游客
题文

One of the world's richest men has taken a close interest in one of man's most basic functions: visiting the toilet.Bill Gates's charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is looking for inventors to design the loo of the future, which, they hope, would improve sanitation for millions of people around the world.
So, what's wrong with the traditional flush toilet? Firstly, it wastes a huge amount, of potential drinking water.Secondly, they are more likely to cause pollution.This is a real problem in many areas of the developing world, where, according to United Nations estimates, unsafe sanitation causes half of all hospitalizations.Younger people are particularly at risk.Illnesses which cause diarrhea are responsible for the deaths of about 1.5 million children a year.Finally, standard lavatories simply aren't practical in remote areas.
The challenge set by Bill Gates was to come up with a latrine which works without running water, electricity or aseptic tank.It also needed to operate for less than 5 cents.28 designs were displayed at the recent Reinvent the Toilet Fair.in Seattle, USA.Among them was one which turned human waste into electricity using microwaves, another which converted human waste into charcoal, and yet another which used urine for flushing.
But the winner was a solar-powered design which generated hydrogen gas and electricity.The team from the California Institute of Technology(CIT)picked up a prize of $ 100,000.
But clearly Bill Gates doesn't feel he's flushing money down the toilet.After the Seattle event he said, "We, couldn't be happier with the response we've gotten," Gates has even pledged $370 million more to the future toilet project.They hope to field test more, prototypes over the next three years.
Why is Bill Gates paying people to invent new toilets?

A.Because he wants to test people's sense of creativity.
B.Because he thinks the traditional ones are out of fashion
C.Because he wants to improve sanitation for many people.
D.Because he can't design this kind of things himself.

Which of the following is NOT a problem with the traditional flush toilet?

A.They are too complicated to use. B.They waste too much water
C.They might cause diseases. D.They are not always practical.

The underlined word "latrine" in the third paragraph might have similar meanings to the word "__   " in the text.

A.sanitation B.loo C.diarrhea D.prototype

The team from CIT won the prize because their design        .

A.can change human waste into electricity
B.can turn human waste into charcoal
C.can use urine for flushing
D.can produce power with solar energy

If someone "flush money down the toilet", they are       .

A.wasting money for nothing
B.being angry with their work conditions
C.showing—off their wealth
D.expressing their great determination
科目 英语   题型 阅读理解   难度 中等
知识点: 新闻报道阅读
登录免费查看答案和解析
相关试题

第三部分:阅读理解(共20小题,每题2分,满分40分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项。
One winter evening, a storekeeper was going to close up his shop. Suddenly he saw Seth, a lazy, good – for – nothing fellow grasp a pound of fresh butter and hid it in his hat. No sooner had the storekeeper seen the act than he hit upon exactly the right revenge(报复). He would punish the thief, and satisfy his own appetite for fun.
Seth had his hat on his head, and the butter in his hat. He was anxious to leave. However, the rightful owner of the butter offered him a cup of hot drink, took him by the shoulders and planted him in a seat close to the stove. The grocer filled in the stove as many sticks of wood as he could. Seth already could feel the butter settling down closer to his hair, so he jumped up, declaring that he must go. “Sit down; don’t be in such a hurry,” replied the grocer, pushing him back into the chair again.
Streak after streak of the butter came pouring from under the poor man’s hat. The fun-loving grocer kept on putting wood into the stove. Then, as if surprised, he remarked, “You seem to be sweating as if you were warm! Let me put your hat away for you.”
“No! ” exclaimed poor Seth at last, unable to stand it a moment longer. “ No, I must go; let me out.” A greasy (油腻的) waterfall of butter was now pouring down the poor man’s face and neck, dipping into his clothes, and trickling down his body into his boots. He was bathed in oil from head to toe. Just as Seth rushed out of the door, the grocer said , “ I believe the fun I’ve had out of you is worth the money, so I shan’t charge you for that pound of butter in your hat.”
56.Why did Seth put the butter in his hat?
A.Because he didn’t want to pay for it.
B.Because he just wanted to play a trick on the grocer.
C.Because he wanted to revenge himself on the grocer.
D.Because he had nowhere to put the butter but in the hat.
57.What is not the action that the grocer took as a revenge?
A.The grocer offered Seth a cup of hot drink.
B.The grocer offered to take off Seth’s hat.
C.The grocer overcharged Seth for the butter.
D.The grocer forced Seth to take a seat near the stove.
58.What was the purpose of the grocer’s hospitality(热情好客)?
A.He wanted to be kind to him.
B.He wanted to sell more of his goods.
C.He wanted to make friends with Seth
D.He wanted to take his revenge on Seth by making the butter in his hat melt.
59.What is the best title of the passage?
A.Great FunB.The Right Revenge
C.A Fun-loving Grocer D.A Foolish Customer


