Question

    There’s a reason humans have been building homes from wood for 10,000 years. It’s an excellent building material. But since it’s not transparent (透明的), we’re still in the habit of cutting windows in our houses.

But what if wood could be made transparent?

Researchers in Sweden have been trying to do just that. They’ve created a clear wood material they hope could one day be used for more energy-saving building.

“We chemically made wood transparent”, says Celine Montanari, a researcher at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Montanari and her team took wood and removed its lignin(木质素), and filled the resulting micro holes with a special chemical. Then the wood looked rather like the frosted glass of a shower door. They took the material one step further, mixing it with polyethylene glycol, a material that melts at 80 degrees Fahrenheit. When it melts, it absorbs energy and becomes transparent, then releases energy when cooled. In theory, this means the new wood material could be used to make windows that absorb energy during the hot part of the day and release it into the home when it gets cold at night. It makes the new wood an even more eco-friendly material by keeping indoor temperatures constant.

This is not a new technique, says Mark Swihart, a professor at University at Buffalo. Materials that store and release energy are not new either. “The thing that seems to be new is their way of the energy storage.” Swihart says.

Using wood as a base material is attractive because it has strength that’s hard to reproduce in other materials at the same cost, Swihart says. Whether or not the new transparent wood will be successful will depend in large part on how cheaply it can be made, he says. It’s also difficult to get new material widely used by the building industry, as there are existing supply chains for things like glass.

Montanari and her team are currently looking at increasing the heat storage capacity(储热性能) of the transparent wood, for greater energy savings. They’re also studying how to increase production to an industrial scale(规模). They hope to have a product ready for market within five years.

1.What are researchers in Sweden trying to do?

A.Construct all-glass buildings.

B.Develop see-through wood.

C.Create new frosted glass for future buildings.

D.Figure out the reason people use wood for buildings.

2.How is the fifth paragraph developed?

A.By giving example.

B.By analyzing reasons.

C.By describing processes

D.By making comparisons.

3.What does Swihart say about the invention of Montanari and her team?

A.It costs too much

B.It uses a brand-new technique.

C.It will face uncertainty in the market.

D.It will be widely used in the building industry.

4.What are Montanari and her team doing with their new invention now?

A.Making it cheaper.

B.Improving its performance.

C.Putting it into production.

D.Building a supply chain.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.C

4.B

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要讲了瑞典的研究者正在研发一种透明木材。这种透明木材不仅能满足人们对光线的需求，还可以节约能源。

1.

细节理解题。根据第三段中“Researchers in Sweden have been trying to do just that. They’ve created a clear wood material they hope could one day be used for more energy-saving building.”（瑞典的研究人员一直在尝试这样做。他们创造了一种透明的木制材料，希望有一天可以用于更多的节能建筑。）可知，瑞典的研究者正在研发透明木材。故选B项。

2.

推理判断题。根据第五段中“took wood and removed its lignin... Then the wood looked…They took the material one step further”可知，第五段主要按照研发这种透明木材的过程展开的。故选C项。

3.

推理判断题。根据倒数第二段中的“Whether or not the new transparent wood will be successful will depend in large part on how cheaply it can be made, he says. It’s also difficult to get new material widely used by the building industry, as there are existing supply chains for things like glass.”（他说，这种新型透明木材能否成功在很大程度上取决于它的制造成本有多低。此外，由于玻璃等材料的供应链已经存在，建筑行业也很难获得广泛使用的新材料。）可推知，Swihart认为透明木材的市场前景面临着诸多不确定性。故选C项。

4.

细节理解题。根据最后一段中的“Montanari and her team are currently looking at increasing the heat storage capacity(储热性能) of the transparent wood, for greater energy savings. They’re also studying how to increase production to an industrial scale(规模). They hope to have a product ready for market within five years.”（Montanari和她的团队目前正在研究如何提高透明木材的蓄热性能，以达到更大的节能效果。他们还在研究如何将生产扩大到工业规模。他们希望在五年内将产品推向市场。）可知，Montanari与她的团队正在改善这种新发明的性能。故选B项。