David Miles, an Australian inventor has been accused of cheating desperate farmers by charging up to $50,000 Australian dollars for delivering rain on demand without so much as explaining the technology behind his business.
On the official Miles Research website，Miles explains that in the 1990’s he realized that it was possible to influence weather patterns by creating a bridge between ‘the present’ and a ‘near-future event’ in the physical space-time continuum. He found that by applying small amounts of energy intelligently, even a large, messy weather system approaching from the future could be eased.
While somewhat fascinating, Miles’ explanation does little to explain how he is able to bring rainfall to the lands of farmers. He makes references to famous but debatable concepts like “the butterfly effect”. “We were advised against patenting because if basically exposing how it works, there will be a lot of big companies that invest in hunting out patents,” Miles said “I understand the doubts，the only other way is to fully prove up our science and physics. If we did that, we'll lose it, it will be taken up as a national security interest and it’ll then be weaponized.”
Miles' claims raised suspicions for obvious reasons, including a since-deleted section of his company website, which claimed that his technology used “electromagnetic scalar waves”，which scientists say don’t even exist.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned people against doing business with him, but the Australian inventor claims the ACCC is only trying to defame him and his company, as in reality they are success based - if it doesn’t rain, they don’t get paid.
“Consumers signed the agreement that if by the end of June they receive 100mm, they pay $50,000, if they only receive 50mm, they would only pay $25,000. Anything under half，we don’t want to be paid,” Miles said of a handful of Wimmera farmers who agreed to take him up on his offer to deliver rain.
Believe it or not, one of the farmers who paid David Miles for his so-called rain-making capabilities told ABC Radio that he was quite happy with the results.
1.David Miles claims to be capable of ________.
A.influencing the weather system
B.predicting the future events
C.reducing the atmospheric temperature
D.easing the gravitational energy
2.ACCC issued warning against doing business with Miles because________.
A.he charged too much for the services provided
B.there was no solid science to hack up his technology
C.his practice was a threat to national security interest
D.he didn’t officially patent his technology with ACCC
3.According to Miles，how much will be paid if the farmers receive 15mm of rain?
A.$50,000. B.$25,000.
C.$12,500. D.$0.
4.What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Miles needed safer facilities for his business.
B.Miles brought about good crops as expected.
C.Miles wasn’t discouraged by the critics.
D.Miles was arrested by the local police.
A star athlete stopped by my office and she was eaten up by self-criticism after committing a few errors during a weekend match. “I’m at peak _________ and I practise hard. How is this happening?” This student, like many I teach, believes she should be able to _________ the outcomes of her life by virtue of her hard work.
I study and write about resilience (复原力), and I’m noticing a(n)_________ increase in students like this athlete. When they win, they feel powerful and smart. When they fall short of what they imagine they should _________, however, they are crushed by self-blame.
We talk often about young adults struggling with failure because their parents have protected them from _________. But there is something else at play among the most advantaged in particular: a _________ promise that they can achieve anything if they are willing to work for it.
Psychologists have sourced this phenomenon to a misapplication of “mind-set” research, which has found that praising children for _________ will increase academic performance. Developed by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, mind-set education has spread across classrooms worldwide. But a 2018 analysis found that while praising hard work over ability may benefit economically disadvantaged students, it does not _________ help everyone.
One possible explanation comes from Nina Kumar, who argued in a research paper last year that for teens in wealthy, pressure-cooker communities, “It is not a _________ of motivation and perseverance that is the big problem. __________, it is unhealthy perfectionism and difficulty with backing off when they should, when the fierce drive for achievements is over the top.” This can __________ physical and emotional stress. In a 2007 study, psychologists Gregory Miller determined that adolescent girls who refused to give up the __________ goals showed elevated levels of CRP, a protein that serves as a marker of systemic inflammation (炎症) linked to diabetes, heart disease and other medical conditions.
The cruel reality is that you can do everything in your power and still fail. This knowledge comes early to underrepresented minorities whose experience of discrimination (歧视) and inequality teaches them to __________ what is, for now, largely beyond their control to change. Yet for others, the belief that success is always within their grasp is a setup. Instead of allowing our kids to beat themselves up when things don’t go their way，we should all question a culture that has taught them that how they perform for others is more important than what __________ inspires them and that where they go to college matters more than the kind of person they are. We should be wise to remind our kids that life has a way of disappointing us when we least __________ it. It’s often the people who learn to say “stuff happens” who get up the fastest.
