Robots are common in todays world. They manufacture cars, work in space, explore oceans, clean up oil spills and investigate dangerous environments. And now, scientists at the University of Manchester are using a robot as a laboratory partner.
The researchers at the university created the robot in 2009 and named it Adam. Despite the name, Adam is not a humanoid robot. It is about the size of a car.
Adam was built to do science and make discoveries. Ross King is the leader of the University of Manchester research team. He says the robot made a discovery about yeast（酵母）, a kind of fungus used in science as a model for human cells.
“Adam hypothesized certain functions of genes within yeast and experimentally tested these hypothesizes and confirmed them. So it both hypothesized and confirmed new scientific knowledge.”
Adam's success as a scientist led to the creation of another robot scientist named Eve. Researchers developed Eve to design and test drugs for tropical and neglected diseases. These diseases kill and infect millions of people each year.
Drug development is slow and costly. Experts say it can take more than 10 years and about $1 billion to discover and develop new medicines. Drug manufacturers are unlikely to get their investment money back.
So the University of Manchester developed a low-cost test that shows whether or not a chemical is likely to be made into an effective medicine. Mr. King says that other drug testing methods were not very effective.
“How it works conventionally is you use robotics(机器人技术) as well and you have a large collection of possible drugs. You test every single compound(复合物). And you start at the beginning of your library and continue until the end, and stop. So it’s not a very intelligent process. The robotics doesn’t learn anything as it goes along, even if its tested a million compounds, it still doesnt have any expectation of what will happen next when it tests a new compound.”
Mr. King says that Eve is different because the robot learns as it tests different compounds. He says the robot is designed to ignore compounds that it thinks unlikely to be good. It will only test the compounds which have a good chance of working.
Eve has discovered that a compound known to be effective against cancer might also be used to fight against malaria and other tropical diseases.
Mr. King says he hopes to completely automate the drug testing process with robots like Eve to create and test new chemicals. But he says humans remain in control of the manufacturing process.Adam can do all the following EXCEPT ________.
| A．making discoveries | B．working in space |
| C．helping researchers | D．doing scientific research |
The underlined word “hypothesized” probably means ________.
| A．learned | B．guessed |
| C．discovered | D．created |
The development of new drugs is slow because ________.
a. It takes long to test new drugs.
b. It takes long to produce new drugs.
c. New drugs are less effective.
d. It takes long to profit from new drugs.
e. Conventional testing methods dont work well.
| A．abc | B．bcd | C．cde | D．ade |
Eve has an advantage of ________.
| A．testing a million compound at a time |
| B．controlling the manufacturing the process |
| C．expecting what will happen while testing drugs |
| D．making scientific research |
What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Robot Scientist Helps Design New Drugs |
| B．Adam—the Smart Robot |
| C．New Methods to Test Drugs |
| D．Scientists Develop Humanoid Robots |
The Apple iPhone’s impact was widely evident (明显的) at the Consumer Electronics Show, as new touch－screen devices could be found everywhere.
The consumer electronics industry came unbuttoned in Las Vegas this week. At the annual Consumer Electronics Show, companies from around the world unveiled many devices boasting (以拥有…而自豪) touch – sensitive technology, rather than traditional push-button controls.
Motorola, Sony, and LG Electronics all showed off touch-screen phones this week. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates praised and offered a touch-screen computer, the Surface, related to a flat panel TV for a tabletop. Even camera makers, such as Kodak，included touch-screen LCDs in their devices. Touch-screen tech has been in use for years，but the push to develop and weave it into consumer electronics gathered steam with the June introduction of Apple’s iPhone. “The touch-screen industry is really getting hot,” says Jennifer Colegrove, a senior analyst at iSuppli. “Since the iPhone came out, there are a lot of companies that did not have a relationship with touch screens before that decided, ‘OK, I want to make a touch screen, too.’”
