.
When coal is burned in a boiler, two kinds of ash by-products are produced: a heavy bottom ash and a fine-as-powder fly ash. About 10 to 15 percent of the coal by-product is bottom ash which is used like sand on streets and highways covered with ice, and also on highways as paving material.
It is the fly ash, however, that is receiving much attention. Once considered a waste, fly ash is now regarded as a natural resource in the United States. It can be placed in some lower places, where it is compacted（压实） and covered with soil, for the seeds of various grasses and plants to be placed in the soil to make the land productive.
Fly ash may be added to concrete (混凝土）to build roads and other kinds of buildings, taking the place of the cement(水泥) up to 20 percent. As a by-product of burned coal, fly ash requires no extra energy to be produced, while cement production requires great amounts of energy.
Besides, the technology is able to take out some useful minerals from the fly ash, which is still a very expensive process today. But the time may come when it is cheaper to take out these products from ash than to mine new supplies.
49. The bottom ash can be put on icy streets________.
A. in order to rebuild them B. in order to make them colorful
C. so that people can walk on them D. so that cars can run faster
50. The fly ash can be used to________.
A. grow various plants B. take the place of soil
C. cover productive land D. make more productive land
51. Which of the following is right?
A. To produce fly ash, some extra coal is to be burned.
B. Fly ash is made while producing cement.
C. It takes less energy to produce fly ash than cement.
D. Fly ash is a costless by-product.
52. The word “mine” in the last sentence of the passage means_______.
A. to buy things from other countries
B. to search for useful materials in the mountains
C. to dig deeply into the ground to get useful materials
D. to take out certain materials from other things
In its early history, Chicago had floods frequently, especially in the spring, making the streets so muddy that people, horses, and carts got stuck. An old joke that was popular at the time went something like this: A man is stuck up to his waist in a muddy Chicago street. Asked if he needs help, he replies, "No, thanks. I've got a good horse under me."
The city planner decided to build an underground drainage (排水) system, but there simply wasn't enough difference between the height of the ground level and the water level. The only two options were to lower the Chicago River or raise the city.
An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced me the city that it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dirt. This raised the level of the city's streets by as much as 12 feet.
This of course created a new problem: dirt practically buried the first floors of every building in Chicago. Building owners were faced with a choice: either change the first floors of their buildings into basements, and the second stories into main floors, or hoist the entire buildings to meet the new street level. Small wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily. But what about large, heavy structures like Tremont Hotel, which was a six-story brick building?
That's where George Pullman came in. He had developed some house-moving skills successfully. To lift a big structure like the Tremont Hotel, Pullman would place thousands of jackscrews (螺旋千斤顶) beneath the building's foundation. One man was assigned to operate each section of roughly 10 jackscrews. At Pullman's signal each man turned his jackscrew the same amount at the same time, thereby raising the building slowly and evenly. Astonishingly, the Tremont Hotel stay open during the entire operation, and many of its guests didn't even notice anything was happening. Some people like to say that every problem has a solution. But in Chicago's early history, every engineering solution seemed to create a new problem. Now that Chicago's waste water was draining efficiently into the Chicago River, the city's next step was to clean the polluted river.
| 1． |
The author mentions the joke to show.
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| 2． |
The city planners were convinced by Ellis Chesbrough to.
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| 3． |
The underlined word "hoist" in Paragraph 4 means "".
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| 4． |
What can we conclude about the moving operation of the Tremont Hotel?
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| 5． |
The passage is mainly about the early Chicago's.
