Global Positioning Systems（GPS） are now a part of everyday driving in many countries. These satellite-based systems provide turn-by-turn directions to help people get to where they want to go. But, they can also cause a lot of problems, send you to the wrong place or leave you completely lost. Many times, the driver is to blame. Sometimes a GPS error is responsible. Most often, says Barry Brown, it is a combination of the two.
We spoke to Mr. Brown by Skype （网络电话软件）. He told us about an incident involving a friend who had flown to an airport in the eastern United States. There he borrowed a GPS-equipped car to use during his stay. BARRY BROWN: “And they just plugged in an address and then set off to their destination. And, then it wasn’t until they were driving for thirty minutes that they realized they actually put in a destination back on the West Coast where they lived. They actually put their home address in. So again, the GPS is kind of 'garbage in garbage out'.”
Mr Brown says this is a common human error. But, he says, what makes the problem worse has to do with some of the shortcomings, or failures, of GPS equipment. BARRY BROWN: “One problem with a lot of the GPS units is that they have a very small screen and they just tell you the next turn. Because they just give you the next turn, sometimes that means that it is not really giving you the overview that you would need to know that it’s going to the wrong place.”
Barry Brown formerly served as a professor with the University of California, San Diego. While there, he worked on a project with Eric Laurier from the University of Edinburgh. The two men studied the effects of GPS devices on driving by placing cameras in people’s cars. They wrote a paper based on their research. It is called “The Normal, Natural Troubles of Driving with GPS.”
It lists several areas where GPS systems can cause confusion for drivers. These include maps that are outdated, incorrect or difficult to understand. They also include timing issues(时机问题) related to when GPS commands are given.
Barry Brown says, “ To make GPS systems better we need a better understanding of how drivers, passengers and GPS systems work together.”In paragraph 2, Mr. Brown mentioned his friend in the conversation to _______.
| A．build up his own reputation |
| B．laugh at his stupid friend |
| C．prove the GPS system is only garbage |
| D．describe an example of human error |
What is the disadvantage of small screens in GPS equipment according to the text?
| A．They just provide the next turn. |
| B．They are harmful to eyes. |
| C．They make drivers tired easily. |
| D．They often break down suddenly. |
Which of the following statements would Barry Brown most likely agree with?
| A．GPS units are to blame for most GPS service failures. |
| B．We should introduce higher standards for the driving license. |
| C．Cameras are badly needed to help improve GPS systems. |
| D．Drivers, GPS systems and passengers should unite to improve GPS systems. |
What is Mr. Brown’s attitude towards GPS?
| A．Unconcerned. | B．subjective. |
| C．Objective. | D．Critical. |
Which of the following statements can best describe the main idea of the passage?
| A．Driving with GPS can be difficult. |
| B．Driving confusions can be caused by small screens. |
| C．Driving without GPS should be much more convenient. |
| D．GPS equipment in driving to be given up or improved |
Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems．While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves．University of Missouri（MU） researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient．
“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density（密度）”，said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU．“The radioisotope（放射性同位素） battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries．”
Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro / nanoelectromechanical systems （M/NEMS）．Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe．
“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said, “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems．”
His new idea is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor（半导体）．Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor．
“The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure（晶体结构） of the solid semiconductor,” Kwon said, “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem．”
Together with J．David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery．In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials．Kwon said that battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair．Jae Kwon gave examples in Paragraph 4_________．
| A．to show chemical batteries are widely applied． |
| B．to introduce nuclear batteries can be safely used． |
| C．to describe a nuclear-powered system． |
| D．to introduce various energy sources． |
According to Jae Kwon, his nuclear battery _______．
| A．uses a solid semiconductor |
| B．will soon replace the present ones． |
| C．could be extremely thin |
| D．has passed the final test． |
The text is most probably a ________．
| A．science news report | B．book review |
| C．newspaper ad | D．science fiction |
Like many other nations, China has been busy putting together evacuation （撤侨）plans for its citizens stuck in crisis-torn Libya．The real surprise has been just how many Chinese are living there．The foreign ministry does not know for sure but puts the figure at 30-40,000．
The huge contingent （代表团） in Libya, who work for at least 27 Chinese companies, has brought to light one of the new dilemmas facing China as its economic interests expand．For a mixture of reasons that are partly political, partly business, Chinese workers are now present in many of the most unrest and dangerous parts of the world, including places where anti-Chinese sentiment over jobs and working conditions is on the rise．One of the first wake-up calls was in 2007, when a group of Chinese women were kidnapped in Pakistan, an event which led to the siege of the Red Mosque in Lahore．In the same year, nine Chinese oil workers were killed in Ethiopia．In recent years, Chinese workers have been kidnapped in Cameroon, Congo and Afghanistan．
Publicly, Chinese diplomats admit that the country needs better contingency plans to deal with this sort of situation．Privately, they worry about a different issue: that such incidents will force them to get much more involved in domestic political disputes in far-off lands, pulling the government away from its commitment to a policy of non-interference．The nightmare, a few diplomats and academics admit, would be a large, violent attack on a group of Chinese which then prompted an intense nationalist reaction at home, forcing the government to take the sort of interventionist （干涉主义的） actions it tries to shun．
Beijing gave some indication of how it will respond in the future with the decision on Thursday to send the frigate（护卫舰） Xuzhou, currently conducting anti-piracy tasks off the coast of Somalia, to Libya．Its mission will be to help the evacuation effort, but it is also a warning to any in Libya who might attack Chinese interests, as well as the latest indication of the growing global reach of China’s navy．As Andrew Erickson, a China expert at the US Naval War College says: “This latest initiative（方案） is part of a larger ongoing increase in Chinese power, presence, and influence around the world, and should come as no surprise．China has global interests, cannot free ride forever, and requires a presence in critical areas and situations in order to have a voice．”What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．There are many Chinese workers in the most unrest and dangerous parts of the world． |
| B．China should protect workers in the foreign countries． |
| C．China are taking actions to bring its citizens back from Libya． |
| D．The international situation is terrible |
The underlined word “shun” in the third paragraph most probably means?
