2016年职称英语理工B-阅读判断.doc

Rescue Platform救生平台 In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, security experts are trying to develop new ways of rescuing people from burning skyscrapers. One idea is a platform capable of flying vertically and hovering in the air like a helicopter.1The platform would rise up and down alongside a skyscraper and pick up people trapped in high stories. The idea for the vertical takeoff platform was hatched more than ten years ago by a Russian aerospace engineer, David Metreveli, who has since2moved to Israel. Metrevelis design, called the Eagle, calls for two jet engines that turn four large horizontal propellers. The spinning of the propellers generates the necessary lift, or upward force, to raise the platform. The more power is supplied to the propellers, the higher the platform rises. Moving the platform sideways involves applying differing amounts of power to each propeller. Helicopters are now used in some cases to get people out of burning buildings. Escape baskets3slung from them dangle beside the building for people to climb into. Unfortunately, the baskets cannot reach every floor of a building because the ropes from which they hang become unstable beyond a certain length. So far, Metreveli has built a small-scale model of the Eagle to test his idea. In the wake of4September 11, he has been able to secure enough funding to start building a larger, 4-meter by 4- meter5prototype, which he calls the Eaglet. 在世界贸易中心遭到恐怖袭击后，安全专家们正在努力寻找新方法，来从燃烧的摩天大楼上营救人们。其中的想法之一就是构建一个能够垂直升降并像直升机一样在空中盘旋的平台。该平台可沿摩天大楼上下移动，运送高楼受困人员。十多年前，一名俄罗斯航空航天工程师David Metreveli酝酿出垂直起落平台这一想法，随后移居以色列。Metreveli的设计方案命名为“老鹰”，需用两个喷气发动机来推动四个大型水平方向旋转的螺旋推进器。螺旋推进器快速旋转，生成必要的上升力，使平台升起。供给螺旋推进器的能量越多，平台升得就越高。要使平台侧向移动，则需要给螺旋推进器添加不等的能量。现在，人们有时还用直升机营救起火大楼中的被困人员。从直升机中拋出的救生篮在大楼旁摇摆，人们可以爬到里面去。不幸的是，由于悬挂救生篮的绳索在超出一定长度后就会非常不稳定，所以救生篮无法达到每一层楼。目前，Metreveli已经建立起一个小型“老鹰”模型来检测自己的构思。“911”事件后，Metreveli获得了足够的基金，开始构建一个较大规模的模型。该模型大小为4米4米，他将之命名为“小鹰”。第六篇Microchip Research Center Created微芯片研究中心成立 A research center has been set up in this Far Eastern country to develop advanced micro-chip production technology. The center, which will start out with about US $14 million, will help the country develop its chip industry without always depending on imported technology. The center will make use of its research skills and facilities to develop new technology for domestic chip plants. The advent of the center will possibly free the country from the situation that it is always buying almost-outdated technologies from other countries, said the countrys flagship chipmaker.1Currently, chip plants in this country are in a passive situation because many foreign governments dont allow them to import the most advanced technologies, fearing they will be used for military purposes. Moreover, the high licensing fees they have to pay to technology providers are also an important reason for their decision of self-reliance2. As mainstream chip production technology shifts from one generation to the next every three to five years3,plants with new technology can make more powerful chips at lower costs, while4plants with outdated equipment, which often cost billions of dollars to build, will be marginalized by the maker. More than 10 chip plants are being built, each costing millions of US dollars.5The majority of that money goes to overseas equipment vendors and technology owners mainly from Japan and Singapore.Should the new center play a major role in improving the situation in the industry,6the country admits the US $14 million investment is still rather small. This country is developing comprehensive technologies. Most of the investment will be spent on setting alliances with technology and intellectual property7owners.