Scientists who discovered a new way of generating electricity from water say they may have come across an alternative source of clean energy to rival wind and solar power.
The breakthrough, which scientists say is the first new way to generate electricity in 160 years, could lead to batteries that use water instead of poisonous substances.
The scientists made the discovery when they were investigating what happens when tap water is forced through extremely narrow glass tubes. Water squeezed down the tubes, each of which was narrower than a tenth the thickness of a human hair, generating a small electric current that ran the length of the tube. To produce a larger electric current, the team tried forcing water through a glass water filter(滤水器)that contained thousands of narrow channels lined up side by side. “When we took a syringe(注射器)of water and squeezed it through the filter, we got enough power to light a light bulb,” said Larry Kostiuk of the University of Alberta in Canada. “The harder you push the syringe, the more electric current you get.”
The current is produced because of an effect in the glass tubes. When they are filled with water, positively charged ions(阳离子)fixed in the tubes are washed away, leaving a slight negative charge on the glass surface. When water is then forced along the tube, the surface repels negatively charged ions in the water while positively charged ions are attracted down the tube. The result is a net flow of positively charged ions that sets up an electric current.
According to Dr Kostiuk, no one has ever thought to use water to produce electricity in this way. “The last time someone came up with a way of generating electricity was Michael Faraday in 1839,” he said. “So this is the first new way of generating electricity in 160 years, which is why we are so excited about it.”
Dr Kostiuk says water batteries might one day be used to power mobile phones and calculators, but admitted that the engineering challenges might make other applications more realistic. “You’d need to be sure it wouldn’t leak, and you’d need to make sure it wouldn’t freeze,” he said.
More likely would be to install the electricity-generating devices where water is already being pumped, such as at city water filtration sites, he said. “It could compete with wind and solar power,” he added.What does the passage mainly want to tell us about?
| A．A kind of solar power discovered by scientists. |
| B．A kind of new energy source found in tap water. |
| C．The breakthrough to generate electricity 160 yeas ago. |
| D．A kind of new battery invented without poisonous substances. |
The underlined word “repels” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _________.
| A．rejects | B．identifies | C．attracts | D．rebels |
Why were the scientists extremely happy about their new discovery?
| A．They were the first to find a new way to produce electricity. |
| B．They could make an electric current to light a light bulb. |
| C．Their discovery could be used to invent water batteries. |
| D．Their discovery was made 160 years earlier than Faraday’s. |
What can we infer about potential water batteries?
| A．They must be used to power mobile phones and calculators. |
| B．They have some possible disadvantages like water leaking. |
| C．They would be needed greatly at city water filtration sites. |
| D．They would be better than wind and solar power. |
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), the great nineteenth century English novelist, was born near Portsmouth. His father ran heavily into debt and when he was twelve, he had to go and work in a factory for making boot polish. The only formal education he received was a two-year schooling at a school for poor children. In fact, he had to teach himself all he knew. He worked for a time as junior clerk in a lawyer’s office. After that, he worked as a reporter in the law courts, and later in parliament, for London newspapers. His career as a writer of fiction began in 1833 with short stories and essays in periodicals, and in 1837 his comic novel The Pickwick Papers made him the most popular author at his time in England.
He was a great observer of people and their places because he was attracted by life and conditions in mid-nineteenth century London. He wrote 19 novels all his life and in many of them, Dickens gave a realistic picture of all classes of England society, showing deep sympathy for the poor and unfortunate, exposing the injustice and inhumanity of the bourgeoisie.
Many of his novels like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and so on drew attention to the unsatisfactory social conditions that existed in England over a hundred years ago.
Dickens criticized capitalist society from the point of view of bourgeois humanism. He wished to see improvement in the living conditions of the poor, but failed to find any effective means to achieve that end.
46. Dickens only received a little formal education because______.
A. he wanted to teach himself
B. he wanted to work and made a lot of money
C. he was too poor to afford any more formal education
D. he wanted some working experiences to be a novelist
47. According to Dickens, the society at his time in England was________.
A. just B. poor C. comfortable D. unsatisfying
48. Which of the following novel made Dickens the most popular writer at his time in England?
A. Oliver Twist B. The Pickwick Papers
C. A Tale of Two Cities D. Great Expectations
49. According to the passage, which of the following about Dickens is true?
A. He didn’t go to school at all.
B. He only wrote about poor people and showed deep sympathy for them.
C. He began to write fictions when he was 21 years old.
D. He found some effective ways to improve the living conditions of the poor.
50. It can be inferred from the passage that________.
A. Dickens had a miserable childhood
B. Dickens tried many different jobs before he became a professional writer
C. Dickens wrote many novels but only some of them are popular
D. Dickens criticized capitalist society and helped to improve the living conditions of the poor
III. 阅读(共两节，满分40分)
第一节阅读理解(共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
阅读下列短文，从媒体所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
In Stockholm, the Swedish Academy has chosen the British author Doris Lessing for the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The selection of Doris Lessing for a Nobel was popular among the hundreds of journalists gathered for the announcement in Stockholm.
Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Horace Engdahl said with skepticism, fire and visionary power Lessing has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.
Doris Lessing was born in 1919 in Persia - modern-day Iran - to British parents, moving as a child with her family to southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where she stayed in school only to the age of 14.
A year after moving to London, she published her first novel in 1950. The Grass is Singing examines unbridgeable racial conflict in colonial Africa through the eyes of a white farmer's wife and her black servant.
A member of the British Communist Party during the 1950s and a campaigner against nuclear arms and South African apartheid, Lessing was for years banned from that country and from Rhodesia.
Her literary breakthrough came in 1962 with publication of The Golden Notebook, seen by many, though not necessarily Lessing, as a pioneering work of modern feminism. A disjointed study of the mind of the main character, Anna Wulf, the novel explores her thoughts about Africa, politics and communism, relationships with men and sex, and Jungian analysis and dream interpretation.
Lessing's themes shifted to psychology in her works from the 1960s, and by the 1970s she was fascinated with the Islamic mystic tradition of Sufism. Her turn toward science fiction with the Canopus series in the early 1980s was not warmly received by traditionalist critics, but she has continued to win new readers and numerous literary awards, including the David Cohen British Literary Prize and the Companion of Honour from the Royal Society of Literature, both in 2001.
Following the announcement, the Horace Engdahl told VOA why he was personally so pleased with Lessing's selection.
"She is one of the truly great writers - of novels, short stories, fiction and non-fiction," Engdahl said. "She is one of the few writers who have had the courage to uphold the principle of equality between the male and female experience, and she has given the impulse to numbers of other women writers. And she is really the mother of a school that is one of the most important in our contemporary literature."
At 87, Doris lessing is the oldest Nobel Literature laureate since the first prizes were awarded in 1901. Each Nobel Prize is this year accompanied by a check for approximately $1.4 million.
41. How old was Doris Lessing when she published her first novel?
A. 14 B. 26 C. 31 D. 50
42. Which of the following about The Grass is Singing is true?
A. It is mainly about racial conflict between the whites and the blacks in the US.
B. The main characters are a white farmer’s wife and her black servant.
C. It was published in Africa.
D. It was Doris Lessing’s most famous novel.
43. We can infer from the passage that __________.
A. Journalists are very interested in the election of Doris Lessing’s for Nobel Prize.
B. Doris Lessing regard The Golden Notes as a pioneering work of feminism.
C. Doris Lessing has written about many different subjects.
D. Many writers have the courage to stick to the equality between the male and female experience.
44. The underlined word school in the last paragraph but one means________.
A. institution for educating children
B. college or university
C. department of a university
D. group of writers, thinkers
45. Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?
A. Doris Lessing wins Nobel Prize for literature
B. The greatest British female writer
C. The oldest Nobel Prize winner
D. 2007 Nobel Prize announced in Stockholm
My house is made out of wood, glass and stone. It is also made out of software.
If you come to visit, you’ll probably be surprised when you come in. Someone will give you an electronic PIN （个人身份号码）to wear. This PIN tells the house who and where you are. The house uses this information to give you what you need. When it’s dark outside, the PIN turns on the lights nearest you, and then turns them off as you walk away from them. Music moves with you too. If the house knows your favorite music, it plays it. The music seems to be everywhere, but in fact other people in the house hear different music or no music. If you get a telephone call, only the nearest telephone rings.
Of course, you are also able to tell the house if you want something. There is a home control console (控制台), a small machine that turns things on and off around you.
The PIN and the console are new ideas, but they are in fact like many things we have today. If you want to go to a movie, you need a ticket. If I give you my car keys, you can use my car. The car works for you because you have the keys. My house works for you because you wear the PIN or hold the console.
I believe that ten years from now, most new homes will have the systems that I’ve put in my house. The systems will probably be even bigger and better than the ones I’ve put in today.
