Thirteen vehicles lined up last March to race across the Mojave Desert, seeking a million in prize money. To win, they had to finish the 142-mile race in less than 10 hours. Teams and watchers knew there might be no winner at all, because these vehicles were missing a key part—drivers.
DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, organized the race as part of a push to develop robotic vehicles for future battlefields. But the Grand Challenge, as it was called, just proved how difficult it is to get a car to speed across an unfamiliar desert without human guidance. One had its brake lock up in the starting area, Another began by throwing itself onto a wall. Another got tied up by bushes near the road after 1.9 miles.
One turned upside down. One took off in entirely the wrong direction and had to be disabled by remote (遠(yuǎn)距離的) consol. One went a little more than a mile and rushed into a fence; another managed to go for six miles but stuck on a rock. The “winner,”if there was any, reached 7.8 miles before it ran into a long, narrow hole, and the front wheels caught on fire.
“You get a lot of respect for natural abilities of the living things,” says Reinhold Behringer, who helped design two of the ear-size vehicles for a company called Sci-Autonics, “Even ants (螞蟻) can do all these tasks effortlessly. It’s very hard for us to put these abilities into our machines.”
The robotic vehicles, though with necessary modern equipment such as advanced computers and GPS guidance, had trouble figuring out fast enough the blocks ahead that a two-year-old human recognizes immediately. Sure, that very young child, who has just only learned to walk, may not think to wipe apple juice off her face, but she already knows that when there’s a cookie in the kitchen she has to climb up the table, and that when she gets to the cookie it will taste good. She is more advanced, even months old, than any machine humans have designed.
【小題1】DARPA organized the race in order to ______.

A.raise money for producing more robotic vehicles
B.push the development of vehicle industry
C.train more people to drive in the desert
D.improve the vehicles for future wars
【小題2】From the passage we know “robotic vehicles” are a kind of machines that ______.
A.can do effortlessly whatever tasks living things can
B.can take part in a race across 142 miles with a time limit
C.can show off their ability to turn themselves upside down
D.can move from place to p1ace without being driven by human beings
【小題3】In the race, the greatest distance one robotic vehicle covered was_____ .     
A.a(chǎn)bout eight miles B.six miles C.a(chǎn)lmost two miles D.a(chǎn)bout one mile
【小題4】In the last paragraph, the writer implies that there is a long way to go____ .
A.for a robotic vehicle to finish a 142-mile race without any difficulties
B.for a little child who has just learned to walk to reach the cookie on the table
C.for a robotic vehicle to deal with a simple problem that a little child can solve
D.for a little child to understand the importance of wiping apple juice off its face


【小題1】D
【小題2】D
【小題3】A
【小題4】C

解析試題分析:文章介紹DARPA組織一次汽車(chē)越野比賽,目的是想改進(jìn)未來(lái)戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上的機(jī)器人汽車(chē),介紹這些機(jī)器汽車(chē)的優(yōu)點(diǎn)和缺點(diǎn)。
【小題1】細(xì)節(jié)題:根據(jù)第二段for future battlefields可以推測(cè)DARPA組織這次比賽是軍事目的是想改進(jìn)未來(lái)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)用車(chē),選D。
【小題2】猜測(cè)詞義題。根據(jù)第二段第二句“without human guidance”可以推斷出“robotic vehicles”是一種不要人操作的汽車(chē),選D。
【小題3】細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)第三段最后一句The “winner,”if there was any, reached 7.8 miles before it ran into a long, narrow hole, and the front wheels caught on fire.可知獲勝者跑了7.8英里,接近8英里。選A。
【小題4】推斷題。a long way to go遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不能。根據(jù)最后一段“she is more advanced...than any machine...”可知機(jī)器遠(yuǎn)不如人的智力。其他沒(méi)有提到。選C。
考點(diǎn):考查科普類短文

練習(xí)冊(cè)系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源: 題型:閱讀理解

Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.
The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.
Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of it for carrying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.
But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But it also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.
There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realise just how much unnecessary material are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.
【小題1】What does the underlined phrase “over-consumption” refer to?