为了开发先进的微芯片生产技术，这个远东国家建立了一个研究中心，该中心启动资金为1 400万美元，可以帮助该国开发自己的芯片工业，不必总是依赖于进口技术。 该中心将会应用自己的研究技术和设施，为本国芯片厂家开发新技术。这个国家名列首位的芯片制造公司说，芯片中心的成立可能使这个国家摆脱从他国购买即将淘汰的技术的困境。由于许多外国政府担心先进技术会被用于军事目的，不允许这个国家的芯片生产厂家进口前沿技术，所以这些生产厂家处于一种被动局面。另外，由于这些芯片生产厂家必须向技术提者支付髙额的许可费，这也构成了他们决定要自力更生的一个重要原因。 由于主流芯片生产技术每隔35年就要进行更新换代，所以掌握了新技术的厂家就可以以较低的成本制造出较好的芯片，而那些耗费数十亿美元建立起的厂家，如果设备落后，也将会被生产商所淘汰。 十几个芯片厂正在建立之中，每个厂的造价都在几百万美元，其中大部分资金都流向了海外设备商和技术所有者主要是日本和新加坡。如果新建的芯片中心能在改变该国芯片行业的被动形势中起到重要作用，该国承认，1 400万美元的投资仍是微不足道的。该国正在开发综合技术，大部分投资将用于与技术和知识产权所有者建立联盟。第七篇Moderate Earthquake Strikes England 中度地震袭击英国 A moderate earthquake struck parts of southeast England on 28 April 2007, toppling chimneys from houses and rousing residents from their beds. Several thousand people were left without power1in Kent County2. One woman suffered minor head and neck injuries. “It felt as if the whole house was being slid across like a fim-fair ride,3” said the woman. The British Geological Survey said the 4.3-magnitude quake4struck at 8:19 a.m. and was centered under the English Channel5, about 8.5 miles south of Dover6and near the entrance to the Channel Tunnel7. Witnesses said cracks appeared in walls and chimneys collapsed across the county. Residents said the tremor had lasted for about 10 to 15 seconds. “I was lying in bed and it felt as if someone had just got up from bed next to me,” said Hendrick van Eck, 27, of Canterbury8about 60 miles southeast of London. “I then heard the sound of cracking, and it was getting heavier and heavier9. It felt as if someone was at the end of my bed hopping up and down. ” There are thousands of moderate quakes on this scale around the world each year, but they are rare in Britain. The April 28 quake was the strongest in Britain since 2002 when a 4.8-magnitude quake struck the central England city of Birmingham10. The countrys strongest earthquake took place in the North Sea in 1931, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale11. British Geologicisd Survey scientist Roger Musson said the quake took place on 28 April in an area that had seen several of the biggest earthquakes ever to strike Britain, including one in 1580 that caused damage in London and was felt in France.12Musson predicted that it was only a matter of time13 before another earthquake struck this part of England. However, people should not be scared too much by this prediction, Musson said, as the modern earthquake warning system of Britain should be able to detect a forthcoming quake and announce it several hours before it takes place. This would allow time for people to evacuate and reduce damage to the minimum. 2007年4月28日英格兰东南部地区发生中度地震，一些房屋烟囱倒塌，许多居民半夜从睡梦中惊醒。肯特郡几千人遭遇断电，一名女子头部和颈部受了轻伤。 “我感觉整个房子就像游乐场的滑行机一样在滑动。”该女子说。 英国地质调查局说，本次里氏43级的地震发生于上午8点19分，震中在英吉利海峡底部，位于多佛尔以南约85英里处的海峡隧道入口附近。 一些目击者看到郡中墙壁出现裂缝，并有烟囱倒塌。当地居民说震动大约持续了10 15秒。 “我当时躺在床上，觉得好像旁边有人从床上站起来。”住在伦敦东南部60英里处的27岁的Hendrick van Eck说，“然后我听到有东西裂开的声音，而且越来越响。就好像有人在我床尾不停地并着脚跳。” 这种规模的中度地震世界上每年都会发生几千次，但在英国仍非常少见。4月28日的地震是英国自2002年中部城市伯明翰里氏48级地震以来最强的一次。 英国的地震最高曾达到里氏61级，1931年发生在北海。英国地质勘测所的科学家罗杰马森说，4月28日发生地震的地区曾经遭受过几起英国最大的地震，其中的一次发生在1580年，那次地震蹂躏了伦敦，并波及法国。马森预言英格兰的这个地区早晚还会发生地震，但他说人们不必对此产生太大恐惧，因为英国的现代地震预警系统应该能够侦测即将发生的地震，并在震前数小时内通知大家。这将使人们有时间撤离震区，并把损失降到最低。第八篇 WhatIs a Dream? 