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| Forget Cyclists, Pedestrians are Real Danger We are having a debate about this topic. Here are some letters from our readers. ■Yes, many cyclists behave dangerously. Many drivers are disrespectful of cyclists. But pedestrians are probably the worse offenders. People of all ages happily walk along the pavement with eyes and hands glued to the mobile phone, quite unaware of what is going on around them. They may even do the same thing while crossing a road at a pedestrian crossing or elsewhere. The rest of us have to evade (避让) them or just stand still to wait for the unavoidable collision. The real problem is that some pedestrians seem to be, at least for the moment, in worlds of their own that are, to them, much more important than the welfare of others. --Michael Horan ■I love the letter from Bob Brooks about cyclists (Viewpoints, May 29). I am afraid they seem to think they own the roads. I was walking across Altrincham Road one morning when a cyclist went round me and on being asked what he was doing he shouted at me. The government built a cycle lane on the road but it is hardly used. The police do nothing. What a laugh they are! The cyclists should all have to be made to use the cycle lanes and wear helmets, fluorescent (发荧光的) jacket and lights at night and in the morning they should pay some sort of tax and be fined for not wearing them. --Carol Harvey ■Cyclists jump on and off pavements (which are meant for pedestrians), ride at speed along the pavements, and think they have a special right to go through traffic lights when they are on red. I was almost knocked down recently by a cyclist riding on the pavement when there was a cycle lane right next to him. Other road users, including horse riders, manage to obey the rules so why not cyclists? It's about time they had to be registered and insured, so when they do hit a pedestrian or a vehicle, or cause an accident, at least they can be treated and there might be an opportunity to claim. --JML Write to Viewpoints of the newspaper. |
| 1． |
Michael Horan wrote the letter mainly to show that.
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| 2． |
Carol Harvey suggests that cyclists should.
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| 3． |
What is a complaint of JML?
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| 4． |
The underlined word "they" in the third letter refers to.
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| 5． |
The three letters present viewpoints on.
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E
Science has a lot of uses. It can uncover laws of nature, cure diseases, make bombs, and help bridges to stand up. Indeed science is so good at what it does that there’s always a temptation(诱惑) to drag it into problems where it may not be helpful. David Brooks, author of The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character,and Achievement, appears to be the latest in a long line of writers who have failed to resist the temptation.
Brooks gained fame for several books. His latest book The Social Animal, however, is more ambitious and serious than his earlier books. It is an attempt to deal with a set of weighty topics. The book focuses on big questions: What has science revealed about human nature? What are the sources of character? And why are some people happy and successful while others aren’t?
To answer these questions, Brooks surveys a wide range of disciplines（学科）. Considering this, you might expect the book to be a dry recitation of facts. But Brooks has structured his book in an unorthodox(非常规的), and perhaps unfortunate, way. Instead of introducing scientific theories, he tells a story, within which he tries to make his points, perhaps in order to keep the reader’s attention.So as Harold and Erica, the hero and heroine in his story, live through childhood, we hear about the science of child development and as they begin to date we hear about the theory of sexual attraction. Brooks carries this through to the death of one of his characters.
On the whole,Brooks’ story is acceptable if uninspired. As one would expect, his writing is mostly clear and, to be fair, some chapters stand out above the rest. I enjoyed, for instance, the chapter in which Harold discovers how to think on his own. While Harold and Erica are certainly not strong or memorable characters, the more serious problems with The Social Animal lie elsewhere. These problems partly involve Brooks’ attempt to translate his tale into science.The author mentions the functions of science at the beginning of the passage to__________.
| A．illustrate where science can be applied |
| B．demonstrate the value of Brooks’ new book |
| C．remind the reader of the importance of science |
| D．explain why many writers use science in their works |
According to the author, which of the following could be a strength of the book?
| A．Its strong basis. |
| B．Its convincing points. |
| C．Its clear writing. |
| D．Its memorable characters. |
What is the author’s general attitude towards the book?
| A．Contradictory. |
| B．Supportive. |
| C．Cautious. |
| D．Critical. |
What is the author likely to write about after the last paragraph?
| A．Problems with the book. |
| B．Brooks’s life experience. |
| C．Death of the characters. |
| D．Brooks’s translation skills. |
D
The oddness of life in space never quite goes away. Here are some examples.
First consider something as simple as sleep. Its position presents its own challenges. The main question is whether you want your arms inside or outside the sleeping bag. If you leave your arms out, they float free in zero gravity, often giving a sleeping astronaut the look of a funny balled （芭蕾）dancer. “I’m an inside guy,” Mike Hopkins says, who returned from a six-month tour on the International Space Station. “I like to be wrapped up.”
On the station, the ordinary becomes strange. The exercise bike for the American astronauts has no handlebars. It also has no seat. With no gravity, it’s just as easy to pedal violently. You can watch a movie while you pedal by floating a microcomputer anywhere you want. But station residents have to be careful about staying in one place too long. Without gravity to help circulate air, the carbon dioxide you exhale (呼气) has a tendency to form an invisible （隐形的）cloud around you head. You can end up with what astronauts call a carbon-dioxide headache.