A.Using too much packaging. B.Recycling too many wastes.
C.Making more products than necessary. D.Having more material than is needed.
【小題2】The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _______.
A.the tendency of cutting household waste B.the fact of packaging overuse
C.the rapid growth of super markets D.the increase of packaging recycling
【小題3】According to the text, recycling ______.
A.helps control the greenhouse effect B.means burning packaging for energy
C.is the solution to gas shortage D.leads to a waste of land
【小題4】What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
A.Unpackaged products are of bad quality. B.Supermarkets care more about packaging.
C.It is improper to judge quality by packaging. D.Other products are better packaged than food.
【小題5】What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A.Fighting wastefulness is difficult. B.Needless material is mostly recycled.
C.People like collecting recyclable waste. D.The author is proud of their consumer culture.

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源: 題型:閱讀理解

Imagine going to sleep then waking up speaking another language. It may sound impossible, but it's actually happened.
The phenomenon(現(xiàn)象)of being able to suddenly speak another language is known as“Xenoglossia”, from the Greek words“xenos”(foreigner)and “glossa”(language).
It once happened to a 13­year­old girl from Croatia. After being unconscious(不省人事的)because of a disease for 24 hours in 2010,she woke up speaking fluent German. The girl, who came from the town of Knin in the south of Croatia,was studying German at school but she'd only started recently. Her parents said that she'd been reading German books and watching German TV at home, but that she wasn't fluent in the language.However ,since waking up, she's been able to communicate “perfectly”in German.What's really strange is that she's now unable to speak Croat,her mother language.Doctors at Split's KB Hospital have asked some experts to examine the girl as they try to find out what caused the change.Dr Mijo Milas said,“In earlier times this would have been considered as a miracle(奇跡);we prefer to think that there must be an explanation—it's just that we haven't found it yet.”
In 2007,Matej Kus from Czech became unconscious after a motorbike accident. On waking up 45 minutes later,he could speak fluent English.Matej was only 18 years old at the time, and had just started studying the language and so was at a low level.Peter Waite,Kus's teammate said,“I couldn't believe what I was hearing.It was really clear English.It was unbelievable to hear him talk in unbroken English.”Unluckily,Matej's new language skills didn't last.Two days later, when he recovered fully from the accident, he'd completely forgotten his English.
We still don't know exactly what happened to the two people. Perhaps scientists will discover something new and exciting. But until then, keep studying!
【小題1】According to the passage,what is“Xenoglossia”?

A.That someone becomes unconscious.
B.That someone speaks a new language in a sudden.
C.That someone doesn't like his mother language.
D.That someone is able to speak Greek suddenly.
【小題2】What does the underlined word “It” in Para.3 probably refer to?
A.Having accidents.
B.Speaking fluent German.
C.The phenomenon of Xenoglossia.
D.Being unable to speak.
【小題3】We can learn from Paragraph 3 that the girl from Croatia ______.
A.wanted to know what caused her change
B.believed she had a talent for language
C.didn't study German for a long time
D.didn't like learning German
【小題4】Which of the following is TURE according to the test?
A.Matej Kus is now afraid of motorbike racing.
B.The girl from Croatia lost consciousness for several days.
C.The girl from Croatia was knocked unconscious in an accident.
D.Matej Kus could only speak a little English before the accident .