The following are some important sights in New York.
American Museum of Natural History
Four floors of exhibition halls here include the world-famous fossil halls with their skeletons of enormous dinosaurs and other creatures; the culture halls, representing a variety of indigenous peoples; and mammal, bird and reptile halls. The renovated Milstein hall of Ocean Life showcases the profusion of life in Earth’s “last frontier”. Also here: Rose Center for Earth and space, with Hayden Planetarium and exhibits on Earth and our universe.
Open: Sunday-Thursday, 10:00-17:45; Friday-Saturday: 10:00-20:45
Empire State Building
At 102 stories tall, the Empire State Building commands an inspiring view of Manhattan. Each year, over 3.5 million people come here for the view from the 86th-floor observatory, where they can take in the sights of the city from a glass-enclosed pavilion or the encircling open-air promenade.
Observatory Hours: 8:00am to midnight daily. Last elevators go up at 11:15pm. Open daily 365 days a year.
Metropolitan Museum of Art (One of the greatest museums in the world)
It is impossible to “do” the entire museum in one day or describe everything you can see here. Go to the museum & spend some time in the Great Hall where you will find all types of help in many languages for planning your visit. If you can, get a guide before your visit or look at their website where you can plan well & learn about their many special exhibitions & programs.
Fee: $12 adults, $7 students & seniors, under 12 with adult free.
Open: Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday. 9:30-17:15; Friday-Saturday, 9:30-20:45.
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
MoMA houses an outstanding collection of American & European paintings & sculptures from late 19th C. to present. Innovative in its definition of “art”, it was a pioneer in exhibiting film, photography, and industrial design. Its retrospectives can draw record-breaking attendance. A happy place to take small children, as strollers are allowed.
Open: Sunday-Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 10:30-17:45; Friday, 10:30-20:15.
68. Varieties of ocean life are exhibited in ________.
A. American Museum of Natural HistoryB. Empire State Building
C. Metropolitan Museum of Art D. Statue of liberty
69. You can visit Museum of Modern Art at the following time EXCEPT ________.
A. at 14:30 on Monday B. at 7:00 pm on Friday
C. at 10:40 on WednesdayD. at 12:00 on Sunday
70. Suppose you are a high school student, who is going to visit Metropolitan Museum of Art with your parents, your 70-year-old Grandpa and your 6-year-old younger brother, how much will you have to pay in total?
A. $42 B. $38 C. $45 D. $50

BEIJING — The rescue operations at a coal mine accident have ended with 105 miners dead. The State Council has organized an investigation team to probe (调查) into what caused the disaster in the city of Linfen, North China’s Shanxi Province. Preliminary(初步的) investigations show the illegal mining of an unauthorized seam(未经授权的煤层), and the number of miners who had been sent down the shaft far exceeded its capacity.
This mine was found to have long ignored the rules to steal state coal, and did not have a list of miners employed to check the number of miners missing after the accident.
How did such a coal mine get all the necessary licenses for production? How did it pass the three safety inspections the local government organized last month?
In response to this disaster, the Shanxi governor promised to set up hotlines for people to report illegal coal mines and rewards as high as 100,000 yuan for tip-offs.
We appreciate the action this governor has taken to solving the coal mining problems, and we believe that the reporting scheme will help to stop the existence of illegal coal mines.
But at the same time we have reason to question how governments at various levels supervise these mines.
The sad fact that such a mine with serious safety problems could pass three consecutive (连续的)local government safety inspections in a month is enough to tell us how ineffective the safety inspections were.
What if these inspections were just a formality(形式)? What if the inspectors were bribed by the mine owners to turn a blind eye to the safety dangers? We can well imagine what would happen if reports about mine problems were handled by such officials.
So a thorough probe must find out who are responsible for the death of so many miners. A real safety inspection and management system must be established to guarantee that safety dangers will be removed
64. What is NOT one of the causes of this coal mine accident?
A. The workers didn’t operate properly.
B. The mine didn’t obey the rules to mine for coal.
C. A lot more miners than allowed were working under the mine.
D. The safety inspections were ineffective.
65. According to the writer, who should be further investigated?
A. Mine owners and miners.B. Miners’ families and mine staff.
C. Government officials and safety inspectors. D. The Shanxi governor and miners.
66. What can we infer from the passage?
A. More than 105 miners died in the disaster.
B. Some other coal mines like this one exist in Shanxi province.
C. Safety inspectors just turned a blind eye to hidden dangers.
D. The three inspections were only a formality.
67. What does the underlined word “tip-offs” probably mean in Paragraph 4?
A. Some warnings. B.Some money for one’s service.
C. Some secret information.D.Some pieces of advice.