| A．take part in | B．avoid |
| C．carry out | D．refuse |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．It remains unknown how many Chinese are living in Libya． |
| B．A large number workers are working abroad, which bring about advantages and disadvantages． |
| C．In no case will the Chinese government take part in solving the political problems in far-off lands． |
| D．Our government take immediate action to deal with this sort of situation． |
What’s Not true about the frigate Xuzhou?
| A．It is conducting anti-piracy tasks off the coast of Somalia． |
| B．It will help the evacuation effort． |
| C．It is a warning to Libya who might attack Chinese interests． |
| D．It indicates that China’s navy can reach an increasing number of parts of the global． |
The huge Florida wetland known as the Everglades is a slow-moving river 80 kilometres wide but only a few centimeters deep. People call the Everglades a “river of grass” because sawgrass covers most of it. Sawgrass is not really grass. It is a plant that has leaves edged with tiny sharp teeth that can easily cut through clothes—and skin!
Travel in the Everglades is difficult. You cannot walk through shallow water because the sawgrass will cut you. The water is too shallow for regular boats. So, we use an airboat. An airboat is a flat, open boat. Like an airplane, it has a big propeller to move it. The propeller is fixed on the rear of the boat. It makes a tremendous noise, but it does the job. The boat skims along the water’s surface. Although we can still get lost in an airboat, at least we are above the alligators(短吻鳄).
While hundreds of different kinds of animals live in the Everglades, the most famous is surely the alligator. Once endangered, alligators are now protected within Everglades National Park. Visitors are likely to see them both on land and in water.
For a long time, dangers have threatened the Everglades. Around 1900, some people felt this precious wetland should be drained (排干). They said it was just a big swamp and not good for anything. In the 1920s, there was a land boom in Florida. People wanted to build homes everywhere, including in the Everglades. They built canals, levees (防洪堤), and other water systems that stopped the rivers flowing into the Everglades. Factories were built near rivers that flowed into the wetland. These factories dumped poisonous waste that damaged the Everglades ecosystem.
People are now working to preserve the Everglades National Park for the future. Right now, one big problem is the paperbark tree. This tree is an invader from Australia.
Paperbark trees soak up a lot of water. In the early 1900s, people brought them to Florida because they thought they would help drain the Everglades. However, the invaders adapted too well. Paperbark trees have taken over hundreds of thousands of acres of the Everglades and killed other trees. Scientists are cutting down these invaders or spraying them with herbicides (除草剂) to kill them.Which helps to explain why it is difficult to travel in Everglades?
| A．Airboats may make a very big noise. |
| B．You may get lost when passing through. |
| C．Paperbark trees soak up too much water there. |
| D．Many different kinds of animals are to be protected. |
Why do people use airboats instead of normal boats?
| A．They have big propellers to move them faster than alligators. |
| B．The propeller makes loud noise so as to scare alligators. |
| C．Their flat bottom can skim along the water surface. |
| D．They can watch alligators without hurting them. |
The following measures were taken to drain the Everglades except that people______.
| A．built canals and levees to stop the rivers flowing into Everglades |
| B．built factories near rivers that flowed into the wetland |
| C．brought Paperbark to soak up water in Everglades |
| D．are cutting down these Paperbark trees |
The underlined word "invader" probably means something______.
| A．that moves in from another place |
| B．that enters and takes control |
| C．that has been brought in |
| D．that is in danger |
That “Monday morning feeling” could be a crushing pain in the chest which leaves you sweating and gasping for breath. Recent research from Germany and Italy shows that heart attacks are more common on Monday mornings and doctors blame the stress of returning to work after the weekend break.
The risk of having a heart attack on any given day should be one in seven, but a six-year study helped by researchers at the Free University of Berlin of more than 2,600 Germans showed that the average person had a 20 per cent higher chance of having a heart attack on a Monday than on any other day.
