Smart home applications can share all kinds of helpful information with homeowners. There appears a new housing platform which can detect the stress on electricity — and the stress on the heart.
“There is a growing population of elderly people, and there are statistics to show that more and more of them are going to live alone in the home,” said Johann Siau, a senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K., who was leading the InterHome project.
The system was originally designed to provide remote access (遠程訪問) to a house so owners could be more energy-efficient. In a small type of the system, set-in controller devices connect securely to the Internet. The owner can then monitor them with a cell phone or computer. User feedback helps the system adapt to routines, saving on electricity.
While thinking about responding to user behavior and an increasingly elderly population, the researchers decided to add wristband (手腕帶) technology that senses important organs of the body such as body temperature and pulse, Siau said. “If someone were to fall, it would detect the fall and it would immediately start the monitor of the pulse to see if the person has gone into shock (休克),” he said.
The wristband communicates with the home system wirelessly. Data from the band can be securely transmitted to the home network and accessed by authorized users. “We’re working on trying to reduce it to a level where it could potentially be a wrist-sized product,” Siau said. 
But he warned that the technology presented new challenges. “When you start using that on a larger scale, you have issues of privacy or security,” he said. Siau said the InterHome home system isn’t intended to invade privacy. “We’re thinking about the elderly people who are living alone with no one looking after them,” he said. “Hopefully this will be able to decrease some concerns and possibly save a few lives.”
小題1:The system was first designed for a house owner to       .
A．keep watch on his house
B．keep his house safe
C．monitor the elderly people inside
D．save electricity
小題2:The wristband technology is used in the system to       .
A．sense important organs of a person
B．keep an old man from falling
C．get the medical information of a sick person
D．record a person’s daily activities
小題3:The researchers are now trying to make the wristband       .
A．more sensitive
B．be connected with the Internet
C．a(chǎn)vailable for common people
D．suitable to wear on the wrist
小題4:What challenges will the new technology bring according to Siau?
A．The wristband can be large and expensive.
B．The wristband will get false information of a person.
C．It will not be used in the proper way.
D．It will bring inconvenience to the old people.

小題1:D
小題2:A
小題3:D
小題4:C

試題分析: 文章介紹能夠遠程監(jiān)視保護老年人的智能型房屋。
小題1:D。細節(jié)理解題。從文章第三段第一句The system was originally designed to provide remote access to a house so owners could be more energy-efficient. 可知，這種智能型房屋最初是為了讓人們能夠遠程控制自己的住所，達到節(jié)能的目的。故選D。
小題2: A。細節(jié)理解題。從文章第四段the researchers decided to add wristband technology that senses important organs of the body such as body temperature and pulse可知，這種手腕帶技術(shù)的主要用途是檢測老年人的重要身體指標。故選A。
小題3:D。細節(jié)理解題。從文章第五段We’re working on trying to reduce it to a level where it could potentially be a wrist-sized product可知，科研人員正努力使這種手腕帶縮小到手表大小，能夠戴在手腕上。故選D。
小題4:C。推理判斷題。從文章最后一段When you start using that on a larger scale, you have issues of privacy or security可知，這項技術(shù)如果運用不當，可能會侵害人們的隱私和安全。故選C。
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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As a result many people believe the evidence is just part of a big trick.
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They also say the sightings are not real, just people making mistakes. For example, bigfoot could be a bear living in the wild that sometimes stands up on its back legs.
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A．there exist savages(野人)in several places in the world
B．there are some traces of hair, footprints and body prints of the “bigfoot”
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D．a(chǎn)ll the big foot discovered have the same look
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A．1999 B．the 1960’s
C．the 1950’sD．the 1940’s
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A．may fool the world into believing
B．have definite evidences to prove
C．refuse to believe
D．will soon offer proofs of
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A．a(chǎn)pes
B．bears
C．gigantopithecus
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London  and Queen Mary, University of London have discovered that bees learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers even if they discover the flowers in a different order. Bees are effectively solving the “traveling salesman problem”, and they are the first creatures found to do this.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Researchers have developed new software using smart phones’GPS and imaging abilities that determine the exact location of distant objects as well as monitor the speed and direction of moving objects．The software could eventually allow smart phone-armed soldiers to target the location of their enemies．On the home front，the software could be used by everyone，including golfers judging distance to the green and biologists documenting the location of a rare animal without disturbing it．
“The great advantage of a Smartphone is that it provides so many tools in a single，readily available，relatively inexpensive package，”said Qia Wang，a doctoral student who led the development of the software．“For example，on the battlefield，a soldier needs a rangefinder，compass，GPS and other tools to get information before calling in an air strike．With our software，the soldier can have all those instruments in one device that can be purchased off the shelf．When that soldier returns from War，she can use the same Software to protect her family by clocking a speeder near her children’s school and catching the criminal on video．”
Wang and his colleagues developed their software to locate and track：
Targets of known size—when the size of the target is known．a(chǎn) single image is enough to pinpoint the target’s location．
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Moving targets—By taking a short video of a moving target，the smartphone software can calculate how fast the target is moving and in what direction it is going.
“Currently，our software is limited by the physical abilities of smartphone hardware，but the devices are improving rapidly，”Wang said．“We expect that improvements in GPS accuracy，battery  life  and  camera  resolution  will  allow  our  software to  make  even  more  accurate observations．”
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小題5:What is the best title of the text?
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