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源: 題型:閱讀理解

American researchers found females are the more talkative sex because of a special “l(fā)anguage protein(蛋白質(zhì))” in the brain.
The study, conducted by neuroscientists (神經(jīng)學(xué)家)and psychologist from the University of Maryland, concluded that women talked more because they had more of the Foxp2 protein. The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that higher levels were found among humans that were women but in rats that were males. Their findings came after it was previously claimed that ladies speak about 20,000 words a day – over 13,000 more than men. “This study is one of the first to report a sex difference in the expression of a language-associated protein in humans or animals,” said Prof Margaret McCarthy, who led the study. In their study, the researchers attempted to determine what might make male rats more vocal than their female friends. 
They separated four-day-old rats from their mothers and then counted the number of times they cried out in the “ultrasonic range”, the frequencies higher than humans can hear, over five minutes. While both sexes called out hundreds of cries, the males called out twice as often, they found. But when the pups were returned to their mother’s cage, she fussed over her sons first. Tests conducted on the parts of the brain known to be associated with vocalcalls showed the male pups have up to twice as much Foxp2 protein as the females. The researchers then increased the production in the brains of female pups and reduced it in males. This led to the female rats crying out more often and their mothers showing more interest to them. In contrast, males became less “talkative”.
The researchers then tested samples from ten children, aged between three and five, which showed that females had up to 30 per cent more of the Foxp2 protein than males, in a brain area key to language in humans.
“Based on our observations, we assume higher levels of Foxp2 in girls and higher levels of Foxp2 in male rats is an indication that Foxp2 protein levels are associated with the more communicative sex,” said Prof McCarthy.
“Our results imply Foxp2 as a component of the neurobiological basis of sex differences in vocal communication in mammals. ”
【小題1】From the second paragraph, we can learn that ________.

A.women always speak more words than men
B.men and male rats have low levels of language protein
C.women and male rats have similar levels of Foxp2
D.McCarthy isn’t the first to find females more talkative
【小題2】The underlined phrase “fussed over” in the third paragraph probably means______.
A.paid attention toB.related toC.put pressure onD.counted on
【小題3】The researchers carried out the experiments on rats in order to _______.
A.test which part of the brain is key to language in rats and humans
B.prove the levels of Foxp2 protein in humans and rats are different
C.determine the reason why female rats are more talkative than male rats
D.discover the association between Foxp2protein and vocal communication
【小題4】Which of the following can be the best title for the passage ?
A.Tests on humans and rats
B.Why women are the talkative sex
C.Sex differences in Foxp2 protein
D.Foxp2 protein determines oral ability

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源: 題型:閱讀理解

Baekeland and Hartmann report that the " short sleepers"  had been more or less average in  their sleep needs until the men were in their teens. But at about age 15 0r so, the men voluntarily  began cutting down their nightly sleep time because of pressures from school, work, and other  activities. These men tended to regard their nightly periods of unconsciousness as bothersome interruptions in their daily routines.
In general, these "short sleepers" appeared ambitious, active, energetic and cheerful. They  stuck to their opinions, and were very sure about their job choices..They often held several jobs at  once, or worked full-or part-time while going to school. And many of them had a strong urge to appear "normal"  or " acceptable"  to their friends and colleagues.
When asked to remember their dreams,  the " short sleepers"  did poorly. More than this,  they seemed to prefer not remembering. Similarly, their usual way of dealing with psychological problems was not to admit that the problem existed, and then to keep busy in the hope that the trouble would go away.
The sleep patterns of the " short sleepers"  were similar to,  but less extreme than,  sleep patterns shown by many mental patients categorized as manic  (躁狂者).
The "long sleepers" were quite different indeed. Baekeland and Hanmann report that these young men have been lengthy sleepers since childhood. They seemed to enjoy their sleep, protected it, and were quite concemed when sometimes they didn't have their desired 9 hours of nightly bed rest. They tended to remember their dreams much better than the  " short sleepers".      Many of the "long sleepers" were shy, anxious, quiet, nervous, passive, mildly depressed, and unsure of themselves ( particularly in social situations) . Several openly stated that sleep was an escape from their daily problems.
【小題1】From the passage, we can leam that           .

