Since the 1970s, scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers. Brain-computer interface(BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.
Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic school in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated（展示）a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person’s thoughts.
In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right band. He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts.
“our brain has billions of nerve ceils. These send signals through the spinal cord （脊髓）to the muscles to give us the ability to move. But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles,” Tavella says. “Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices.”
The researchers designed a special cap for the user. This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp(头皮) and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path. They help the computer react to commands from the brain.
Prof. Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands. “The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices. One example is this wheelchair.”
He says his team has set two goals. One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit frotn. And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technology over long periods of time.
1.
BCI is a technology that can
A. help to update computer systems B. link the human brain with computers
C. help the disabled to recover D. control a person's thoughts
2.
How" did Tavella operate the wheelchair in the laboratory?
A. By controlling his muscles. B. By talking to the machine.
C. By moving his hand. D. By using his mind.
3.
Which of the following shows the path of the signals described in Paragraph 5?
A. scalp→computer→cap→wheelchair
B. computer→cap→scalp→wheelchair
C. scalp→cap→computer→wheelchair
D. cap→computer→scalp→wheelchair
4.
The team will test with real patients to
A. make profits from them B. prove the technology useful to them
C. make them live longer D. learn about their physical condition
5.
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A. Switzerland, the BCI Research Center
B. New Findings About How the Human Brain Works
C. BCI Could Mean More Freedom for the Disabled
D. Robotic Vehicles Could Help to Cure Brain Injuries
Diana Jacobs thought her family had a workable plan to pay for college for her 21-year-old twin sons: a combination of savings, income, scholarships, and a modest amount of borrowing. Then her husband lost his job, and the plan fell apart.
“I have two kids in college, and I want to say ‘come home,’ but at the same time I want to provide them with a good education,” says Jacobs.
The Jacobs family did work out a solution: They asked and received more aid form the schools, and each son increased his borrowing to the maximum amount through the federal loan (贷款) program. They will each graduate with $20,000 of debt, but at least they will be able to finish school.
With unemployment rising, financial aid administrators expect to hear more families like the Jacobs. More students are applying for aid, and more families expect to need student loans. College administrators are concerned that they will not have enough aid money to go around.
At the same time, tuition（学费）continues to rise. A report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that college tuition and fees increased 439% from 1982 to 2007, while average family income rose just 147%. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade,
“If we go on this way for another 25years, we won’t have an affordable system of higher education,” says Patrick M. Callan, president of the center. “The middle class families have been financing it through debt. They will send kids to college whatever it takes, even if that means a huge amount of debt.”
Financial aid administrators have been having a hard time as many companies decide that student loans are not profitable enough and have stopped making them. The good news, however, is that federal loans account for about three quarters of student borrowing, and the government says that money will flow uninterrupted.
1.
According to Paragraph 1, why did the plan of Jacobs family fail?
A. The twins wasted too much money.
B. The father was out of work.
C. Their saving ran out.
D. The family fell apart.
2.
How did the Jacobs manage to solve their problem?
A. They asked their kids to come home.
B. They borrowed $20,000 from the school.
C. They encouraged their twin sons to do part-time jobs.
D. They got help from the school and the federal government.
3.
Financial aid administrators believe that _______.
A. more families will face the same problem as the Jacobses
B. the government will receive more letters of complaint
C. college tuition fees will double soon
D. America’s unemployment will fall
4.
What can we learn about the middle class families from the text?
A. They blamed the government for the tuition increase.
B. Their income remained steady in the last decade.
C. They will try their best to send kids to college.
D. Their debts will be paid off within 25 years.
5.
According to the last paragraph, the government will .
A. provide most students will scholarships
B. dismiss some financial aid administrators
C. stop the companies from making student loans
D. go on providing financial support for college students
Tim Richter and his wife, Linda, had taught for over 30 years near Buffalo, New York--he in computers, she in special education. "Teaching means everything to us," Tim would say. In April1998, he learned he would need a heart operation. It was the kind of news that leads to some serious thinking about life's purpose.
Not long after the surgery, Tim saw a brochure describing Imagination Library, a program started by Dolly Parton' s foundation (基金会) that mailed a book every month to children from birth to age five in the singer's home town of Sevier, Tennessee.“I thought, maybe Linda and I could do something like this when we retire," Tim recalls. He placed the brochure on his desk, "as a reminder."
Five years later, now retired and with that brochure still on the desk, Tim clicked on imagination library .com. The program had been opened up to partners who could take advantage of book and postage discounts.
The quality of the books was of great concern to the Richters. Rather than sign up online, they went to Dollywood for a look-see. “We didn’t want to give the children rubbish,” says Linda. The books-reviewed each year by teachers, literacy specialists and Dollywood board members-included classics such as Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day and newer books like Anna Dewdney’s Llama Llama series.
Satisfied, the couple set up the Richter Family Foundation and got to work. Since 2004, they have shipped more than 12,200 books to preschoolers in their in their area. Megan Williams, a mother of four, is more than appreciative: “This program introduces us to books I’ve never heard of .”
The Richters spend about ＄400 a month sending books to 200 children. “Some people sit there and wait to die,” says Tim. “Others get as busy as they can in the time they have left.”
1.
What led Tim to think seriously about the meaning of life?
A. His health problem. B .His love for teaching.
C.The influence of his wife. D .The news from the Web.