Leroy Chiao, 54, an American retired astronaut after four flights, describes what happens even before you float out of your seat,”Your inner ear thinks your’re falling . Meanwhile your eyes are telling you you’re standing straight. That can be annoying—that’s why some people feel sick.” Within a couple days —truly terrible days for some —astronauts’ brains learn to ignore the panicky signals from the inner ear, and space sickness disappears.
Space travel can be so delightful but at the same time invisibly dangerous. For instance, astronauts lose bone mass. That’s why exercise is considered so vital that National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) puts it right on the workday schedule. The focus on fitness is as much about science and the future as it is about keeping any individual astronauts return home, and, more importantly, how to maintain strength and fitness for the two and a half years or more that it would take to make a round-trip to Mars.What is the major challenge to astronauts when they sleep in space?
| A．Deciding on a proper sleep position |
| B．Choosing a comfortable sleeping bag |
| C．Seeking a way to fall asleep quickly |
| D．Finding a right time to go to sleep. |
The astronauts will suffer from a carbon-dioxide headache when _____.
| A．the y circle around on their bikes |
| B．they use microcomputers without a stop |
| C．they exercise in one place for a long time |
| D．they watch a movie while pedaling |
Some astronauts feel sick on the station during the first few days because _____.
| A．their senses stop working |
| B．they have to stand up straight |
| C．they float out of their seats unexpectedly |
| D．whether they are able to go back to the station |
One of the NASA’s major concerns about astronauts is _____.
| A．how much exercise they do on the station |
| B．how they can remain healthy for long in space |
| C．whether they can recover after returning home |
| D．whether they are able to go back to the station |
C
Hilversum is a medium-sized city between the major cities of Amsterdam and Utrecht in the Gooi area of North Holland, the Netherlands. Unlike most of the Netherlands, Hilversum is actually in a hilly area with the soil mostly consisting of sand. Once called the Garden of Amsterdam, it still attracts travelers to come over to cycle and walk through the surrounding forests. They visit it for a relaxing day off from the urban madness. For Dutch people, Hilversum is all about textile (纺织) and media industries, and modern architecture.
In history, Hilversum was largely an agricultural area. Daily life was marked by farming, sheep raising and wool production. A railway link to Amsterdam in 1874 attracted rich traders from Amsterdam to Hilversum. They build themselves large villas (别墅) in the wooded surroundings of the town. One of the families moving in was the Brenninkmeijers, currently the wealthiest family of the Netherlands. They moved in after big success in the textile industry and aided a substantial textile industry in Hilversum. But the textile boom lasted only several decades. The last factory closed in the 1960s.
The change to a media economy started in 1920, when the Nederlandse Seintoestedllen Fabriek (NSF) established a radio factory in Hiversum. Most radio stations called in the large villas in the leafy areas of the town. Television gave another push to the local economy. Hilversum became the media capital of the Netherlands, and Dutch televison stars moved into the leafy neighborhoods surrounding the town.
In the early 1900s, modern architcts W.M. Dudok and J. Duiker placed hundreds of remarkable buildings in Hilversum. These modern architectural masterpieces (杰作) are so many that Hilversum almost feels like an open air museum. Dudok alone shaped most 20th century Hilversum and approximately 75 buildings in 1928-1931. It has wide international fame and is included in many architecture textbooks. The building has a remarkable shape and looks like a combination of “blocks”. Actually, one may start his journey of modern architecture by walking or biking the W.M. Dudok Architectural Route in Hilversum.Hilversum is different from most of the Netherlands in that ______.
| A．it has a large population |
| B．it is cut off from big cities |
| C．it has many beautiful gardens |
| D．it is in a hilly area with sandy soil |
What was the greatest contribution of the Brenninkmeijers to Hilversum?
| A．Building a railway link to Amsterdam |
| B．Helping its textile industry to develop |
| C．Constructing large villas for the poor |
| D．Assisting its agricultural industry |
The beginning of the media industry in Hilversum was marked by the establishment of ______.
| A．a radio factory |
| B．the medial capital |
| C．a radio station |
| D．a TV station |
What is known about W.M. Dudok’s Hilversum Town Hall?
| A．It consists of approximately 75 buildings |
| B．It looks like an open air museum in the city |
| C．It is a classic example in architecture textbooks |
| D．It has shaped most of 20th century Hilvesum. |