In Chicago, a computerized system has been developed that controls(管理)traffic on the city’s 235 miles of seven expressways. Now one—a controller—can follow the movement of Chicago’s traffic by looking at a set of lights. The system uses electric sensors(感应器) that are built into each expressway, every half a mile. Several times a second, the computer receives information from each sensor and translates it into green, yellow or red lights on a map in the control room. A green light means traffic is moving forty-five miles an hour, yellow means thirty to forty-five miles an hour, and red means heavy traffic—cars standing still or moving less than thirty miles an hour.
“See that red light near Austin Avenue?”the controller asked a visitor.“That’s a repair truck fixing the road, and the traffic has to go around it.”At the Roosevelt Road entrance to the expressway, the light kept changing from green to red and back to green again.“A lot of trucks get on the expressway there,”the controller explained.“They can’t speed up as fast as cars.”The sensors show immediately where an accident or a stopped car is blocking the traffic, and a truck is sent by radio to clear the road. The system has lowered the number of accidents by 18 percent. There are now 1.4 deaths on Chicago’s expressway for each one hundred million miles traveled, while in other parts of the county there are 2.6.
Traffic experts say that the Chicago system is the “coming thing”.Systems like Chicago’s are already in use on some expressways in Los Angeles and Houston.“Chicago has taken the lead,”said New York City’s traffic director and he added,“Chicago’s a good example.”
根据短文内容,选择最佳答案,并在答题卡上按要求作答。The passage is mainly about ________ on expressways in Chicago.
A.the traffic control system | B.the movement of the traffic |
C.the electric sensors | D.the traffic lights |
When the cars move under 30 miles an hour, ________ on the map in the control room.
A.the red light appears | B.the red light turns yellow |
C.the yellow light appears | D.the green light turns red |
According to the passage, we may learn __________.
A.some visitors are traveling on the expressway |
B.there is no heavy traffic on Chicago’s expressways |
C.the traffic on Chicago’s expressways is well managed |
D.the number of accidents in the US has dropped by 18% |
In Paragraph 2 the underlined word “it” refers to ___________.
A.the red light | B.the truck that needs repairing |
C.the traffic | D.the truck that is fixing the road |
The writer writes the article mainly by _________.
A.giving reasons and results | B.giving examples and explaining them |
C.describing what he thinks | D.asking and answering questions |
Two policemen stopped Andrew Kershaw in his sports car one night, because he was speeding in the street of the town. The young man was very drunk. He knew he was in trouble, so he decided to make fun of them. He was a law student at the university, so he knew the law very well, better than most people.
When the policemen came to his car, Andrew asked one of the policemen to write down in his notebook everything they said. The policemen had to do this because it is the law, although people usually don’t know it. The policemen tested Andrew’s breath and the breathalyzer showed that he had too much alcohol in his blood. This all took a long time because the policemen had to write down everything that he and the policemen said.
In the end, by law, the policemen had to ask Andrew if he wanted to say anything. Andrew decided that he had two things to say and the policemen had to write down. The first thing was “Please don’t hit me again, officer”. And the second thing was “Does the other officer want £5, too?” Of course, the poor policeman had to read this in court, in front of the judge , and he was very embarrassed. Andrew, who was in court, thought it was very funny, until the judge took away his license for a year and fined(罚款)him £100, £90 for drunk driving, and £10 for his rudeness!The policemen stopped Andrew in his car because __________.
A.it was very late | B.he was drunk |
C.he was driving too fast | D.he hardly broke the law |
The underlined word “breathalyzer” means __________.
A.a tool used for repairing machines |
B.a machine used for examining patients |
C.a person who is in charge of giving breath test |
D.an instrument(仪器)used for testing and analyzing(分析)one’s breath |
Andrew made fun of the policemen, only __________.
A.to be praised by the judge |
B.to be asked by the judge |
C.to be taken away by the judge |
D.to be punished by the judge |
We all know that foods will easily go bad if they get too warm. So we usually put them into our fridges to keep cool in hot weather. But can you make it without fridges?
In 1995, Abba, a teacher from Nigeria, found a cool way. His invention was called Pot-in-Pot Cooling System.
It uses two clay pots (陶罐). There is a smaller pot inside a larger one. The space between the two pots is filled with wet sand. Fruit, vegetables or drinks can be put into the smaller pot. A wet cloth covers the whole cooling system. Some foods can be kept fresh for several weeks in it.
Abba built five thousand pot-in-pot systems for the villagers in his hometown. Then people all over the country began using the invention. Soon it became popular with farmers in other African countries.
In 2000, Abba got a prize --- the Rolex Award. If you are trying to do something to improve human life, you may have the chance to get this prize.Who is Abba?
Where should we put fruit and drinks in the Pot-in-Pot Cooling System ?
What can farmers use Abba’s invention to do?
How many pot-in-pot systems did Abba build for the villagers?
From the passage, how can we have the chance to get this kind of prize like Abba?
阅读下列图表,做1-2小题。You can’ t _____ at Lisa’s Gym.
A. play basketball B. watch a movie C. danceIf Mrs. White exercises at Lisa’s Gym for two hours every Sunday, she should pay ___ a week.
A. $80 B. $40 C. $160
阅读下面的图表,做1-3小题。We can probably find the advertisement.
A. in a news report
B. on a website
C. in a TV programSara Myers is .
A. the mother of a child
B. the owner of a pet store
C. the name of a writerWhich of the following is NOT true ?
A. The book is written mainly for children
B. From the book , we can know what dogs eat.
C. The book came out in December, 2013 .
Do you know something about tree rings? Do you know they can tell us what the weather was like, sometimes even hundreds of years ago?
A tree will grow well in a climate with lots of sunshine and rainfall. And little sunshine or rainfall will limit the growth of trees by studying the tree rings. For example, to find out the weather of ten years ago, count the rings of a tree from the outside to the inside. If the tenth ring is far from the eleventh ring, then we’re sure that it was sunny and rainy most of that year. If it is near to the eleventh ring, then the climate that year was bad.
Tree rings are important not only for studying the history of weather but also for studying the history of man. Many centuries ago, there lived a lot of people at a place in New Mexico. But now you can find only sand there-no trees and no people. What happened?
A scientist studied the rings of dead trees there. He found that the people had to leave because they had cut down all the trees to make fires and buildings. As all the trees had gone, the people there had to move.Tree rings can tell ______ according to the passage.
A. whether a tree was strong or not.
B. whether the climate was good or not
C. how tall trees used to be.If you want to find out the weather of twenty years ago, you should study ________.
A. the twentieth ring
B. the tenth ring
C. the twenty-second ringWhat does the underline word “limit” mean?
A. 证实 B. 限制 C.促进Which of the following is NOT TRUE?
A. Trees can’t grow well in a climate with little sunshine and rainfall.
B. Tree rings grow far from each other in a bad climate.
C. The people left the place in New Mexico because the land became sand.The passage mainly tells us ________ .
A. how climate affects the growing of trees
B. the importance of the trees
C Tree rings can help us study the history of weather and man.