What will power your house in the future？Nuclear，wind，or solar power？According to scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US，it might be leaves — but artificial (人造的) ones.
Natural leaves are able to change sunlight and water into energy. It is known as photosynthesis (光合作用)．Now researchers have found a way to imitate this seemingly simple process.
The artificial leaf developed by Daniel Nocera and his colleagues at MIT can be seen as a special silicon chip with catalysts (催化剂)．Similar to natural leaves，it can split water into hydrogen and oxygen when put into a bucket of water. The hydrogen and oxygen gases are then stored in a fuel cell，which uses those two materials to produce electricity，located either on top of a house or beside the house.
Though the leaf is only about the shape of a poker card，scientists claimed that it is promising to be an inexpensive source of electricity in developing countries. “One can imagine villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology,” said Nocera at a conference of the American Chemical Society.
The artificial leaf is not a new idea. The first artificial leaf was invented in 1997 but was too expensive and unstable for practical use. The new leaf，by contrast，is made of cheap materials，easy to use and highly stable. In laboratory studies，Nocera showed that an artificial leaf prototype (原型) could operate continuously for at least 45 hours without a drop in activity.
The wonderful improvements come from Nocera's recent discovery of several powerful，new and inexpensive catalysts. These catalysts make the energy transformation inside the leaf more efficient with water and sunlight. Right now，the new leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural one. Besides，the device can run in whatever water is available；that is，it doesn't need pure water. This is important for some countries that don't have access to pure water.
With the goal to “make each home its own power station” and “give energy to the poor”，scientists believe that the new technology could be widely used in developing countries，especially in India and rural China.
1.Which of the following orders correctly shows how the artificial leaf is used to produce electricity?
a．artificial leaves split water into hydrogen and oxygen
b．the hydrogen and oxygen gases are stored in a fuel cell
c．the artificial leaves are put in water
d．the fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity
A．c，a，b，d B．c，b，a，d
C．b，c，a，d D．c，a，d，b
2.The purpose of the scientists at MIT in developing the new artificial leaf is to________.
A．build up more power stations in the world
B．provide cheaper energy for developing countries
C．offer people in developing countries access to pure water
D．gain a deeper understanding of the photosynthesis process
3.The main idea of this passage is ________.
A．an introduction to the history of artificial leaves
B．a mixture of water power and solar energy
C．giving energy to the poor
D．an invention copying photosynthesis
The extraordinary Eastgate Building in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city, is said to be the only one in the world to use the same cooling and heating principles as the termite mound(白蚁堆).
Architect Mick Pearce used precisely the same strategy when designing the Eastgate Building, which has no air-conditioning and almost no heating. The building—the country’s largest commercial and shopping complex—uses less than 10% of the energy of a conventional building of its size. The Eastgate’s owners saved $3.5 million on a $36 million building because an air-conditioning equipment didn’t have to be imported.
The complex is actually two buildings linked by bridges across a shady, glass-roofed atrium(天井) open to the air. Fans suck fresh air in from the atrium, blow it upstairs through hollow spaces under the floors and from there into each office through baseboard vents(通风口). As it rises and warms, it is drawn out via ceiling vents and finally exists through forty-eight brick chimneys.
During summer’s cool nights, big fans blow air through the building seven times an hour to cool the empty floors. By day, smaller fans blow two changes of air an hour through the building, to circulate the air which has been in contact with the cool floors. For winter days, there are small heaters in the vents.
This is all possible only because Harare is 1600 feet above sea level, has cloudless skies, little dampness and rapid temperature changes—days as warm as 31℃ commonly drop to 14℃ at night. “You couldn’t do this in New York, with its hot summers and cold winters,” Pearce said.
The engineering firm of Ove Arup&Partners monitors daily temperatures. It is found that the temperature of the building has generally stayed between 23℃ and 25℃, with the exception of the annual hot period just before the summer rains in October and three days in November, when a doorkeeper accidentally switched off the fans at night. And the air is fresh—far more so than in air-conditioned buildings, where up to 30% of the air is recycled.
1.Why was Eastgate cheaper to be built than a conventional building?
A. It was designed in a smaller size.
B. No air conditioners were fixed in.
C. Its heating system was less advanced.
D. It used rather different building materials.
2.What does “it” refer to in Paragraph 3?
A. Fresh air from outside. B. Heat in the building.
C. Hollow space. D. Baseboard vent.
3.Why would a building like Eastgate Not work efficiently in New York?
A. New York has less clear skies as Harare.
B. Its dampness affects the circulation of air.
C. New York covers a larger area than Harare.
D. Its temperature changes seasonally rather than daily.
4.The data in the last paragraph suggests Eastgate’s temperature control system_____.
A. allows a wide range of temperatures
B. functions well for most of the year
C. can recycle up to 30% of the air
D. works better in hot seasons
New crime prediction software should reduce not only the murder rate, but the rate of other crimes. Developed by Richard Berk, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, the software has already used in Baltimore and Philadelphia to predict which individuals on probation(缓刑) or parole(假释) are most likely to murder and to be murdered.
“When a person goes on probation or parole he is supervised(监督) by an officer. The question is ‘what level of supervision is appropriate?’” said Berk. It used to be that parole officers used the person’s criminal record, and their judgment to make decisions.
“This research replaces those seat-of-the –pants calculations,” he said.
Technology helps determine level of supervision. On average there is one murder for every 100,000 people. Even among high-risk groups the murder rate is one in 100. Predicting such a rare event is very difficult, but advances in computer technology works.