The touch－screen tech ecosystem now includes more than 100 companies specializing in everything from smudge-proof (防污的) screens to sensors (传感器) able to detect fingers before they even contact the screen. Sales of leading touch-screen technologies，such as those used in mobile phones and navigation (航行) devices，are expected to rise to $ 4.4 billion in 2012, up from $ 2.4 billion in 2006，according to iSuppli estimates.What did the writer think about the Apple iPhone？
| A．The Apple iPhone was beautiful. |
| B．The Apple iPhone was popular. |
| C．The Apple iPhone was expensive. |
| D．The Apple iPhone was attractive. |
What is the meaning of the underlined word “unveiled” in the second paragraph？
| A．Invented. | B．Unlocked. |
| C．Discovered. | D．Showed. |
The touch-screen tech was used in consumer electronics mainly because of _______.
| A．traditional push-button controls |
| B．Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates |
| C．the introduction of Apple’s iPhone |
| D．the touch-screen tech ecosystem |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The touch-screen technology will disappear. |
| B．The touch-screen technology will be replaced by traditional push-button controls. |
| C．The touch-screen technology will be as important as traditional push-button controls. |
| D．The touch-screen technology will be more widely used in electronics devices. |
33 Chilean miners were trapped nearly a half-mile underground after the mine accident. They had no real hope that they’d ever be found. Luckily, though, the men had Luis Urzua. They were rescued to safety on October 13, 2010.Urzua, 54, was the shift leader at the time of the disaster, and used all his wisdoms and his leadership talents to help his men stay calm and in control for the 17 terrible days it took for rescuers to make their first contact with them.
It was no surprise that Urzua was the last of the 33 miners to leave the mine.
Urzua --- after shaking hands with rescue workers ---- climbed into a capsule barely wider than a man’s shoulders at 9:46 and was hauled up (拖上来) from a narrow hole drilled through 2,000 feet of rock. He arrived at the top 11 minutes later.
“We have done what the entire world was waiting for,” he told Chilean President Sebastian Pinera immediately after his rescue. “The 69 days that we fought so hard were not in vain.” Pinera greeted Urzua, saying “You have been rescued, coming out last like a good leader… You have no idea how all Chileans share with
you your hardships, your hope, and your joy. You are an inspiration.” With Urzua by his side, the president led the crowd in singing the national anthem.Robinson Marquez once worked with Urzua in a nearby mine. He described Urzua as a calm, professional person and a born leader. “He is very protective of his men and obviously loves them. He wouldn’t have left until all of his men were safely above ground,” Marquez said.
Under Urzua’s leadership, the men stretched an emergency food supply meant to last just 48 hours over two and a half weeks, taking tiny sips of milk and bites of fish every other day.He described the difficulties of the first days, saying that it took about three hours for the dust to settle before the men could inspect where tons of collapsed rock sealed off (堵住) the main way out. When the rescuers first made contact by drilling a narrow hole into their refuge (避难处), the miners were so excited that everyone wanted to hug the drill hammer.After the collapse, Urzua was the first to speak to Pinera and to urge him not to let him and his men down. “Don’t leave us alone,” he asked the president, who assured the workers that they would not be abandoned, telling them he would do everything he could to get them back to the surface.The mine collapsed on ____.
| A．March 2 | B．June 3 | C．August 5 | D．October 13 |
Which word can’t be used to describe Urzua?
| A．Selfish | B．Calm | C．Optimistic | D．Talented |
What do you know about the capsule?
| A．It is very spacious. | B．It is very narrow. |
| C．It is made by Urzua. | D．It is used in space. |
The emergency food supply was designed to last ____.
| A．over two and a half weeks | B．five days |
| C．one week | D．two days |
In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants. Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They had to move back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.
| A．want to be as rich as their neighbours |
| B．want others to know or to think that they are rich |
| C．don’t want others to know they are rich |
| D．want to be happy |
It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.
| A．live outside New York City | B．live in New York City |
| C．live in apartments | D．live with many neighbours |
What’s the author’s attitude to keeping up with the Joneses?
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Objective. |
Tess was eight years old. Her little brother Andrew was very sick and their parents were completely out of money. She heard Daddy say to her tearful Mother, “Only a miracle can save him now.”
Tess took her money and made her way six blocks to Rexall’s Drug Store.
“And what do you want?” the chemist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven’t seen for ages.”
“Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s really sick. He has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?”
“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” the chemist said, softening a little.