A."short sleepers" need less sleep by nature
B."long sleepers" sleep a longer period of time during the day
C.many "long sleepers" preserve their sleeping habit formed during their childhood
D.many " short sleepers" have to reduce their nightly sleep time because of busy work
【小題2】Many "short sleepers" are likely to hold the view that _____.
A.sleep is a good way to escape from the reality
B.sleep is not so important as their daily activities
C.sleep affects their judgment on some important things
D.sleep is the best way to deal with psychological troubles
【小題3】 It can be learned from the passage that the"short sleepers" _____.
A.do not know how to relax properly
B.a(chǎn)re more unlikely to run into mental problems
C.a(chǎn)re full of energy even under the pressures of life
D.often pay little attention to the consequences of inadequate sleep
【小題4】 When sometimes they cannot enjoy adequate sleep, the "long sleepers" might ______.
A.a(chǎn)ppear disturbed B.become energetic
C.feel dissatisfied D.be extremely unhappy

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源: 題型:閱讀理解

Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy.After all, you probably sing when you are happy.
Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy.However they sing most of the time for a very different reason.Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.
Do you know what a “territory” is? A territory is an area that an animal, usually the male, claims (聲稱) as its own.Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same species are welcome.Your house is your territory where only your family and friends are welcome.If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you, you might shout.Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.
If so, you have actually frightened the stranger away without having to fight him.A bird does the same thing.But he expects an outsider almost any time, especially at nesting (筑巢) season.So he is screaming all the time, whether he can see an outsider or not.This screaming is what we call a bird’s song, and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.
【小題1】Some scientists believe that most of the time bird’s singing is actually ______.

A.a(chǎn)n expression of happinessB.a(chǎn) way of warning
C.a(chǎn)n expression of angerD.a(chǎn) way of greeting
【小題2】What is a bird’s “territory”?
A.A place where families of other species are not accepted.
B.A place where a bird may shout at the top of its voice.
C.An area for which birds fight against each other.
D.An area which a bird considers to be its own.
【小題3】Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season?
A.Because they want to invite more friends.
B.Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away.
C.Because they want to find outsiders around.
D.Because their singing helps get rid of their fears.
【小題4】How does the writer explain birds’ singing?
A.By comparing birds with human beings.
B.By reporting experiment results.
C.By describing birds’ daily life.
D.By telling a bird’s story.

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源: 題型:閱讀理解

Welcome to your future life!
You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people at your age could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging (抗衰老的) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age!www.zxxk.com
You say to your shirt, “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2035, “smart clothes” contain particles (粒子) much smaller than the cells in your body. The particles can be programmed to change your clothes’ color or pattern.
You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says, “You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk, and it knows the milk is old. In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.
It’s time to go to work. In 2025, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve. Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true? “For new technology to succeed,” says scientist Andrew Zolli, “it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example—what will be the next?
【小題1】We can learn from the text that in the future ________.

A.people will never get old 
B.everyone will look the same 
C.red will be the most popular color  
D.clothes will be able to change their pattern 
【小題2】What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
A.Milk will be harmful to health. 
B.More drinks will be available for sale. 
C.Food in the grocery store will carry electronic information. 
D.Milk in the grocery store will stay fresh much longer. 
【小題3】Which of the following is mentioned in the text?
A.Nothing can replace the Internet. 
B.Fridges will know what people need. 
C.Jacket sleeves can be used as a guide. 
D.Cars will be able to drive automatically (自動(dòng)的). 
【小題4】What is the text mainly about?
A.Food and clothing in 2035. 
B.Future technology in everyday life. 
C.Medical treatments of the future. 
D.The reason for the success of new technology. 

