much too late to be responsible for the tools .If this tiny human made the tools ,them the inside structure (结构)of its brain must have been more like our own than a chimp’s ,despite being just a third the size of ours.
This “new human” was suspected to be a dwarfed branch of Homo erectus (直立人).When creatures are separated in regions with rare resources but few enemies,being big is a disadvantage, and evolution tends to shrink them, a process known as island dwarfing.Could natural selection make a human smaller while keeping — even improving — mental ability ?Quite possibly, believes Christopher Wills of the University of California.
Has the “Flores Human” even shown the ability of language? “I find it difficult to imagine that people could make tools，use fire ,and kill large animals without fairly advanced communication.” Wills says .Did “Flores Human” possess the basic components of human culture — such as the burying of the dead with ceremony ? Emiliano Bruner of the Italian Institute points out that Indonesia’s hot, wet environment is bad for fossilization.It is reasonable to assume , he says ,that the 18,000-year-old bones of the most complete Flores woman were well-preserved because she was buried with special care.
67.According to the passage , “Flores Human”______.
A.lived a partly human life B.was a branch of Homo sapiens
C.used tools before Homo sapiens arrived D.had a brain as a common chimp’s
68.The underlined part “this tiny human”in Paragraph 2 refers to _______.
A.a chimp . B.Flores Human C.Homo sapiens D.Homo erectus
69.This passage mainly talks about______.
A.the tools made by “Flores Human” B.the language used by “Flores Human”
C.the evolution of “Flores Human” D. the major surprising findings about “Flores Human”
70.According to the passage ,it is believed that “Flores Human”_______.
A.was dwarfed by its enemies B.could use language
C.left a lot of fossils in hot and wet enviroment D.reached Flores 40,000 years ago
The coyote(丛林狼)that clever animal of wide-open spaces,has come to the nation’s captial.In fact ,coyotes have spread to every corner of the United States,changing their behaviors to fit new environments and causing researchers to deal with a troublesome new kind of creature:the city coyote.
The coyote originally lived in the middle of the continent.One of its most obvious characters is its smartness, which has made the animal a notorious（臭名昭著的）pest.Hunters trapped,shot and poisoned more than a million coyotes in the 1900s.It’s still one of America’s most hunted animals. Yet the coyote has survived.How has the coyote shown this extraordinary ability? “I guess if you wanted to use one word,it’d be ‘plasticity’. ”says Erie Gese,an expert at Utah State University. Coyotes can live alone, in pairs, or in large packs like wolves,hunt at night or during the day , occupy a small region or an area up to 40 square miles;and live on all sorts of food,from lizards（蜥蜴）and shoes, to ants and melons.
Unbelievably people helped coyotes increase when they killed most of the wolves in the United States. The spreading of coyotes into city areas,though.is recent.They travel at night,crossing sidewalks and bridges.running along roads and ducking into culverts （钻入涵洞）and underpassces .No one knows why coyotes are moving into cities, but experts explain that cleverer, more human-tolerant（不怕人的）coyotes are teaching urban survival skills to new generations.
Occasionally. coyotes might attack human beings. There have been about 160 attacks on people in recent years Therefore, people have been consistently told not to feed coyotes or leave pet food unsecured. That ,plus a large trapping program in the neighborhood, has cut down on the coyote population.
63.The underlined word “plasticity”in Paragraph 2 refers to____________.
A.the ability to fit the environment B.notorious smartness
C.hunting ability D.being human-tolerant
64.The aim of the passage is to_____________.
A.tell people how to fight against coyotes
B.tell us why the coyote is the most hunted animal
C.supply the reason why the coyote is a kind of motorious pest
D.explain how the coyote has spread to and survived in cities
65.According to the passage, coyotes__________.
A.originally lived in the west of the continent
B.sleep during the day but look for food at night
C.are teaching survival skills to their younger generations
D.suffered a population decrease because people killed wolves
66.According to the passage,to cut down on the coyote population, people are advised to_______.
A.leave pet food secured B.keep coyotes in small regions
C.force coyotes to live alone D.avoid using trapping programs
As skies are filled with millions of migrating(迁徙)birds, European scientists say the seasonal wonder appears to be strange: The fatter the bird, the better it flies.
The results of their study led to a theory opposite to a central one of aerodynamics(空气动力学), which says that the power needed to fly increases with weight.
For birds, obviously, the cost of flying with heavy fat is much smaller than we used to think. Researchers found that red knot wading birds double their normal body weight of 100 grams before making their twice-a-year nonstop flight between the British Isles and the Russian Arctic. Distance: 5, 000 kilometers.
Another study in the magazine Nature measured the advantage of flying in an aerodynamic group which allows birds to save energy by flying smoothly and quietly in the lead bird’s air stream.
Flying in groups, their heart rates were 14.5 percent lower than flying alone, according to Henri, a French scientist. The findings help explain how birds complete difficult migrations. Researchers had thought that thinner, stronger birds would have the best chance to survive.