2.
What did Tim want to do after learning about Imagination Library?
A.Give out brochures. B .Do something similar.
C. Write books for children D. Retire from being a teacher.
3.
According to the text, Dollly Parton is .
A. a well-known surgeon B. a mother of a four-year-old
C. a singer born in Tennessee D .a computer programmer
4.
Why did the Richters go to Dollywood?
A. To avoid signing up online.
B. To meet Dollywood board members.
C. To make sure the books were the newest.
D. To see if the books were of good quality.
5.
What can we learn from Tim’s words in the last paragraph?
A. He needs more money to help the children.
B. He wonders why some people are so busy.
C. He tries to save those waiting to die.
D. Hconsiders his efforts worthwhile.
Arthur Miller(1915-2005)is universally recognized as one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century. Miller`s father had moved to the USA from Austria Hungary．Drawn like so many other by the“Great American Dream”However, he experienced severe financial hardship when his family business was ruined in the Great Depression of the earlv l930s.
Milles's most famous play, Death of a SaIesman, is a powerful attack on the American system.with its aggressive way of doing business and its insistence on money and social status as indicators of worth. In Willy Loman, the hero of the play, we see a man who has got into double with his worth. Willy is “burnt out” and in the cruel world of business there is no room for sentiment : if he can't do the work, then he is no good to his employer, the Wagner Company, and he must go. Willy is painfully aware of this, and at loss as to what to do with his lack of sucess. He refuses to face the fact that he has failed and kills himself in the end.
When it was first staged in 1949 ,the play was greeted with enthusiastic revews,and it won the Tony Award for Best Play,the New York Drama Critics` Circle Award,and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.It was the first play to win all three of these major awards.
Millerl died of hear failure at his home in Roxbury,Connecticut,on the evening of February 10,2005,the 56th anniversary of the first performance of Death of a Salesman on Broadway.
1.
Why did Arthur Miller' s father move to the USA?
A. He suffered from severe hunger in his home country.
B. He was attracted by the "Great American Dream.
C. He hoped to make his son a dramatist.
D. His family business failed.
2.
The play Death of a Salesman
A. exposes the cruelty of the American business world
B. discusses the ways to get promoted in a company
C. talks about the business career of Arthur Miller
D. focuses on the skills in doing business
3.
What can we learn about Willy Loman?
A. He treats his employer badly.
B. He runs the Wagner Company.
C. He is a victim of the American system.
D. He is regarded as a hero by his colleagues.
4.
After it was first staged, Death of a Salesman
A. achieved huge success
B.won the first Tony Award
C. was warmly welcomed by salesmen
D. was severely attacked by dramatists
5.
What is the text mainly about?
A. Arthur Miller and his family.
B. The awards Arthur Miller won.
C. The hardship Arthur Miller experienced.
D.Arthur Miller and his best-known play.
I first went to hear a live rock concert when I was eight years old. My brother and his friends were all ___36____ of a heavy metal group called Black Wednesday. When they ___37____ that Black Wednesday were going to perform at our local theatre, they all bought ____38___ for performance. However, at the last minute, once of the friends couldn’t go, so my brother __39_____ me the ticket. I was really ___40____!
I remember the buzz (嘈杂声) of excitement inside the theatre as we all found our __41____ . After a few minutes, the lights went down and everybody became ___42____. I could barely make out the stage in the ___43____. We waited. Then there was a roar from the crowd, like an explosion, as the first members of the band ___44____ the stage. My brother leaned over and shouted something in my ear, but I couldn’t ____45___ what he was saying. The first song was already starting and the music was as ____46___ a jet engine. I could ___47____ the drum beats and bass notes in my stomach.
I can’t recall any of the songs that the band played. I just __48_ that I really enjoyed the show and didn’t want it to _ 49_. But in the end, after three encores (加演), the show finished. We left the 50_ and walked unsteadily out onto the pavement. I felt a little dizzy, as if I had just 51_from a long sleep. My ears were still 52_with the beat of the last song.
After the 53 , I became a Black Wednesday fan too for a few years before getting into other kinds of music. Once in a while, 54_, I listen to one of their songs and 55_I’m back at that first show.
1. A. members B. friends C. fans D. volunteers
2. A. guessed B. discovered C. thought D. predicted
3.A. flowers B. drinks C. clothes D. tickets
4.A. booked B. offered C. returned D. found
5. A. relaxed B. embarrassed C. excited D. encouraged
6. A. seats B. entrance C. spots D. space
7.A. comfortable B. quite C. serious D. nervous
8.A. silence B. noise C. darkness D. smoke
9.A.fell upon B.got through C.broke into D.stepped onto
10.A.forget B.hear C. repeat D. bear
11. A.loud B.heard C. sweet D. fast
12.A.feel B.touch C. enjoy D. digest
13. A.realize B.understand C.believe D. remember
14.A.continue B.delay C.finish D. change
15. A.party B.theatre C. opera D. stage
16. A.escaped B.traveled C. benefited D. woken
17. A.aching B.burning C. ringing D. rolling
18. A.competition B. performance C. interview D. celebration
19. A.through B.otherwise C. instead D. besides
20. A.decide B.regret C. conclude D. imagine
She was surprised to find the fridge empty; the child _____ everything!
A. had been eating B. had eaten C. have eaten D. have been eating
