Do you have bright ideas? Ideas or inventions that change society or, at least, make life easier for somebody? Perhaps we all do sometimes, but we don’t often make the idea a reality. Recently, in Britain, there was a competition called British Designers for Tomorrow. The competition encourages young people to carry out their bright ideas. There were two groups in the contest; Group One was for schoolchildren under 16; Group Two was for schoolchildren over 16. And there were eleven prize-winners altogether.
Neil Hunt, one of the prize-winners, was called “Sunshine Superman”. It’s important when people study the weather to be able to record sunshine accurately. We need to know how many hours of sunshine we have and how strong it is. Most sunshine recorders only record direct sunlight. Neil’s is more accurate(精确的) and this is very important for research into the way of using solar power.
You can do so much with animated cartoon. Look at Simon West’s idea for animated road signs. He uses pictures which appear to move as you go nearer to or farther from them. This isn’t a new idea. But it is new to use these pictures on road signs. “We found that people were more likely to see moving signs,” said Simon. So now, you can really see rocks falling, trains moving , horses running or a car falling over the edge of a cliff(悬崖). Quite a warning!
The ideas in the competition were so inventive that we are surprised that British industry doesn’t ask more schoolchildren for suggestions. Perhaps this will be the start of “pupil power!”
1. The writer holds that people seldom ______.
A. have bright ideas       B. turn their bright ideas into reality
C. make their life easier    D. think of inventing something
2. Neil Hunt’s design would finally lead to the improvement of the way of _______.
A. recording direct sunshine        B. recording the hours of sunshine
C. using the energy of the sun       D. knowing how strong sunlight is
3. What’s the use of Simon West’s animated road signs?
A. To warn people to be careful while working.
B. To warn people on the roads of the danger ahead.
C. To add to the beauty of a city.
D. To help make a car trip more exciting.
4. The writer seems to be encouraging the British industry to ______.
A. take better care of schoolchildren   
B. help schoolchildren in their studies
C. stop asking schoolchildren for suggestions
D. pay more attention to schoolchildren’s inventive power

科目 英语   题型 阅读理解   难度 较易