职称英语教材

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第11篇：BillGates:UnleashingYourCreativity（A级）

I'vealwaysbeenanoptimistandIsuppoitisrootedin

mybeliefthatthepowerofcreativityandintelligencecan

makethewordabetterplace.

ForaslongasIcanremember,I'velovedlearningnew

Isatdownatacomputer

forthefirsttimeinventhgrade,

clunkyoldteletypemachineanditcouldbarelydoanything

hangedmy

life.

WhenmyfriendPaulAllenandIstartedMicrosoft30

yearsago,wehadavisionof"acomputeroneverydeskandin

everyhome",whichprobablysoundedalittletoooptimisticat

webelievedthatpersonalcomputerswouldchangetheworld.

Andtheyhave.

Andafter30years,I'mstillasinspiredbycomputersasI

wasbackinventhgrade.

Ibelievethatcomputersarethemostincredibletoolwe

canutofeedourcuriosityandinventiveness--tohelpus

solveproblemsthateventhesmartestpeoplecouldn'tsolveon

theirown.

Computershavetransformedhowwelearn,givingkids

everywhereawindowintoalloftheworld'sknowledge.

They'rehelpingusbuildcommunitiesaroundthethingswe

careaboutandtostayclotothepeoplewhoareimportantto

us,nomatterwheretheyare.

LikemyfriendWarrenBuffett,Ifeelparticularlyluckyto

sit

"tap-dancingtoWork".MyjobatMicrosoftisaschallenging

aver,butwhatmakesme"tap-danceingtowork"iswhenwe

showpeoplesomethingnew,likeacomputerthatcan

recognizeyourhandwritingoryourspeech,oronethatcan

storealifetime'sworthofphotos,andtheysay,"Ididn'tknow

youcoulddothatwithaPC5!"

ButforallthecoolthingsthatapersoncandowithaPC,

therearelotsofotherwayswecanputourcreativityand

restillfar

toomanypeopleintheworldwhomostbasicneedsgo

ear,forexample,millionsofpeoplediefrom

diasthatareeasytopreventortreatinthedeveloped

world.

Ibelievethatmyowngoodfortunebringswithita

,Melinda,and

Ihavecommittedtoimprovinghealthandeducationinaway

thatcanhelpasmanypeopleaspossible.

Asafather,IbelievethatthedeathofachildinAfricaisno

lesspoignantortragicthan9thedeathofachildanywhereel,

andthatitdoesn'ttakemuchtomakeanimmendifferencein

thechildren'slives.

I'mstillverymuchanoptimist,andIbelievethatprogress

oneventheworld'stoughestproblemsispossible--andit's

'reeingnewdrugsfordeadlydias,

newdiagnostictools,andnewattentionpaidtothehealth

problemsinthedevelopingworld.

I'mexcitedbythepossibilitiesIeformedicine,for

educationand,ofcour,lievethat

throughournaturalinventiveness,creativityandwillingnessto

solvetoughproblems,we'regoingtomakesomeamazing

achievementsinalltheareasinmylifetime.