EVERYONE has those nights – you lie in your bed for hours, tossing and turning, totally unable to fall asleep. You wish you could just turn your brain off as if it were a light. That would make things much easier, wouldn’t it?
Now it looks like you are one step closer to this wild dream of yours – scientists from Oxford University, UK have just discovered the “switch” that tells the brain to go to sleep, reported Forbes.
To understand the study, you first need to know that there are two mechanisms (機能) that regulate sleep. There’s one that we’re already familiar with – our body clock, which works in a 24-hour cycle based on the light changes throughout the day.
The other one is what scientists call the sleep “homeostat (動態(tài)平衡系統(tǒng))”. This mechanism has nothing to do with daylight. Instead, it keeps track of the brain’s waking hours and urges it to rest if it has been awake for a long time. “It is similar to the thermostat (自動調(diào)溫器) in your home. A thermostat measures temperature and switches on the heating if it’s too cold,” Professor Gero Miesenböck, who led the study, told The Telegraph.
Our bodies use both of the mechanisms to regulate sleep. “The body clock says it’s the right time, and the sleep thermostat has built up pressure during a long waking day,” explained Miesenböck.
There is no way that scientists can trick the body clock. But with the sleep homeostat, there might be something they can do.
The researchers found that the sleep homeostat works by activating a specific group of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. They tested their theory on fruit flies by removing the neurons from the insects’ brains. And as expected, they found that the flies without the homeostat neurons did not keep a regular sleep pattern anymore.
Now that scientists have pinpointed (定位) the exact place in the brain – or, the “switch” – that regulates sleep, they can begin investigating (研究) how to activate these cells at any given time so that people can be sent to sleep instantly.
More importantly, figuring out how sleep mechanisms work may also help us to one day unravel one of the oldest mysteries of all: why do we need to sleep in the first place?
小題1:What is the article mainly about?
A．A new way to treat sleep disorders.
B．The discovery of the sleep “homeostat”.
C．Advice on what to do when you fail to fall asleep.
D．A comparison of the two mechanisms that regulate sleep.
小題2:How does the author explain the function of the sleep homeostat?
A．Through examples.
B．With comparisons.
C．Through cause and effect analysis.
D．By presenting research findings.
小題3:What can we conclude from the article?
A．Generally, the sleep homeostat has less effect on people during the day than at night.
B．There is little scientists can do to affect the way the sleep homeostat works.
C．What makes us go to sleep at night is probably a combination of the two mechanisms.
D．The more homeostat neurons there are in one’s brain, the more easily one can fall asleep.
小題4:The underlined word “unravel” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.
A．put up withB．figure outC．keep track ofD．take notice of