梦是什么For centuries, people have wondered about thestrange things that they dream about. Some psychologists say that thisnighttime activity of the mind has no special meaning. Others，however，think that dreams are an importantpart of our lives. In fact, many experts believe that dreams can tell us abouta persons mind and emotions.Before modern times, many people thought thatdreams contained messages from God. It was only in the twentieth century thatpeople started to study dreams in a scientific way.The Austrian psychologist, Sigmund Freud1，was probably the first person tostudy dreams scientifically. In his famous book,The interpretation of Dreams(1900), Freud wrote that dreams are anexpression of a persons wishes. He believed that dreams allow people toexpress the feelings, thoughts, and fears that they are afraid to express inreal life.The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung2wasonce a student of Freuds. Jung，however，had a different idea about dreams. Jung believed that the purpose ofa dream was to communicate a message to the dreamer. He thought people couldlearn more about themselves by thinking about their dreams. For example, peoplewho dream about falling may learn that they have too high an opinion ofthemselves. On the other hand, people who dream about being heroes may learnthat they think too little of themselves.Modern-day psychologists continue to developtheories about dreams. For example, psychologist William Domhoff from theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz，believes that dreams are tightly linked to a persons daily life,thoughts, and behavior. A criminal, for example, might dream about crime.Domhoff believes that there is a connectionbetween dreams and age. His research shows that children do not dream as muchas adults. According to Domhoff, dreaming is a mental skill that needs time todevelop.He has also found a link between dreams andgender. His studies show that the dreams of men and women are different. Forexample, the people in mens dreams are often other men, and the dreams ofteninvolve fighting. This is not true of womens dreams.3 Domhoff found thisgender difference in the dreams of people from 11 cultures around the world,including both modern and traditional ones.Can dreams help us understand ourselves?Psychologists continue to try to answer this question in different ways.However, one thing they agree on this: If you dream that something terrible isgoing to occur, you shouldnt panic. The dream may have meaning, but it doesnot mean that some terrible event will actually take place. Its important toremember that the world of dreams is not the real world.梦是什么几百年来，人们都对它们的梦到的奇异的事情感到疑惑，一些心理学家认为，这种大脑的夜间活动并没有特殊的含义，另一些人则认为，梦是生命重要的一部分。实际上，许多专家认为，梦能揭示人心理和情感活动。近代以前，很多人认为梦传递的是上帝的信息。直到20世纪，人们才开始从科学角度研究梦。奥地利心理学家佛洛依德或许是第一个用科学的方法研究梦的人，在他的著作梦的解析（1900）中，佛洛依德写到，梦是一个人愿望表达，他认为梦打开了一扇窗，让人们得以表达在生活中不善表达的情感、思想和恐惧。骑士精神学家卡尔曾是佛洛依德的学生，但他对梦的看法与佛洛依德不同。他认为，梦的作用是个做梦的人传递一种信息，而人们通过及的梦，可以对自己有一个更深刻的了解。比如，一个人梦到从高处坠落，那么他应该反思自己是不是自视过高，反过来，如果梦里自己成了英雄，应该想想可能平时太看低自己。现在心里学家还在继续发展关于梦的理论，来自位于圣克鲁兹的加利福尼亚大学的威廉*多姆霍夫就是一位。他认为，梦境和一个人的日常生活、思想和行为都紧密相关。比方说，一个罪犯可能梦到犯罪。多姆霍夫还认为，梦和年龄也有关系，他的研究表明，孩子不像成人那么多梦。他认为，做梦也是一项心里机能，也随着年龄增长而发展。多姆霍夫还发现梦和性别之间的关系。通过研究，他发现男性和女性的梦境常常是不同的，例如，在男性梦境中出现的通常是其他男性，而且常于打斗有关，而女性的梦境则不是这样。多姆霍夫研究了全世界来自11种不同文化的古今案例，得出上述结论。梦能帮助我们更好的了解自己吗？心理学家还在尝试通过不同的方式来解答这个问题，不过，有一件事情他们是意见一致的：如果你梦到有不好的事情发生，不要慌张，梦确实有含义，但也不意味着你梦到的事一定会发生。要记住，梦中的世界不是真实的世界。第九篇 Dangers Await Babies with Altitude 高海拔地区的婴儿有危险Women who live in the worlds highest communities tend to give birth to underweight babies, a new study suggests. These babies may grow into adults with a high risk of heart disease and strokes.1Research has hinted that newborns in mountain communities are lighter than average. But it wasnt clear whether this is due to reduced oxygen levels at high altitudes or because their mothers are under-nourished many people who live at high altitudes are relatively poor compared with those living lower down.To find out more, Dino Giussani and his team at Cambridge University studied the records of 400 births