Asmoreandmorepeoplespeaktheglo-优题课

Superconducting Materials
The stone age, The Iron Age. Entire epochs have been named for materials. So what to call the decades ahead? The choice will be tough. Welcome to the age of superstuff(超级材料). Material science -- once the least sexy technology – is bursting with new, practical discoveries led by superconducting ceramics that may revolutionize electronics. But superconductors are just part of the picture: from house and cars to cook pots and artificial teeth, the world will someday be made of different stuff. Exotic plastics, glass and ceramics will shape the future just as surely as have genetic engineering and computer science.
The key to the new materials is researchers’ increasing ability to manipulate substances at the molecular level. Ceramics, for example, have long been limited by their brittleness. But by minimizing the microscopic imperfections that cause it, scientists are making far stronger ceramics that still retain such qualities as hardness and heat resistance. Ford Motor Co. now uses ceramic tools to cut steel. A firm called Kyocera has created a line of ceramic scissors and knives that stay sharp for years and never rust or corrode.
A similar transformation has overtaken plastics. High-strength polymers now form bridges, ice-skating rinks and helicopter rotors. And one new plastic that generates electricity when vibrated or pushed is used in electric guitars, touch sensors for robot hands and karate jackets that automatically record each punch and chop. Even plastic litter, which once threatened to permanently blot the landscape, has proved amenable to molecular tinkering. Several manufacturers now make biodegradable forms; some plastic six-pack rings for example, gradually decompose when exposed to sunlight. Researchers are developing ways to make plastics as recyclable as metal or glass. Besides, composites – plastic reinforced with fibers of graphite or other compounds – made the round-the-world flight of the voyager possible and have even been proved in combat: a helmet saved an infantryman’s life by deflecting two bullets in the Grenada invasion.
Some advanced materials are old standard with a new twist. The newest fiberoptic(光学纤维的) cable that carry telephone calls cross-country are made of glass so transparent that a piece of 100 miles thick is clearer than a standard window pane.
But new materials have no impact until they are made into products. And that transition could prove difficult, for switching requires lengthy research and investment. It can be said a firmer handle on how to move to commercialization will determine the success or failure of a country in the near future.
How many new materials are mentioned in this passage?
A Two B Three C Four D Five
Why does the author mention genetic engineering and computer science?
A To compare them with the new materials.
B To show the significance of the new materials on the future world.
C To compare the new materials to them.
D To explain his view point.
Why is transition difficult?
A Because transition requires money and time.
B Because many manufacturers are unwilling to change their equipment.
C Because research on new materials is very difficult.
D Because it takes 10 years.
Where lies success of a country in the New Age of superstuff?
A It lies in research. B It lies in investment.
C It lies in innovation. D It lies in application.

Everyone has good days and bad days.
Sometimes, you feel as if you’re on top of the world. But occasionally you feel horrible, and you lose things and you cannot focus on your schoolwork.
For more than 20 years, scientists have suggested that high self-esteem (自尊) is the key to success. Now, new research shows that focusing just on building self-esteem may not be helpful. In some cases, having high self-esteem can bring bad results if it makes you less likeable or more upset when you fail at something.
“Forget about self-esteem,” says Jennifer Crocker, a psychologist (心理学家) at the University of Michigan, US. “It’s not the important thing.”
Feeling good
Crocker’s advice may sound a bit strange because it is good to feel good about yourself.
Studies show that people with high self-esteem are less likely to be depressed, anxious, shy, or lonely than those with low self-esteem.
But, after reviewing about 18,000 studies on self-esteem, Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University, has found that building up your self-esteem will not necessarily make you a better person.
He believes that violent and wicked people often have the highest self-esteem of all. He also said: “There’s no evidence that kids with high self-esteem do better in school.”
Problems
All types of people have problems. People with high self-esteem can have big egos (自我) that can make them less likeable to their peers(同龄人), said Kathleen Vohs, a psychology professor at Columbia University.
People with high self-esteem tend to think more of themselves, Vohs says. People with low self-esteem are more likely to rely on their friends when they need help.
What to do
Researchers say it is best to listen to and support other people. Find positive ways to contribute to society. If you fail at something try to learn from the experience. “The best therapy (药方) is to recognize your faults,” Vohs says. “It’s OK to say, ‘I’m not so good at that,’ and then move on.”
The new research comes to the conclusion that high self-esteem ________.