“Listen, I can help you.” The chemist’s brother was a well-dressed man. He asked Tess, “What kind of miracle does your brother need?”
“I don’t know,” Tess replied. “Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can’t pay for it, so I want to use my money.”
“How much do you have?” asked the man from Chicago. “One dollar and eleven cents,” Tess answered. “And it’s all the money I have, but I can get some more, if I need to.”
“Well，what a coincidence (巧合),” smiled the man. “A dollar and eleven cents － the exact price of a miracle for your little brother. Take me to where you live. Let’s see if 1 have the kind of miracle you need.”
That man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon in neurosurgery (神经外科). The operation was completed without charge and it wasn’t long until Andrew was home again and doing well．
Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost… one dollar and eleven cents… plus the faith of a little child. What can we learn from the first paragraph?
| A．Tess’s brother would recover because there was a miracle. |
| B．Tess’s brother would die because his family had no money to treat his illness. |
| C．Tess’s family would look for a miracle to treat Andrew’s illness. |
| D．Andrew should go to hospital for a miracle. |
Why did the chemist get annoyed first？
| A．Because he was a nervous man． |
| B．Because Tess didn’t buy his medicine. |
| C．Because Tess had bothered him and his brother. |
| D．Because Tess was poorly dressed. |
What can we learn about Dr. Carlton Armstrong?
| A．He was a stone－hearted man. |
| B．He cared for only a little money. |
| C．He never helped others unless given a lot of money． |
| D．He was a kind gentleman and ready to help others. |
What can be the best title？
| A．A dying boy and her sister | B．A miracle of $ 1.10 |
| C．A kind doctor and his brother | D．A poor girl and a doctor |
下面文章中有5处（第81~85题）需要添加小标题，请从以下选项中选出符合各段意思的小标题，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑,选项中一项为多余选项.
| A．Learn Everyday |
| B．Agree to Disagree |
| C．Respect Each Other |
| D．Arrange Some Time to Go Out |
E.Develop Healthy Relationships
F.Learn to Listen and Speak
Healthy Relationship Tips
Healthy relationships are effortless, if both the people involved take equal effort to maintain it. Here are a few healthy relationship tips to help you build the dream of your life.
81. ________________
Communication is an art of putting your thoughts into words, so that they are exactly understood by the opposite person. Communication does not mean going on talking unnecessarily. This is the first mistake that couples make. One person in the relationship assumes the role of talker and the other becomes the listener. Their roles remain so forever. The talker forgets to listen and the listener becomes used to listening and not reacting. If your partner takes time to open up, help them out by asking questions. So hear them out and give proper reactions. You will obtain the benefits of a healthy relationship through increased confidence in both of you to open up and hear things out.
82. ________________
Regular conversations take the form of heated arguments amongst many couples. Understand that not every statement needs a reaction. Maybe a certain reaction may lead to an argument with your partner. Just agree with whatever it is and there will be no harm done. Try and reach a mutual (相互的) agreement. If that’s not possible leave the topic for later. If you give it time, maybe both of you will be able to think about it rationally.
83. ________________
Every single day is a blessing. Each moment with your partner is a moment to learn something new and discover the finer nuances (细微差别) of your relationships. Each one of us keep changing everyday, the circumstances around us change everyday and with that our attitude also needs to change. The same applies when you are living with a person. Learning everyday and taking everyday as a challenge will help you perfect healthy relationship tips.
84. ________________
This tip is especially meant for couples with children to maintain healthy relationships. After a certain period, couples complain about romance being lost. To keep your relationship healthy, take some time out from your day-to-day routines to spend some quality time with your partner. This can be done as dinners, indulging in outdoor activities or just hanging out at a coffee shop like old times.
85. ________________
Respect has to be earned. It can only be earned only if you learn to respect. Often, one of the partners plays the role of a dictator to give orders, while the other simply follows. Both sides involved are equally responsible for this mistake. Learn to respect each other and understand that both of you are equally responsible for the relationship.
Creating a healthy relationship takes equal effort from both sides. Sharing, caring, being apologetic, forgiving and having realistic expectations are some of the important ingredients to the recipe of a healthy relationship.