Working Germans are particularly not protected against attack, with a 33 per cent higher risk at the beginning of the working week. Non-workers, by comparison, appear to be no more at risk on a Monday than any other day.
A study of 11,000 Italians proved 8 am on a Monday morning as the most stressful time for the heart, and both studies showed that Sunday is the least stressful day, with fewer heart attacks in both countries.
The findings could lead to a better understanding of what is the immediate cause of heart attacks, according to Dr Stefan Willich of the Free University. “We know a lot about long-term risk factors such as smoking and cholesterol（胆固醇）but we don’t know what actually causes heart attacks, so we can’t give clear advice on how to prevent them,” he said.
Monday mornings have a double helping of stress for the working body as it makes a rapid change from sleep to activity, and from the relaxing weekend to the pressures of work.
“When people get up, their blood pressure and heart rate go up and there are hormonal（内分泌）changes in their bodies,” Willich explained. “All these things can have an unfavourable effect in the blood system and increase the risk of a clot（血凝块）in the arteries（动脉）which will cause a heart attack.”
“When people return to work after a weekend off, the pace of their life changes. They have a higher workload, more stress, more anger and more physical activity,” said Willich.Monday morning feeling, as this passage shows, .
| A．is not so serious as people thought |
| B．is harmful to working people in developed countries. |
| C．is the first killer in Germany and Italy. |
| D．is created by researchers in Germany and Italy |
To protect people from suffering from heart attack, doctors have paid much attention to.
| A．people’s working time |
| B．people’s living place |
| C．people’s diet and lifestyle |
| D．people’s nationalities |
It can be learned from this passage that heart attack has nothing to do with.
| A．blood pressure | B．heart rate |
| C．hormonal changes | D．blood group |
If the researchers give us some advice to avoid Monday morning feeling, what might it be?
| A．Stop working on Monday |
| B．Create a pleasant working environment |
| C．Get up late on Monday morning |
| D．Go to work with a doctor |
Science is a dominant theme in our culture. Since it touches almost every aspect of our life, educated people need at least some idea of its structure and operation. They should also have an understanding of the subculture in which scientists live and the kinds of people they are. An understanding of general characteristics of science as well as specific scientific concepts is easier to obtain if one knows something about the things that excite and frustrate the scientist.
This book is written for the intelligent student or lay (外行) person whose knowledge of science is superficial; for the person who has been presented with science as a musty storehouse of dried facts; for the person who sees the chief objective of science as the production of small devices; and for the person who views the scientists as some sort of magician.
The book can be used to supplement a course in any science, to accompany any course that attempts to give an understanding of the modern world, or independently of any course, simply to provide a better understanding of science. We hope this book will lead readers to a broader perspective on scientific attitudes and a more realistic view of what science is, who scientists are, and what they do.
It will give them an awareness and understanding of the relationship between science and our culture and an appreciation of the roles science may play in our culture. In addition, readers may learn to appreciate the relationship between scientific views and some of the values and philosophies that are widespread in our culture.
We have tried to present in this book an accurate and up-to-date picture of the scientific community and the people who populate it. That population has in recent years come to consist of more and more women. This increasing role of women in the scientific subculture is not an unique incident but, rather, part of the trend evident in all parts of society as more women enter traditionally male-dominated fields and make significant contributions.
In discussing these changes and contribution, however, we are faced with a language that is somewhat sexist, one that uses male nouns or pronouns in referring to unspecified individuals. To balance this built-in bias (倾向), we have adopted the policy of using plural nouns and pronouns whenever possible and , when absolutely necessary, alternating him and her.
This policy is far from being ideal, but it is at least an acknowledgement of the inadequacy of our language in treating half of the human race equally.
We have also tried to make the book entertaining as well as informative. Our approach is usually informal. We feel, as many other scientists do, that we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously. As the reader may observe, we see science as a delightful pastime rather than as a grim and dreary way to earn a living.According to the passage, ‘scientific subculture’ means __________.
| A．cultural groups that are formed by scientists. |
| B．people whose knowledge of science is very limited |
| C．the scientific community |
| D．people who make good contribution to science |
We need to know something about the structure and operation of science because_______.
| A．it is not easy to understand the things that excite and frustrate scientists. |
| B．science affects almost every aspect of our life. |
| C．scientists live in a specific subculture. |
| D．it is easier to understand general characteristics of science. |
The book mentioned in this passage is written for readers who __________.
| A．are intelligent college students and lay person who do not know much about science. |
| B．are good at producing various devices |
| C．work in a storehouse of dried facts |
| D．want to have a superficial understanding of science. |
According to this passage, ______________.
| A．English is a language full of sexual discrimination. |
| B．only in the scientific world is the role of women increasing rapidly. |
| C．women are making significant contributions to eliminating the inadequacy of our language. |
| D．male nouns or pronouns should not be used to refer to scientists. |