A．is not important at all	B．has taken on a different meaning
C．may not be the key to success	D．does not help you do better at school

One of the conclusions of the new research is that ________.

A．feeling good about oneself doesn’t mean you lead a happier life

B．people with high esteem usually do not seek other’s help

C．people with high esteem tend to be proud

D．people with low esteem are often more popular

The underlined part “a better person” in the passage probably means a person who is ________.

A．helpful and supportive	B．gentle and modest
C．likable and successful	D．friendly and kind

From the text, we can infer the best therapy mentioned in the last paragraph is mainly for people ________.

A．with high self-esteem	B．with low self-esteem
C．of all kinds	D．who are focusing on building self-esteem

Holmes’ Knowledge
His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest（天真的；幼稚的）way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar system.
“You appear to be astonished, ” Holmes said, smiling at my expression. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it. You see, I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose: A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hand upon it. It is a mistake to think that the little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you know before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
“But the Solar System! ” I protested.
“What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently.
One morning, I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.
Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life, ” and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deduction appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thought. Deceit, according to him, was impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.
“From a drop of water, ”said the writer, “a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can be acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. ”
This smartly written piece of theory I could not accept until a succession of evidences justified it.
What is the author’s attitude toward Holmes?
A Praising. B Critical. C Ironical. D Distaste.
What way did the author take to stick out Holmes’ uniqueness?
A By deduction. B By explanation. C By contrast. D By analysis.
What was the Holmes’ idea about knowledge-learning?
A Learning what every body learned. B Learning what was useful to you.
C Learning whatever you came across. D Learning what was different to you.
What did the article mentioned in the passage talk about?
A One may master the way of reasoning through observation.
B One may become rather critical through observation and analysis.
C One may become rather sharp through observation and analysis.
D One may become practical through observation and analysis.

The Development of Cities
Mass transportation revised the social and economic fabric of the American city in three fundamental ways. It catalyzed physical expansion, it sorted out people and land uses, and it accelerated the inherent instability of urban life. By opening vast areas of unoccupied land for residential expansion, the omnibuses, horse railways, commuter trains, and electric trolleys pulled settled regions outward two to four times more distant form city centers than they were in the premodern（现代文明之前）era. In 1850, for example, the borders of Boston lay scarcely two miles from the old business district; by the turn of the century the radius extended ten miles. Now those who could afford it could live far removed from the old city center and still commute there for work, shopping, and entertainment. The new accessibility of land around the periphery of almost every major city sparked an explosion of real estate development and fueled what we now know as urban sprawl. Between 1890 and 1920, for example, some 250,000 new residential lots were recorded within the borders of Chicago, most of them located in outlying areas. Over the same period, another 550,000 were plotted outside the city limits but within the metropolitan area. Anxious to take advantage of the possibilities of commuting, real estate developers added 800,000 potential building sites to the Chicago region in just thirty years – lots that could have housed five to six million people.
Of course, many were never occupied; there was always a huge surplus of subdivided, but vacant, land around Chicago and other cities. These excesses underscore a feature of residential expansion related to the growth of mass transportation: urban sprawl was essentially unplanned. It was carried out by thousands of small investors who paid little heed to coordinated land use or to future land users. Those who purchased and prepared land for residential purposes, particularly land near or outside city borders where transit lines and middle-class inhabitants were anticipated, did so to create demand as much as to respond to it. Chicago is a prime example of this process. Real estate（财产）subdivision（细分再分的部分）there proceeded much faster than population growth.
With which of the following subjects is the passage mainly concerned?
A Types of mass transportation.
B Instability of urban life.
C How supply and demand determine land use.
D The effect of mass transportation on urban expansion.
Why does the author mention both Boston and Chicago?
A To demonstrate positive and negative effects of growth.
B To exemplify cities with and without mass transportation.
C To show mass transportation changed many cities.
D To contrast their rate of growth.
According to the passage, what was one disadvantage of residential expansion?
A It was expensive.
B It happened too slowly.
C It was unplanned.
D It created a demand for public transportation.
The author mentions Chicago in the second paragraph as an example of a city,
A that is large.
B that is used as a model for land development.
C where the development of land exceeded population growth.
D with an excellent mass transportation system.