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

A recent study, published in last week’s Journal of the American Medical Association, offers a picture of how risky(冒險的) it is to get a lift from a teenage driver. Indeed, a 16-year-old driver with three or more passengers is three times as likely to have a deadly accident as a teenager driving alone, while the risk of death for drivers between 30 and 59 decreases with each additional passenger.
The authors also found that the death rates for teenage drivers increased sharply after 10 p.m., and especially after midnight. With passengers in the car, the driver was even more likely to die in a late-night accident.
Robert Foss, a scientist at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, says the higher death rates for teenage drivers have less to do with “really stupid behavior” than with just a lack of driving experience. “The basic issue,” he says, “is that adults who are responsible for issuing licenses fail to recognize how complex and skilled a task driving is.”
Both he and the author of the study believe that the way to mitigate (使……緩解)the problem is to have states set up so-called graduated licensing systems, in which getting a license is a multistage process. A graduated license requires that a teenager first prove himself capable of driving in the presence of an adult, followed by a period of driving with night or passenger limits, before graduating to full driving licenses.
Graduated licensing systems have reduced teenage driver crashes, according to recent studies. About half of the states now have some sort of graduated licensing system in place, but only 10 of those states have limits on passengers. California is the strictest, with a new driver under 20 forbidden to carry any passenger (without the presence of an adult over 25) for the first six months.
小題1:Which of the following situations can we infer is most dangerous according to the passage?
A．A teenager driving after midnight with passengers in the car.
B．Adults giving a lift to teenagers on the highway after 10 p.m.
C．Adults driving with three or more teenage passengers late at night.
D．A teenager getting a lift from a stranger on the highway at midnight.
小題2:According to Robert Foss, the high death rate of teenage drivers is mainly because of _______.  
A．their frequent driving at night
B．their improper ways of driving
C．their driving with passengers
D．their lack of driving experience
小題3:According to Paragraph 3, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A．The licensing departments are partly responsible for teenagers' driving accidents.
B．Driving is too complex a skill for teenagers to learn.
C．Teenagers should be forbidden to apply to take driving lessons.
D．Teenagers should spend more time learning to drive.
小題4:A suggested measure to be taken to reduce teenagers' driving accidents is that_______.
A．driving in the presence of an adult should be made a rule
B．the licensing system should be improved
C．they should not be allowed to drive after 10 p.m.
D．they should be forbidden to take on passengers

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

You might not know it, but there is something wonderful at your fingertips. You can make people happier, healthier and more hard-working just by touching their arms or holding their hands.
Doctors say that body contact is a kind of medicine that can work wonders. When people are touched, the quantity of hemoglobin (血紅蛋白)－a type of matter that produces the red color in blood increases greatly. This results in more oxygen reaching every part of the body and the whole body benefits. In experiments, bottle-fed baby monkeys were separated from their mothers for the first ten days of life. They became sad and negative. Studies showed the monkeys were more probable to become ill than other babies that were allowed to stay with their mothers.
Human babies react in much the same way. Some years ago, a scientist noticed that some well-fed babies in a clean nursery became weak. Yet babies in another nursery were growing healthily, even though they ate less well and were not kept as clean. The reason, he concluded, was that they often had touches from nurses.         
Experiments show that most people like being touched. And nearly all doctors believe touch helps to reduce patients' fear of treatment. Of course there is time when a touch is not welcome. But even if we don't like being touched, a smile can make us feel better. Smiling increases blood flow and starts the production of "happy brain" chemicals. So let's have a big smile and don't forget to keep in touch.
小題1:Which of the following is NOT true?
A．Everyone knows that body contact can make people happier.
B．People may work harder because of body contact.
C．Your fingertips can do something.
D．People may not understand the importance of touching.
小題2:According to the passage _____.
A．human brains need oxygen and blood supply now and then
B．touches from doctors and nurses have nothing to do with treatment
C．new-born baby monkeys should stay away from their mothers
D．not all the people like being touched
小題3:The word "benefits" in the second paragraph probably means _____.
A．to be useful or helpful
B．to get something useful or helpful
C．to be ill
D．to be hurt
小題4:The best title for the passage might be _____.
A．Why People TouchB．Smile and Touch
C．Wonders of TouchD．Touch or Not

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