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源: 題型:閱讀理解

Cast your mind back to the past twenty years and hardly did anyone have their own email account. The Internet had just taken off in 1991 and people were only using office and PC­based email exchanges.
In the mid 1990s external email providers appeared. The most famous of these was Hotmail, the first free email provider and web­based email service. Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith launched Hotmail on July 4, 1996. And Microsoft took note of and bought Hotmail for $400 million on December 30, 1997, a nice birthday present for Bhatia who turned 29 that day. It was relaunched as MSN Hotmail and in 2007 was relaunched again as Windows Live Hotmail.
Fast forward the present day and most of us have at least a personal web­based email account. It seems impossible to live without them. One of the biggest advantages of email is the fact that communication has become so much easier, especially with those across different time zones. Email takes seconds to send a message whereas letters, as we used to communicate by, could take weeks. Of course there was the fax, that beeping invention from the 1980s, but it wasn’t as secure as email and you never knew if the person on the other end had picked up your fax or if it had got lost somewhere in the office.
In conclusion, one of the best inventions from the 1990s has to be email. But sometimes people are too closely connected to their email and have a compulsion to check it several times a day. At work, people have become lazy and instead of going to speak to the person sitting next to them, they send an email,causing an in box to pile up with more time spent reading email and responding rather than working. Clearly, an invention that saved time because of its quick and speedy connection can now also cause us to waste a lot of time.
【小題1】The earliest web-based email came into being probably _______.

A.in 1991B.in 1996C.in 1997D.in 2007
【小題2】The author mentions “fax” in the third paragraph in order to tell us that _______.
A.it is exactly as good as email
B.it is much better than email
C.it is less convenient than email
D.it is easier and faster than email
【小題3】The underlined word “compulsion” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_______”.
A.strong desireB.common senseC.special curiosityD.general idea
【小題4】Which is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A.We should check email boxes frequently.
B.Lazy people like sending an email.
C.Email brings us great convenience.
D.Good inventions also cause problems.

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源: 題型:閱讀理解

Dan Bebber is a senior research fellow at the University of Exeter in Britain. He says research has shown that wild plants and animals are moving toward Earth's North and South poles as the planet warms.
Mr Bebber wanted to know if the same thing was happening with organisms that attack agricultural crops. He examined reports of first sightings of new insects and diseases around the world. The records came from CABI - the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International. He says the group began collecting information from developing and industrialized countries years ago.
Dan Bebber and his research team studied 612 different organisms - from viruses and bacteria to insects like beetles and butterflies. They found that since 1960, crop pests and diseases have been moving toward the poles at an average rate of about 3 kilometers each year. Mr Bebber says this puts the most productive farmland in the world in danger.
"As new species of pests and diseases evolve and potentially the environment for them becomes more amenable at higher latitudes, the pressure on the breadbaskets of the world is going to increase."
Farmers face other threats. Invasive species passed through trade are also causing problems. Gene Kritsky is an Entomologist at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio. He specialises in the study of insects. He says climate change may improve conditions for some invasive species.
“It means that species in other parts of the world that might do well in warmer temperatures can now do well in the breadbasket of America.”
Another Entomologist Christian Krupke of Purdue University says the effects of these changes will depend very much on the crop, the insect and the disease. But he says the research is a warning sign that people should care about climate change and do something about it.
【小題1】The purpose of Dan Bebber’s research was to find ______.

A.if farmland could be moved to colder places thanks to global warming
B.if diseases and insects harmful to crops were going towards colder areas
C.if organisms were moving to the north and south poles
D.if the number of crop pests was increasing
【小題2】According to Dan Bebber, if crop pests keep moving towards the poles, ______.
A.it will be hard for farmers to kill them
B.the most productive farmland will produce more crops
C.the earth will not produce enough food to support the world
D.the conditions for some crops may be improved
【小題3】Which of the following is not a threat that farmers have to face?
A.Climate change helps crop pests to adapt to new environment.
B.Foreign species are brought in by trade.
C.Invasive species doing well in warmer places might do well in America.
D.The impacts of the climate and species changes on crops are not easy to determine.
【小題4】The underlined word “amenable” in the fourth paragraph most probably means ______.
A.a(chǎn)greeableB.terribleC.unfriendlyD.changeable

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊(cè)答案