1.A.coolness B.fitness C.goodness D.readiness
2.A.control B.change C.adjust D.celebrate
3.A.amusing B.inspiring C.troubling D.touching
4.A.apply B.approve C.appreciate D.accomplish
5.A.disbelief B.disagreement C.discovery D.discomfort
6.A.bright B.false C.general D.flexible
7.A.virtue B.ability C.effort D.status
8.A.originally B.obviously C.necessarily D.regularly
9.A.choice B.command C.display D.lack
10.A.Instead B.Otherwise C.Therefore D.However
11.A.result from B.apply for C.associate with D.lead to
12.A.Immoral B.impersonal C.impossible D.impolite
13.A.challenge B.accept C.assess D.inquire
14.A.plainly B.probably C.immediately D.actually
15.A.exhibit B.expect C.establish D.recognize
Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
Killer Rabbits
You’d never think of rabbits as dreadful, destructive creatures, would you? Rabbits are cute and love-able. However, Australians discovered 1. harm these cute creatures can do the hard way.
Rabbits were introduced to Australia in 1788 as food animals. By 1827, they were running around large estates, and in 1859, disaster struck. A man released 12 wild rabbits onto his property for hunting and he 2. have thought that was harmless fun. But Australia has no predators（捕食者）3. (adapt) to killing rabbits and none of the diseases that kept their populations 4. control in Europe. The loose rabbits bred like, well, rabbits, and began to take over the countryside. Within a few decades, there were millions. By 1950, there were 600 million rabbits in Australia.
Six hundred million hungry rabbits could do real harm. They caused more damage than any other species introduced to the continent. They ate native plant species 5. they disappeared. They competed for food and shelter with native animals. they caused the extinction or endangerment of numerous plant and animal species. And they were a nightmare for cattle and sheep farmers, 6. animals couldn't get enough grass to eat and starved.
The rabbits did some good, of course. They provided food for poor families. They supported fur industries. But their impact on the environment and major livestock economy was too negative 7.(ignore). People tried trapping them. They even built a huge wall against them. But 8.(effective) weapon was a virus.
9.(test) multiple times, the deadly myxoma virus was released on Australia's rabbits in 1950. The virus had been developed very carefully to affect only rabbits. Nearly 100 percent of the rabbits who caught the disease 10.(die).Populations fell. It was a huge success. Cattle and sheep farming recovered gradually, and threatened plants were better protected. Eventually, rabbits became resistant to the virus.
根据首字母和英文释义填空
1.Tickets are a__________(able to be bought or got) from the box office.
2.After fighting the fire continuously for 12 hours, the firefighters were e___________ (extremely tired).
3.I finally p___________ (to make someone decide to do something through reasoning or argument) her to change her mind.
4.She is still r____________ (to get well again after being ill or hurt, etc) from her operation.
5.Parking is b___________ (to say that something is not allowed) around the harbor in summer.
6.You may not like her, but you have to a___________ (to agree unwillingly that something is true or that someone else is right) that she is good at her job.
7.Before boarding the plane, the security officers need to check every piece of your l________ (the cases, bags etc that you carry when you are travelling).
8.She was extremely a________(feeling worried or nervous) about the results of the final exams.
9.Only 12 of the 140 passengers s_________ (to continue to live after an accident, war or illness) in the horrible air crash.
10.The full-sized double bed o__________ (to take up a space or area) almost the whole room.
语法填空
1.When I got to New York, I had to attend a school for students __________first language was not English.
2.Reading books, _____________ takes the reader to other worlds, is a wonderful way to enjoy life.
3.Luckily, we brought a road map, _______________ the help of __________ we could find the way.
4.The pen, _______________ I paid two dollars, was lost.
5.—I can't find Mr. Smith. Where did you last see him this morning?
—It was in the hotel _______________ he visited yesterday.
6.—I can't find Mr. Smith. Where did you last see him this morning?
—It was in the hotel ____________ he stayed yesterday.
7.___________ was reported in the paper, people in mainland China sent materials to help the flooded area in Taiwan Island.
8.我画的没有她好。
I___________________________________________ she does.
9.他的房子是我的三倍大。
His house is___________________________________mine.
10.它是世界上最吵的鱼了。(noisy)
You won't find a _______________________ fish in the world.
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 control. 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 car-size vehicles for a company called Sci-Autonics. “Even ants (蚂蚁) 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.
1.Watchers doubted if any of the vehicles could finish the race because_____.
A.they did not have any human guidance
B.the road was not familiar to the drivers
C.the distance was too long for the vehicles
D.the prize money was unattractive to the drivers
2.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
3.From the passage we know “robotic vehicles” are a kind of machines that _____.
A.can do effortlessly whatever tasks living thing 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 place without being driven by human beings
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
