Question

    Pigeons (鸽子) may be considered mice of the sky, but some scientists have found greater value in these urban birds: the blueprint for a new generation of flying machines.

Birds can transform the shape of their wings by fanning out their feathers or moving them closer together. Those adjustments allow birds to cut through the sky more flexibly than rigid drones (无人机). Now, using new insights into exactly how pigeons ‘joints control the spread of their wing feathers, researchers have built a robotic pigeon. This research paves the way for creating more light aircraft, says Dario Floreano, a roboticist in Switzerland not involved in the work.

“What’s really cool about this robot is that you can make adjustments in a robotic wing that you could never do when studying flight in a bird”, says David Lentink, an engineer and biologist at Stanford University. A controllable robotic pigeon solves that problem. In flight tests, Lentink’s team observed that bending only the fingers of one wing eased the robot into a banked turn-offering the first evidence that birds may sometimes use just their fingers to direct in flight. In a second study, Lentink’s group used their robotic wing design to confirm another insight into bird flight: how gaps are prevented from forming between feathers on extended wings.

This is the best set of robotic wings yet for testing how birds adjust their flight feathers to move through the air, says Tyson Hedrick, a biomechanist. But “there’s plenty of room for improvement.” For instance, a future flying robot could include a shoulder joint to investigate how waving a bird’s wings up and down influences flight, he says.

1.What is the newly-found worth of pigeons?

A.They help study other species.

B.They protect other urban birds.

C.They provide proof of mice’s harm.

D.They inspire a new aircraft.

2.What is Dario Floreano’s attitude to the research?

A.Negative. B.Positive.

C.Neutral. D.Critical.

3.What do the underlined words “that problem” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A.Pigeons in flight can hardly be observed.

B.People can’t make adjustments in birds’ wings.

C.It is difficult for pigeons to make a banked turn.

D.Pigeons fail to control the spread of their wing feathers.

4.Where does the text probably come from?

A.A travel journal.

B.A travel brochure.

C.A science fiction.

D.A science magazine.

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.B

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了利用对鸽子的关节如何控制翅膀羽毛伸展的新见解，研究人员已经建造了一个机器鸽子，这是一套用于测试鸟类如何调整飞行羽毛在空中移动的机械翅膀，能够有效帮助科学家研发出新一代的飞行器。

1.细节理解题。根据文章第一段内容“Pigeons may be considered mice of the sky, but some scientists have found greater value in these urban birds: the blueprint for a new generation of flying machines.”可知一些科学家发现鸽子的价值在于它们是新一代飞行机器的蓝图。故选D项。

2.推理判断题。根据文章第二段末尾句内容“This research paves the way for creating more light aircraft, says Dario Floreano, a roboticist in Switzerland not involved in the work.” 可知，在Dario Floreano来看，这项研究为制造更多的轻型飞机铺平了道路，因此可推知他对这项研究的态度是支持的。故选B项。

3.词义猜测题。根据划线短语“that problem”可知，that为指示代词，指代前文提及的内容。因此that problem 应是指代前文：“What’s really cool about this robot is that you can make adjustments in a robotic wing that you could never do when studying flight in a bird”, says David Lentink, an engineer and biologist at Stanford University.( 斯坦福大学的工程师和生物学家David Lentink说：“这个机器人的最酷之处在于，你可以调整机器人的翅膀，而这在研究鸟类飞行时是无法做到的。”)提到的人类无法做到的问题：人类无法像机器人一样在研究鸟类飞行时调整鸟的翅膀。故选B项。

4.推理判断题。根据文章的核心主题为“a robotic pigeon”，因此可知，文章应是科普类文章，应是刊登在科普杂志上。故选D项。