Years ago, the researchers made a dataset of more than 60,000 various crimes. Using the software they developed, they found some much more likely to commit murder when paroled or probated. They could identify eight future murderers out of 100.
Berk’s software examines roughly two dozen variables(可变因素), from criminal record to geographic location. The type of crimes, and more importantly, the age at which that crime was committed, were two of the most predictive variables.
“People assume that if someone murdered then they will murder in the future,” said Berk. “ What really matters is what that person did as a young individual. Predicting future crimes sounds well. But we aren’t anywhere near being able to do that.”
“Berk’s scientific answer leaves policymakers with difficult questions. By labeling one group of people as high risk, and supervise them closely, there should be fewer murders, which the potential victims should be happy about. It also means that those high-risk individuals will be supervised more aggressively. For human rights advocates, that means punishing people who, most likely, will not commit a crime in the future,” said Bushway. “It comes down to a question of whether you would rather make these errors or those errors.”
1.The underlined words(in Para.3) probably mean___.
A. calculations based on subjective opinions
B. calculations based on widespread voting
C. calculations made by advanced technology
D. calculations based on serious considering
2.For 650 people with crime records, how many potential murderers would the software find?
A. 65. B. 13. C. 52. D. 65.
3.From Para 7, we can infer that______.
A. the technology developed by Richard Berk will soon be widely used in the US
B. the technology would not be widely accepted in the short term
C. whether a person murders or not largely decided by his upbringing while young
D. if a person murdered when he was fifty, he is sure to murder again while on probation
4.Which would be the best title for the passage?
A. Closely Supervise Potential Murders
B. Measures Taken to Prevent Criminal Behavior
C. Technology Revolutionizes Judges’ Way of Working
D. Software is Developed to Predict Criminal Behavior
Men are spending more and more time in the kitchen encouraged by celebrity (名人) chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, according to a report from Oxford University.
The effect of the celebrity role models, who have given cooking a more manly picture, has combined with a more general drive towards sexual equality and men now spend more than twice the amount of time preparing meals than they did in 1961.
According to the research by Prof. Jonatahn Gershuny, who runs the Centre for Time Research at Oxford, men now spend more than half an hour a day cooking, up from just 12 minutes a day in 1961.
Prof. Gershuny said, “The man in the kitchen is part of a much wider social trend. There has been 40 years of sexual equality, but there is another 40 years probably to come.”
Women, who a generation ago spent nearly two hours a day cooking, now spend just one hour and seven minutes—a great fall, but they still spend far more time in the kitchen than men.
Some experts have named these men in aprons as “Gastrosexuals (men using cooking skills to impress friends)”, who have been inspired to pick up a kitchen knife by the success of Ramsay, Oliver as well as other male celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Marco Pierre White and Keith Floyd.
“I was married in 1974. When my father came to visit me a few weeks later, I was wearing an apron when I opened the door. He laughed,” said Prof. Gershuny. “That would never happen now.”
Two-thirds of adults say that they come together to share at least three times a week, even if it is not necessarily around a kitchen or dining room table. Prof. Gershuny pointed out that the family meal was now rarely eaten by all of its members around a table—with many “family meals” in fact taken on the sofa in the sitting room, and shared by family members. “The family meal has changed a lot, and few of us eat—as I did when I was a child—at least two meals a day together as a family. But it has survived in a different format.”
1.What is one reason behind the trend that men spend more time cooking than before?
A. The improvement of cooks’ status.
B. The influence of popular female chefs.
C. The change of female’s view on cooking.
D. The development of sexual equality campaign.
2.What does the author think about the time men and women spend on cooking?
A. Men spend more time cooking than women nowadays.
B. Women spend much less time on cooking than before.
C. It will take 40 years before men spend more time at the stove than women.
D. There is a sharp decline in the time men spend on cooking compared with 1961.
3.How did Prof. Gershuny see the family meal according to the passage?
A. It has become a thing of the past.
B. It is very different from what it used to be.
C. It shouldn’t be advocated in modern times.
D. It is beneficial to the stability of the family.
4.Which is the best title for the passage?
A. The Changes of Family Meals
B. Equality between Men and Women
C. Cooking into a New Trend for Men
D. Cooking—a Thing of the Past for Women
书面表达
五一小长假即将来临， 你班同学就五一假期计划进行讨论，提出了不同看法，请根据提示写一篇短文，并谈谈你的看法。
| 优 点 | 缺 点 |
待在家中 | 花费少、舒适方便 | 不能亲身了解外界 |
外出旅游 | 增长知识、开阔眼界 | 花费多、旅途不便 |
注意：
1 .词数100左右（不含已写好部分）。
2. 短文必须包括表中所列要点，可根据内容分段表述。
3. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。参考词汇：眼界horizon (view)
The May Day is coming. Our class has a discussion about what to do during the holiday._______________________________________________________________
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短文改错
本文中共有10处语言错误,每句最多有两处.错误涉及一个单词的增加,删除和修改.增加:把缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧),并在其下面写出该词.删除:把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉.修改:在错的词下划一横线,并在该词下面写出修改后的词. 注意: 1.每处错误极其修改均限一词.2.只允许修改10处,多者从第11处不记分.
Mr. Smith had a 8-year-old son named Tony, who enjoyed listening to music very much. So he bought a piano to Tony, hoping that he can become a famous pianist one day. The little boy put her heart into practising the piano day after day and seemed enjoy every minute of it. However, half a year later, he told his father that he was tiring of practising the piano. Heard this, Mr. Smith said, “Tony, it is one thing to be fond of listen to music, but it is another thing to perform skillful by yourself. You can never play the piano well even if you don’t practise more.”