in Bolivia during 1997 and 1998. The babies were bom in both rich and poor areas of two cities: La Paz and Santa Cruz. La Paz is the highest city in the world, at 3.65 kilometers above sea level, while Santa Cruz is much lower, at 0.44 kilometers.Sure enough, Giussani found that the average birthweight of babies in La Paz was significantly lower than in Santa Cruz. This was true in both high and low-income families. Even babies bom to poor families in Santa Cruz were heavier on average than babies born to wealthy families in lofty La Paz. “We were very surprised by this result,” says Giussani.The results suggest that babies bom at high altitudes are deprived of2oxygen before birth. “This may trigger the release or suppression of hormones that regulate growth of the unborn child,3”says Giussani.His team also found that high-altitude babies tended to have relatively larger heads compared with their bodies4. This is probably because a fetus starved of oxygen will send oxygenated blood to the brain in preference to the rest of the body.5Giussani wants to find out if such babies have a higher risk of disease in later life. People born in La Paz might be prone to heart trouble in adulthood, for example. Low birthweight is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. And newborns with a high ratio of head size to body weight are often predisposed to high blood pressure and strokes in later life. 一个新的研究表明，住在世界高海拔地区的女人通常生下体重不足的婴儿。这些婴儿在长大成人后得心脏病和中风的风险很大。 研究暗示在山区出生的新生儿低于平均体重。但是还不清楚这是由于在高海拔的地方氧气不足，还是由于他们的母亲没有获得足够的营养许多住在高海拔地方的人相对都比住在低处的人穷。 为了了解更多的情况，剑桥大学的迪诺吉萨尼和他的团队研究了1997年到1998年玻利维亚的400个新生儿的记录。这些婴儿出生于两个城市的富有和贫困地区：拉巴斯和圣克鲁斯。拉巴斯是世界上最髙的城市，海拔3. 65千米，而圣克鲁斯低很多，海拔0.44千米。 当然，吉萨尼发现拉巴斯的新生儿的平均出生体重明显低于圣克鲁斯的新生儿。无论高收入家庭还是低收入家庭都是如此。甚至圣克鲁斯的贫穷家庭的婴儿比拉巴斯的富有家庭的婴儿平均体重还要重。吉萨尼说：“我们对这个结果感到吃惊。” 这个结果表明在高海拔出生的婴儿出生前就缺氧了。吉萨尼说：“这可能会触发调节未出生儿成长的荷尔蒙的释放或抑制。” 他的团队还发现高海拔的婴儿通常有相对身体来说较大的头部。这可能是因为一个缺氧的胚胎会首先把充氧的血液输送到脑部，然后才送到身体的其他部位。 吉萨尼想要查出这样的婴儿在今后的生活中是不是更容易得病。例如在拉巴斯出生的人在成年之后更可能得心脏病。出生体重低是得冠心病的一个危险因素。头部相对身体较大的新生儿在今后的生活中通常更容易得高血压和中风。第十篇 The Biology of Music音乐生物学Humans use music as a powerful way to communicate.It may also play an important role in love. But what is music, and how does itwork its magic? Science does not yet have all the answers.What are two things that make humans differentfrom animals? One is language, and the other is music. It is true that someanimals can sing (and many birds sing better than a lot of people). However,the songs of animals, such as birds and whales, are very limited. It is alsotrue that humans, not animals, have developed musical instruments.Music is strange stuff. It is clearly differentfrom language. However, people can use music to communicate things especiallytheir emotions. When music is combined with speech in a song, it is a verypowerful form of communication. But, biologically speaking, what is music?If music is truly different from speech, then weshould process music and language in different parts of the brain. Thescientific evidence suggests that this is true.Sometimes people who suffer brain damage losetheir ability to process language. However, they dont automatically lose theirmusical abilities. For example, Vissarion Shebalin, a Russian composer，had a stroke in 1953. It injuredthe left side of his brain. He could no longer speak or understand speech. Hecould, however, still compose music until his death ten years later. On theother hand，sometimesstrokes cause people to lose their musical ability, but they can still speakand understand speech. This shows that the brain processes music and languageseparately.By studying the physical effects of music on thebody，scientistshave also learned a lot about ho