2015职称英语考试用书理工类最全新增文章.doc

An Essential Scientific ProcessAll life on the earth depends upon green plants. Using sunlight, the plants produce their own food. Then animals feed upon the plants. They take in the nutrients the plants have made and stored. But thats not all. Sunlight also helps a plant produce oxygen. Some of the oxygen is used by the plant, but a plant usually produces more oxygen than it uses. The excess oxygen is necessary for animals and other organisms to live.The process of changing light into food and oxygen is called photosynthesis. Besides light energy from the sun, plants also use water and carbon dioxide. The water gets to the plant through its roots. The carbon dioxide enters the leaves through tiny openings called stomata. The carbon dioxide travels to chloroplasts, special cells in the bodies of green plants. This is where photosynthesis takes place. Chloroplasts contain the chlorophylls that give plants their green color. The chlorophylls are the molecules that trap light energy. The trapped light energy changes water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and a simple sugar called glucose.Carbon dioxide and oxygen move into and out of the stomata. Water vapor also moves out of the stomata. More than 90 percent of water a plant takes in through its roots escapes through the stomata. During the daytime, the stomata of most plants are open. This allows carbon dioxide to enter the leaves for photosynthesis. As night falls, carbon dioxide is not needed. The stomata of most plants close. Water loss stops.If photosynthesis ceased, there would be little food or other organic matter on the earth. Most organisms would disappear. The earths atmosphere would no longer contain oxygen. Photosynthesis is essential for life on our planet.1Then animals feed upon the plants.动物以植物为食。练习：1In the first paragraph，the word “excess” meansAheavy.Bextra.Cgreen.Dliquid.2Which of the following does not move through a plants stomata?ACarbon dioxide.BWater vapor.COxygen.DFood.3In the title, the term Essential Scientific Process refers toAphotosynthesis.Bthe formation of glucose.Cglobal warming.Dwater getting to the roots of plants.4This passage is primarily developed byAexplaining a process.Btelling a story.Ccomparing and contrasting.Dconvincing the reader of plants importance.5Another good title for this passage would beAOxygen and Carbon Dioxide.BPlants and Their Roots.CHow Photosynthesis Works.DWhy Our Earth Needs Water. A Record-Breaking RoverNASAs Mars rover Opportunity has boldly gone where no rover has gone beforeat least in terms of distance. _1F_On July 27, after years of moving about on Martian ground, the golf-cart-sized Opportunity had driven more than 24 miles, beating the previous record holdera Soviet rover sent to the moon in 1973.“This is so remarkable considering Opportunity was intended to drive about 1 kilometer and was never designed for distance,” says John Callas, the Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager._2B_ “But what is really importantly is not how many miles the rover has racked up, but how much exploration and discovery we have accomplished over that distance.”OPPORTUNITYThe solar-powered Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit, landed on Mars 10 years ago on a mission expected to last 3 months. _3E_Spirit stopped communicating with Earth in March 2010, a few months after it got stuck in a sand pit. But Opportunity has continued to collect and analyze Martian soil and rocks.During its mission, Opportunity has captured, and sent back to Earth, some 187,000 panoramic and microscopic images of Mars with its cameras. _4A_MARATHON ROVERThe rover doesnt seem to be ready to stop just yet. If Opportunity can continue on, it will reach another major investigation site when its odometer hits 26.2 miles. _5C_Researchers believe that clay minerals exposed near Marathon Valley could hold clues to Marss ancient environment1. Opportunitys continuing travels will also help researchers as they plan for an eventual human mission to the Red Planet.注释：1could hold clues to Marss ancient environment：含有与火星早期环境有关的线索。练习：AIt has also provided scientists with data on the planets atmosphere, soil, rocks, and terrain.BHe works at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.CScientists call this site Marathon Valley, because when the rover reaches the area, it will have traveled the same distance as the length of a marathon since its arrival on Mars.DOpportunity has been working on Mars since January 2004.EThe objective of the rovers was to help scientists learn more about the planet and to search for signs of life，such as the possible presence of water.FSince arriving on the Red Planet in 2004, Opportunity has traveled 25.01 miles, more than any other wheeled vehicle has on another world.Real World RobotsWhen you think of a robot, do you envision a shiny, metallic device having the same general shape as a human being, performing humanlike functions, and responding to your questions