Question

    Since November last year, cyclists in the northern Dutch town, Krommenie, have been part of a revolutionary experiment—a length of 70 meters of the town's main bikeway has been resurfaced with a layer of glass tiles treated with a non-slip coating. The panels, which are laid on a bed of concrete, are only one centimetre thick, but it's what's inside the glass that makes them truly impressive—each individual section contains a solar cell and together they form one long energy producing net work.

There were a number of reasons to start with a bike path. One is that when you start an innovation like this you want a step that is doable, but still guarantees that things are pretty safe for road users. In a bike path, the loads are not too heavy, and the requirements are not too severe. The Krommenie experiment has four goals. One is to see how it performs technically and what the energy production is. The second goal is to know what the satisfaction of the users is; do they have any kind of discomfort or negative perception? And the last thing, is to see if the road managers are comfortable with this type of road which is completely new.

More than 150 ,000 cyclists have used the bike path in the first six months of its operation and the trial has met with no serious problems, even during recent testing using heavyweight vehicles. Some wear and tear on the non-slip coating was expected and has been repaired.

Despite the trial's promise, there is still one major problem to deal with—the initial cost of road construction using the solar panels is higher than it is for standard forms of surfacing. But the researchers predict that will come down, when the technology enters mass production.

1.What does the underlined word " panels" in the first paragraph refer to?

A.Bikeways. B.Glass tiles.

C.Solar cells. D.Non- slip coatings.

2.Why was the experiment started with a bike path?

A.It is very easy to build. B.It is cheap and light.

C.It is frequently used. D.It is workable and safe.

3.What does the author think of the future of solar panel road?

A.Promising. B.Expensive.

C.Unnecessary. D.Impractical.

4.What can we infer about the solar panel road?

A.Its trial was a great success with no problems.

B.It has no limit to the weight of heavy vehicles.

C.It cannot be put into regular use at the moment.

D.Its management will be difficult and expensive.

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.A

4.C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要说明了自去年11月以来，荷兰北部城镇Krommenie的自行车手们一直在进行一项革命性的试验——该市70米长的主要自行车道重新铺上了一层玻璃砖，并涂上了防滑涂层，每块玻璃砖里包含一个太阳能电池。文章说明了试验选择在自行车道上进行的原因，以及道路的运行情况和前景。

1.

词义猜测题。根据后文but it's what's inside the glass that makes them truly impressive—each individual section contains a solar cell and together they form one long energy producing net work.可知自去年11月以来，荷兰北部城镇Krommenie的自行车手们一直在进行一项革命性的试验——该市70米长的主要自行车道重新铺上了一层玻璃砖，并涂上了防滑涂层。这些玻璃砖铺在混凝土床上，只有1厘米厚，但玻璃内部的东西让它们真正令人印象深刻——每个单独的部分包含一个太阳能电池，它们一起形成一个长时间的能源生产网络。由此可知， panels指代的是上文中的“glass tiles”。故选B。

2.

细节理解题。根据第二段中One is that when you start an innovation like this you want a step that is doable, but still guarantees that things are pretty safe for road users. In a bike path, the loads are not too heavy, and the requirements are not too severe.可知一是当你开始一个像这样的创新时，你想要一个可行的步骤，但仍然保证事情对道路使用者相当安全。在自行车道上，负荷不会太重，要求也不会太苛刻。由此可知，实验从自行车道开始，是因为自行车道可行和安全。故选D。

3.

推理判断题。根据最后一段中Despite the trial's promise, there is still one major problem to deal with—the initial cost of road construction using the solar panels is higher than it is for standard forms of surfacing.可知尽管这次试验很有前景，但仍有一个主要问题需要解决——使用太阳能电池板修建公路的初始成本要高于标准路面。由此可推知，作者认为太阳能公路的未来很有前景。故选A。

4.

推理判断题。根据最后一段Despite the trial's promise, there is still one major problem to deal with—the initial cost of road construction using the solar panels is higher than it is for standard forms of surfacing. But the researchers predict that will come down, when the technology enters mass production.可知尽管这次试验很有前景，但仍有一个主要问题需要解决——使用太阳能电池板修建公路的初始成本要高于标准路面。但研究人员预测，当这项技术进入大规模生产时，这个数字将会下降。由此可推知，太阳能板公路目前不能正常使用。故选C。