The first study suggests that building up fat to be burnt as fuel during the migration is worth more than the energy it takes to carry the additional weight.
In the study, researchers said their team studied the birds flown at different body weights during 28 simulated(模拟的)flights. They forced a small amount of special water into the birds’ bodies so that they could measure the amount of energy burnt during the flight.
60.A red knot wading bird of 100 grams will probably weigh_____before making its nonstop migrating flight.
A.50 grams B.100 grams C.150 grams D.200 grams
61.During their migrating flight, red knot wading birds can save energy by flying_______.
A.separately B.alone C.in groups D.in pairs
62.A_______red not wading bird has a better chance to survive during its migrating flight.
A.stronger B.weaker C.thinnerD.fatter
63.The best title for this passage may probably be________.
A.Birds Thin Down For Journey B.Birds Fatten Up For Journey
C.How Birds Build Up Fat For Journey D.How Birds Burn Energy For Journey
A new eight-kilometer road is under construction that links the port area with motorway system. It is expected to carry 20,000 trucks and cars a day, which greatly reduces the overcrowded traffic in the center of the city. As part of the project, two four-kilometer road tunnels are being built below the central area of the city, one for traffic to the north and the other for the traffic to the south. The two tunnels are about 20 meters below the surface and are 12 meters wide, providing for two lanes of traffic in each direction.
In the upper part of the tunnel two air-conditioning pipes remove the waste gas of trucks and cars and keep the quality of air inside the tunnel. The lighting is at the top of the tunnel, practically at its highest point. There will also be electric signs at frequent intervals. They show traffic conditions ahead and can be seen clearly by drivers. The wall is made up of four main elements, which include a waterproofing covering and, on the inside of the tunnel, a concrete lining（混凝土衬砌）.
Each tunnel is roughly round and the lower part of the tunnel is somewhat flat. The surface of the road lies on the base, which is made of concrete and steel. The drainage system, just below the road surface on one side, removes any extra liquid, particularly water. In the event of fire, the fire main, which is made of steel, pipes water to many fire hydrant stations at regular intervals along the length of the tunnel. The fire main is at the side of the tunnel and at the level of the road surface. Other systems in the tunnel will include emergency phones.
72. Each of the tunnels under construction is _____.
A. eight kilometers long and twenty meters wide B. eight kilometers long and six meters wide
C. four kilometers long and twenty meters wide D. four kilometers long and six meters wide
73. Which part of the tunnel in the diagram is used to pipe out extra water?
A. 1B. 3 C. 5D 6
74. Driving in the tunnel, one can know the traffic conditions ahead through______.
A. the lightsB. the electric signs
C. the trucks and the carsD. the emergency phones
75. The passage is mainly about _____.
A. the construction of a road B. the design of a road
C. the construction of two tunnels D.the design of two tunnels
Unlike modern animal scientists, dinosaur scientists cannot sit on a hillside and use telescopes to watch dinosaurs in order to know how they lived and whether they were good parents. Instead, they have to search hard for information from dinosaurs’fossils(恐龙化石) because dinosaurs died out millions of years ago.
It’s very difficult for the scientists to reach an agreement because different results can be got from the same fossils, Many fossils of the same kind of dinosaurs have been dug out from one place. They might have formed when an entire group of dinosaurs got stuck(陷入)all at once, or they might have been the result of dinosaurs getting stuck one after another over a course of a few centuries. Thus we can say that dinosaurs might have in the first case lived in big groups and in the second lived alone.
Though there are two different results, dinosaur scientists now generally agree that at least some kinds of dinosaurs lived in big groups. “That’s pretty much settled at this point.” Says Paul Sereno, A kind of dinosaurs called Sauropods left behind tracks in the western United States that appear to run north and south, suggesting that they even moved long distances together.
As to whether dinosaurs cared for their young, dinosaur scientists have turned to the closest living relatives of dinosaurs ― birds and crocodiles ― for possible models. Birds give a lot of care to their young, while crocodiles just help their young to the water. The discovered fossils of dinosaurs sitting on their eggs and staying with their young suggest the parents were taking care of their babies, but we still cannot say that all dinosaurs did the same.
There is still a long way to go before the above questions could be answered. Dinosaur scientists will have to find more proof to reach an agreement.
60.Dinosaur scientists can get information directly by .
A.studying dinosaur fossils B.examining modern animals
C.watching dinosaurs D.using telescopes
61.What is pretty much settled according to Paul Sereno?
A.Half of the dinosaurs lived alone. B.Most dinosaurs moved long distances.
C.Many dinosaurs settled in the north. D.Some dinosaurs lived in big groups.
62.Dinosaur scientists can probably know whether dinosaurs were good parents by .
A.watching many kinds of animals B.studying dinosaurs’living relatives
C. following the tracks left behind D.working on dug-out dinosaur eggs
63.Which of the following the according to the paragraph?
A.Birds hardly ay attention to their young. B.Baby crocodiles can look after themselves well.
C.Some dinosaurs took care of their young. D.Birds and crocodiles take good care of their young.