Stricter Traffic Law Can Prevent Accidents
From the health point of view we are living in a marvelous（不平凡的）age. We are immunized from birth against many of the most dangerous diseases. A large number of once fatal illnesses can now be cured by modern drugs and surgery. It is almost certain that one day remedies will be found for the most stubborn remaining diseases. The expectation of life has increased enormously. But though the possibility of living a long and happy life is greater than ever before, every day we witness the incredible slaughter of men, women and children on the roads. Man versus the motor-car ! It is a never-ending battle which man is losing. Thousands of people the world over are killed or horribly killed each year and we are quietly sitting back and letting it happen.
It has been rightly said that when a man is sitting behind a steering wheel, his car becomes the extension of his personality. There is no doubt that the motor-car often brings out a man’s very worst qualities. People who are normally quiet and pleasant may become unrecognizable when they are behind a steering-wheel. They swear, they are ill-mannered and aggressive, willful as two-years-olds and utterly selfish. All their hidden frustrations, disappointments and jealousies seem to be brought to the surface by the act of driving.
The surprising thing is that society smiles so benignly on the motorist and seems to condone his behaviour. Everything is done for his convenience. Cities are allowed to become almost uninhabitable because of heavy tragic; towns are made ugly by huge car parks; the countryside is desecrated by road networks; and the mass annual slaughter becomes nothing more than a statistic, to be conveniently forgotten.
It is high time a world code were created to reduce this senseless waste of human life. With regard to driving, the laws of some countries are notoriously lax and even the strictest are not strict enough. A code which was universally accepted could only have a dramatically beneficial effect on the accident rate. Here are a few examples of some the things that might be done. The driving test should be standardized and made far more difficult than it is; all the drivers should be made to take a test every three years or so; the age at which young people are allowed to drive any vehicle should be raised to at least 21; all vehicles should be put through stringent annual tests for safety. Even the smallest amount of alcohol in the blood can impair a person’s driving ability. Present drinking and driving laws (where they exist) should be mad much stricter. Maximum and minimum speed limits should be imposed on all roads. Governments should lay down safety specifications for manufacturers, as has been done in the USA. All advertising stressing power and performance should be banned. These measures may sound inordinately harsh. But surely nothing should be considered as to severe if tit results in reducing the annual toll of human life. After all, the world is for human beings, not motor-cars.
The main idea of this passage is
A Traffic accidents are mainly caused by motorists.
B Thousands of people the world over are killed each year.
C The laws of some countries about driving are too lax.
D Only stricter traffic laws can prevent accidents.
What does the author think of society toward motorists?
A Society smiles on the motorists. B Huge car parks are built in the cities and towns.
C Victims of accidents are nothing. D Society condones their rude driving.
Why does the author say:’ his car becomes the extension of his personality?’
A Driving can show his real self. B Driving can show the other part of his personality.
C Driving can bring out his character. D His car embodies his temper.
Which of the followings is NOT mentioned as a way against traffic accidents?
A Build more highways. B Stricter driving tests.
C Test drivers every three years. D raise age limit and lay down safety specifications.
The attitude of the author is
A ironical B critical C appealing D militant