In a little-known part of the counter-terrorism(反恐怖主义) world, one of the most effective detection systems is a 600-pound animal that works for about 20 pounds of fish a day.
Since the 1960s, the United States and a handful of other countries have trained dolphins and sea lions to detect sea mines and swimmers, to recover inert torpedoes(鱼雷)and to test objects used in Naval exercises.
Program officials estimate that the sea lions in the Marine Mammal Program have recovered millions of dollars of U.S. Naval torpedoes and instrumentation dropped on the sea floor.
The U.S. Navy kept its Marine Mammal Program a secret until the 1990s, and this spring CNN became one of only a handful of media outlets to see firsthand how the program works.
The program has trained about 75 Pacific bottlenose dolphins, with natural biosonar (生物声纳) that tracks better than any manmade device; and 35 California sea lions, with superb underwater eyesight.
Not only do these trained marine mammals track and retrieve millions of dollars in U. S. military equipment, they are also helping to save lives.
The Navy won't disclose whether the dolphins and sea lions have effectively intercepted (阻拦)terrorists attempting to do harm to any U.S. facilities.
"Either way, it serves as a deterrent(阻碍) effect." says Christian Harris, operations supervisor for the program. The mammals can be deployed(调动) via C-130 cargo aircraft to perform their missions anywhere in the world within 72 hours. They have been used in exercises from Alaska to Hawaii, operating in great temperature and environmental ranges. They also have the capability to operate off vessels.
Dolphins most recently were deployed in the Iraq war, performing mine detection and clearance operations in the Persian Gulf to ensure safe passage for humanitarian ships delivering aid. Some of these Iraq war "veterans" are now back home, tasked with a new mission: guarding nuclear submarines in their homeports of Bremerton, Washington, and Groton, Connecticut.
1.The underlined word "retrieve" in Paragraph 6 can be replaced by ________.
A.find out B.recover C.save D.detect
2.Which is NOT the purpose of the Marine Mammal Program?
A.To detect sea mines and swimmers.
B.To save lives of people.
C.To recover inert torpedoes.
D.To help the U.S. Naval test equipment.
3.What can be inferred according to the text?
A.These trained marine mammals eat pounds of fish a day.
B.The U.S. Navy performed the Marine Mammal Program for about 30 years secretly.
C.These mammals can carry out a task everywhere.
D.A lot of countries will train dolphins and sea lions for anti-terrorism.
4.What would be the best title for the passage?
A.The Special Skills of Marine Mammals B.The U.S. Anti-terrorism Program
C.Exceptional Anti-terrorism Member D.Trained Marine Mammals
Everyone knows about straight-A students.We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge(报复)of the Nerds.They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book.They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports.
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School.She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society.For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject.Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque.He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station.Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses.
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer.“Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students, ” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students.“Knowing how to make the most of your innate(天生的)abilities counts for more.Much more.”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ.For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down.
Hard work isn’t the whole story, either.“It’s not how long you sit there with the books open, ” said one of the many-A students we interviewed.“It’s what you do while you’re sitting.” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates.
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn.
1.The underlined word “nerds” can probably be .
A.dull bookworms lacking sports and social skills
B.successful top students popular with their peers
C.students with certain learning difficulties
D.born leaders crazy about social activities
2.What can we conclude from the first paragraph?
A.Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students.
B.People have unfavorable impression on straight-A students.
C.Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films.
D.Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society.
3.Some students become super-achievers mainly because .
A.they are born cleverer than others B.they work longer hours at study
C.they make full use of their abilities D.they know the shortcut to success
4.What can we infer from the passage?
A.IQ is more important than hard work in study.
B.The brightest students can never get low grades.
C.Top students certainly achieve all-around developments.
D.Students with average IQ can become super-achievers.
People do not analyze every problem they meet.Sometimes they try to remember a solution from the last time they had a 36 problem.They often accept the opinions or ideas of other people.Other times they begin to act without thinking; they try to find a solution by trial and error. 37 , when all of these methods fail, the person with a problem has to start analyzing.There are six 38 in analyzing a problem.
First the person must recognize that there is a problem.For example, Sam's bicycle is broken, and he cannot ride it to class as he usually does.Sam must 39 that there is a problem with his bicycle.
Next the person must 40 the problem.Before Sam can repair his bicycle, he must know why it does not work.For example, he must 41 the parts that are wrong.
Now the person must look for 42 that will make the problem clearer and lead to 43 solutions.For example, suppose Sam decides that his bike does not work because there is something wrong with the brakes. 44 , he can look in his bicycle repair book and read about brakes, 45 his friends at the bike shop, or look at his brakes carefully.
After 46 the problem, the person should have 47 suggestions for a possible solution.Take Sam as an example 48 , his suggestions might be: tighten or loosen the brakes; buy new brakes and change the old ones.
In the end, one 49 seems to be the solution to the problem.Sometimes the 50 idea comes quite 51 because the thinker suddenly sees something new or sees something in a 52 way.Sam, for example, suddenly sees there is a piece of chewing gum(口香糖)stuck to a brake.He 53 hits on the solution to his problem: he must 54 the brake.
Finally the solution is 55 .Sam does it and finds his bicycle works perfectly.In short, he has solved the problem.
1. A.usual B.serious C.similar D.common
2. A.Instead B.Besides C.Otherwise D.However
3. A.conditions B.ways C.stages D.orders
4. A.prove B.explain C.show D.see
5. A.find B.judge C.describe D.face
6. A.determine B.check C.correct D.recover
7. A.skills B.answers C.explanation D.information
8. A.exact B.possible C.real D.special
9. A.Once in a while B.In other words C.First of all D.At this time
10. A.talk to B.look for C.agree with D.depend on
11. A.settling down B.discussing C.comparing with D.studying
12. A.enough B.extra C.several D.countless
13. A.again B.secondly C.also D.alone
14. A.conclusion B.suggestion C.decision D.discovery
15. A.clear B.next C.final D.new
16. A.late B.unexpectedly C.clearly D.often
17. A.different B.simple C.quick D.sudden
18. A.easily B.fortunately C.clearly D.immediately
19. A.separate B.clean C.loosen D.remove
20. A.completed B.recorded C.tested D.accepted
—Here is a ticket for you, Sir.
— I wasn’t speeding.
A.what’s the matter? B.I’m sorry.
C.Thank you. D.My pleasure.
There is a possibility that these hens could be frightened and lay fewer eggs a sudden loud noise.
A.should there be B.there was
C.would there be D.there having been
—I’m going to the post office.
— you’re there, can you buy me some stamps?
A.Because B.While C.As D.If