I like to try new ideas. I know that some of my ideas will work better than others. But I hope that one day I will stop thinking of these systems as new, and ask myself instead, “How will I live without them?”What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．How to develop a new system. | B．The function of the PIN. |
| C．A home for the future. | D．Easy life in the future. |
What’s the purpose when the writer wrote the fourth paragraph?
| A．To let readers know why his ideas are new. |
| B．To let readers know how special his house is. |
| C．To explain the importance of the PIN and the console. |
| D．To explain more easily what the functions of the PIN and the console are. |
The writer’s new house is different from ordinary ones mainly because _____.
| A．it has been controlled by computers |
| B．you can make a telephone call anywhere |
| C．it has your favorite music following you |
| D．the writer is able to change his new idea into practice |
What is the writer most likely to be according to the passage?
| A．An IT expert. | B．A famous doctor. |
| C．An idealist | D．An experienced teacher. |
What can’t be done in the writer’s new house?
| A．turns on the lights |
| B．play music |
| C．get a telephone call |
| D．go swimming |
We know that many animals do not stay in one place. Birds, fish and other animals move from one place to another at a certain time. They move for different reasons most of them move to find food more easily, but others move to get away from places that are too crowded. When cold weather comes, many birds move to warmer places to find food. Some fishes give birth in warm water and move to cold water to feed. The most famous migration（迁移）is probably the migration of the fish, which is called “salmon”. This fish is born in fresh water but it travels many miles to salt water. There it spends its life. When it is old, it returns to its birthplace in fresh water. Then it gives birth and dies there. In northern Europe, there is a kind of mice. They leave their mountain homes when they become too crowded. They move down to the low land. Sometimes they move all the way to the seaside, and many of them are killed when they fall into the sea.
Recently, scientists have studied the migration of a kind of lobsters（龙虾）. Every year, when the season of bad weather arrives, the lobsters get into a long line and start to walk across the floor of the ocean. Nobody knows why they do this, and nobody knows where they go. So, sometimes we know why humans and animals move from one place to another, but at other times we don’t. Maybe living things just like to travel.Most animals move from one place to another at a certain time to __________ .
| A．give birth | B．enjoy warmer weather |
| C．find food more easily | D．find beautiful places |
The fish called “salmon” spends a long life in __________ .
| A．salt water | B．rivers | C．fresh water | D．its birthplace |
The mice in northern Europe move when __________ .
| A．they give birth | B．the weather is bad |
| C．the place gets too crowded | D．they haven’t enough food |
The lobsters move __________ .
| A．to the fresh water | B．to the sea floor |
| C．at a certain time | D．to find more food |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Animals move in order to find food more easily. |
| B．The migration of the fish called “salmon” is the most famous migration. |
| C．Living things move from one place to another because they like to travel. |
| D．Sometimes we know why and how living things move from one place to another, but sometimes we don’t. |
It’s that unbelievable fantasy that all of us in the music business are pursuing. While we think that few of us will ever win the “ jackpot”(最高奖赏)of music fame and fortune, emotionally we still hope that one day we will be included in that small group.
As long as the music business has existed, people have been trying to discover the basic ingredients for success. Opinions range from having post-graduate degrees in composition on the one hand, to having an uncle who drives the bus for Reba McIntype, a famous country music singer, on the other hand. (Probably both would be helpful!) In my opinion, however, there are two doors that are absolutely essential in order to enter credibility. They are available to anyone, but they do require a key, and the key to both of them is perseverance.
There is nothing that can replace excellence! It is the first door we must open in order to have any hope of achieving our musical goals. And, unfortunately, there is no shortcut to excellence. The only way to achieve it is through dedication, discipline and lots of blood, sweat and tears… in other words, perseverance.
Every day I received emails from promising songwriters and musicians all around the world who mistakenly think that natural talent is the magic ingredient for success. While talent is certainly a plus, it is by no means the miraculous elixir(神奇的灵丹妙药)that will turn you into a famous person. Think about it for a moment: How many very talented people do you know personally who are much better songwriters and musicians than those you hear on TV and on the radio? I’ll bet you can say that you know quite a few. And yet, most of these gifted artists will never be known outside their own family or community. Why? Because natural talent—by itself—is not enough.
Next time we will e
xplore the other door to the world of music achievement—the door of credibility—and how the perseverance key works to unlock it as well.
68. In the author’s opinion, the key to success in music achievement is __________.
A. talent B. dedication C. perseverance D. discipline
69. Which paragraph will end with “Whether you’re very talented, or just average, perseverance in practicing makes a difference in your music career.”?
A. One B. Two C. Three D. Four
70. What is the author most probably?
A. A psychologist B. A teacher C.A well-known musician D. A talented writer
71. From the passage, the author wants to tell us_________.
A. difficulties in the music business
B. the key to success in the music field
C. the jackpot of music fame and fortune
D. the basic ingredients for success