in a monotone voice accentuated by high-pitched tones and beeps? This is the way many of us imagine a robot, but in the real world, a robot is not humanoid at all. Instead a robot often is a voiceless, box-shaped machine that efficiently carries out repetitive or dangerous functions usually performed by humans. Todays robot is more than an automatic machine that performs one task again and again. A modern robot is programmed with varying degrees of artificial intelligencethat is, arobot contains a computer program that tells it how to perform tasks associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning, drawing conclusions, and learning from past experience.A robot does not possess a human shape for the simple reason that a two-legged robot has great difficulty remaining balanced.A robot does, however, move from place to place on wheels and axles that roll and rotate. A robot even has limbs that swivel and move in combination with joints and motors. To find its way in its surroundings1, a robot utilizes various built-in sensors. Antennae attached to the robots base detect anything they bump into. If the robot starts to teeter as it moves on anincline, a gyroscope or a pendulum inside it senses the vertical differential.To determine its distance from an object and how quickly it will reach theobject，the robot bounces beams of laser light and ultrasonic sound waves off obstructions in itspath2. These and other sensors constantly feed information to the computer, which then analyzes the information and corrects or adjusts the robots actions. As science and technology advance, the robot too will progress in its functions and use of artificial-intelligence programs.1Another good title for this passagewould be_ARobots: Taking the Place of Humans.BArtificial Intelligence Programs.CTodays Robots and How TheyFunction.DModern-Day Sensors.2Artificial intelligence is_Athe unnatural way in which robotsmove.Ba voiceless, box-shaped machinethat performs repetitive tasks.Csensors such as antennae and agyroscope.Da computer program that imitateshuman intellectual processes.3The last paragraph suggests thatfuture robots will be_Amore humanlike in behavior andactions.Bmore like automatic machines.Cbetter able to move on inclines.Dbetter equipped with laser lightsensors.4The writer begins the passage by comparing_Athe shape of a human being with abox.Ba modem robot with a fictionalrobot.Can imaginary machine with a human.Da computer program with artificialintelligence.5The word humanoid means_Alacking human characteristics.Banything having the appearance of ahumanoid.Cbeing void or vacant.Dhaving a human form orcharacteristics. Lightening StrikesThree years ago a bolt of lightning all but destroyed Lyn Millers house in Aberdeenwith her two children inside. “There was a huge rainstorm,” she says, recalling the terrifying experience. “My brother and I were outside desperately working to stop floodwater from coming in the house. Suddenly I was thrown to the ground by an enormous bang. _1D_ The door was blocked by rubble, but we forced our way in and found the children, thankfully unharmed. Later I was told to be struck by lightning is a chance in a million.” In fact, its calculated at one chance in 600,000. Even so, Dr Mark Keys of AER Technology, an organisation that monitors the effects of lightning, thinks you should be sensible. “I wouldnt go out in a stormbut then Im quite a careful person.” He advises anyone who is unlucky enough to be caught in a storm to get down on the ground and curl up into a ball, making yourself as small as possible.Lightning is one of natures most awesome displays of sheer power. _2A_ 250 years ago, Benjamin Franklin, the American scientist and statesman，proved that lightning is a form of electricity, but scientists still lack a complete understanding of how it works._3E_ Positive electrical charges streaming upwards from trees or church spires may glow and make a buzzing noise, and peoples hair can stand on end. And if you fear lightning, youll be glad to know that a company in America has manufactured a hand-held lightning detector which can detect it up to 70 kms away, sound a warning tone and monitor the storms approach.Nancy Wilder was playing golf at a club in Surrey when she was hit by a bolt of lightning. Mrs Wilders heart stopped beating, but she was resuscitated and, after a few days in hospital, where she was treated for bums to her head, hands and feet, she was pronounced fit again. Since that time，she has been a strictly fair weather golfer1. _4B_ The best place to be is inside a car!The largest number of people to be struck by lightning at one time was in September 1995 when 17 players on a football pitch were hit simultaneously. The most extraordinary aspect of the strike was the fact that 11 of the victimsseven adults and four childrenhad burn patterns of tiny holes at 3 centimetre intervals on each toe and around the soles of their feet.Harold Deal, a retired electrician from South Carolina, USA, wa