Are morning people born or made? In my case it was definitely made. In my early 20s, I rarely went to bed before midnight, and I would almost always get up late the next morning.
But after a while I couldn’t ignore the high relationship between success and rising early. On those rare occasions where I did get up early, I noticed that my productivity was almost always higher. So I set out to become a habitual early riser. But whenever my alarm went off, my first thought was always to stop that noise and go back to sleep. Eventually some sleep research showed me that I was using the wrong strategy.
The most common wrong strategy is this: You assume that if you’re going to get up earlier, you’d better go to bed earlier. It sounds very reasonable, but will usually fail.
There are two main schools(流派) of thought on sleep patterns. One is that you should go to bed and get up at the same time every day. The second school says you should go to bed when you’re tired and get up when you naturally wake up. However, I have found both of them are wrong if you care about productivity. If you sleep at set hours, you’ll sometimes go to bed when you aren’t sleepy enough. You’re wasting time lying in bed awake and not being asleep.
If your sleep is based on what your body tells you, you’ll probably be sleeping more than you need. Also, your mornings may be less predictable if you’re getting up at different times.
The solution for me has been to combine both methods. I go to bed when I’m sleepy and get up with an alarm clock at a fixed time. So I always get up at the same time (in my case 5 am), but I go to bed at different times every night — sometimes at 9:30pm, and other times at midnight. Most of the time I go to bed between 10-11 pm.
However, going to bed only when I’m sleepy, and getting up at a fixed time every morning is my way. If you want to become an early riser, you can try your own.
60. According to the passage, the underlined phrase refers to ____.
A. people who stay up until the next morning.
B. people who get up early in the morning.
C. people who feel sleepy in the morning.
D. people whose productivity is the highest in the morning.
61. Why did the author want to become a habitual early riser?
A. Because he / she wanted to form the habit of going to bed early and getting up early.
B. Because he / she had found that his / her productivity was higher when he / she got up early.
C. Because he / she wanted to see which of the two main schools of thought on sleep patterns was right
D. Because he / she was told the high relationship between success and rising early.
62. The author experienced all the following EXCEPT ____.
A. going to bed after midnight
B. getting up early occasionally
C. pressing off the alarm to go on sleeping
D. asking scholars for advice on sleeping habits
63. The passage is mainly about ____.
A. how to become an early riser B. how to have good sleep
C. wrong strategies for getting up early D. main schools of thought on sleep patterns

第三部分:阅读理解(共两节,满分40分)
第一节(共15小题,每题2分,满分30分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The days of a pain-free visit to the dentist may not be far off. This is thanks to a little Japanese woman in a pink sweater, named Simroid. With a limited vocabulary, Simroid, the 160cm-tall robot is happy to feel your pain.
Simroid is designed to be used at medical colleges. She has realistic looking skin, eyes, and a mouth fitted with replica (仿制) teeth. Her chest also rises and falls as if she is breathing. Simroid releases a clear “ouch!” whenever a trainee dentist presses her teeth too hard with a tool. And she gives a reassuring “that’s better” when the drill hits the right place.
“We want to use the robots to train dentists to worry about whether patients are comfortable, and not just focus on medical techniques,” said Naotake Shubui, a professor at Nippon Dental University in Japan who helped develop Simroid.
The robot was one of hundreds of cutting-edge devices on display at the world’s biggest robot exhibition last week in Japan.
As scientists improve the design of robots, they could soon be serving tea to office workers or directing shoppers. Today’s robots look and act much like the humans who invented them.
In Japan, robots can already be found working as home helps, office receptionists and security guards, as well as on the factory floor. There were more than 370,000 industrial robots in use in Japan in 2005, according to a report by Macquarie bank,40 percent of the world total, with 32 robots for every 1,000 workers. The economy ministry believes that the Japanese robot market will be worth more than $52 billion by 2025.
Human work is being helped, and even replaced, by mechanical efficiency in almost every area, from golf-bag carriers to public toilet cleaners.
But many scientists believe the age of the service robot is not far off. It will arrive once machines are capable of connecting with humans on an emotional level. Judging by the Tokyo exhibition, that process has already begun.
56. Simroid is designed to _________.
A. aid dental trainees to focus on their medical techniques
B. train dentists to be able to share patients’ feelings
C. help patients relax during dental surgery
D. serve as the dentists’ assistance during dental surgery
57. Which of the following about Simroid is NOT true according to the text?
A. She is a robotic dental patient with a realistic appearance.
B. She will let out a scream whenever she feels a pain.
C. She can communicate a lot with dentists.
D. She is able to react in a human –like way to mouth pain.
58. We can learn from the text that ________.
A. robots are widely used in Japan
B. Japan has taken the lead in developing robots
C. the Japanese robot market has greatest potential in the world
D. the world’s biggest robot exhibition is held in Japan every year
59. The phrase “that process” in the last paragraph refers to ________.
A. replacing human work with robots
B. improving mechanical efficiency
C. entering the age of the service robot
D. producing a robot capable of connecting with humans on an emotional level

Copyright ©2020-2025 优题课 youtike.com 版权所有

粤ICP备20024846号