比尔·盖茨：发挥你的创造力我一直是个乐观主义者，我

想这是因为我深信创造力和智慧能使世界变得更美好。在我的

记忆中，我喜欢学习新东西、解决难题。所以当我七年级时第

一次坐在电脑前时，我立刻被吸引住类。那是一台笨重的旧式

电传打字机，跟我们今天的电脑相比几乎什么事都不能做。但

是它却改变我的一生。30年前我和朋友保罗·艾伦创办微

软的时候，我们预见到一个“每个办公桌和每个家庭都会有一

台电脑”的时代。在那个计算机像冰箱一样大的时代，这听起

来也许太乐观了一点。但是我们相信个人计算机会改变世界。

而它们真的做到了。30年后的今天，计算机仍然会激发我

的热情，好像我又回到了七年级的年代。我认为计算机是能满

足我们的好奇心，激发我们创造精神的最神奇的工具，它能帮

助我们解决最聪明的人都不能独自解决的问题。计算机改变了

我们的学习方式，为世界各地的孩子们提供了一个学习各种知

识的窗口。它帮助我们就我们所关心的事情建立一个交流的场

所，并且与那些我们认为对我们有重要意义的人密切相处，不

管他们身在何处。和我的朋友沃伦·巴菲特一样，我每天都

在做着自己喜欢做的事，对此我感到非常幸运。他说这就像是

“跳着踢踏舞工作”。我在微软的工作一直非常具有挑战性，

而当我们向人们展示我们的新成果(比如计算机能识别手写

体或语言，或者能储存一生的珍贵照片)人们说没想到你们能

用个人计算机做出这样的成就时，那感觉的确像是“跳着踢踏

舞工作”。除了我们能用计算机做的所有神奇的事情，还有

很多其他方式发挥我们的创造力和智慧，从而使世界更加美

好。这个世界上还有很多的人基本需求都得不到满足。例如，

每年都有成千上万的人死于疾病，而这些疾病在发达国家是能

轻而易举得到控制或治疗的。我认为拥有财富的同时我有责

任回报世界。所以，我和妻子梅林达承诺推进健康与教育事业，

以帮助尽可能多的人。作为一位父亲，我相信一个非洲儿童的

夭折和其他地方孩子的夭折一样令人心酸和悲痛。而要改善这

些孩子们的命运，其实不难。如今，我仍然是一个乐观主义

者，我仍然相信即使是世界上最棘手的问题，也一样能得到

改善——的确，世界每天都在进步。我们看到治疗致命疾病

的新药物和新诊断工具出现，看到人们更多关注发展中国家

的健康问题。医疗、教育和科技发展的美好前景使我激动万

分。我坚信，以我们与生俱来的发明精神、创造力和乐于解

决棘手问题的精神动力，我们一定能在这些领域做出惊人的

成绩。我希望我能亲眼见到这些成绩。

第十二篇StudyHelpsPredictBigMediterraneanQuake

Scientistshavefoundevidencethatanoverlookedfaultin

theeasternMediterraneanislikelytoproduceanearthquake

andtsunamievery800yearsaspowerfulastheonethat

destroyedAlexandriainAD365.

Usingradiocarbondatingtechniques,simulationsand

computermodels,therearchersrecreatedtheancientdisaster

inordertoidentifytheresponsiblefault.‘Wearesayingthere

isprobablyarepeattimeof800yearsforthiskindof

earthquake,'saidMsBethShaw,anearthquakescientistatthe

UniversityofCambridge,istsstudy

pastearthquakesinordertodeterminethefuturepossibilityof

similarlargeshocks.

IdentifyingthefaultfortheAD365earthquakeand

tsunamiisimportantforthetensofmillionsofpeopleinthe

region,ltclotothesouthwestcoastof

Crete4lastproducedabigenoughquaketogenerateatsunami

about1300,whichmeansthenextpowerfulonecouldcomein

thenext100years,sheaddedinatelephoneinterview.

dhercolleaguescalculatethelikelyintervals

bymeasuringthemotionofeithersideofthefaulttofindhow

oftensuchlargeearthquakeswouldhavetooccurtoaccount

forthatlevelofmotion,omputermodel

suggestedan8magnitudequakeonthefaultwouldproducea

tsunamithatfloodsthecoastalregionsofAlexandriaandNorth

Africa,thesoutherncoastofGreeceandSicilyallthewayup

uldbesimilartotheancient

quakeinAD365thatcaudwidespreaddestructioninmuch

ofGreeceandunleashedatsunamithatfloodedAlexandriaand

theNileDelta,likelykillingtensofthousandsofpeople,she

said.

科学家研究预测地中海地区大地震公元365年，东部地

中海地区发生特大地震和海啸，摧毁了亚历山大市，科学家

们已经找到了证据证明:那里存在的一直被人忽视的断

层，每隔800年就有可能就引发一次强地震和海啸c通过

运用放射性碳素技术和计算机仿真模型，研究者们重建了古

代那场灾难，以便证实是断层引发了地震。"我们认为每

朋0年就会出现一次这种类型的地震。"负责此项研究的剑

桥大学地震学家贝丝·肖恩女士说道。科学家们研究以往

的地震，为的是确定未来出现同种大地震的可能性。肖恩女

士说，对于地中海地区上千万的居民来说，确定是断层引发了

公元365年地震和海啸非常重要。她在一次电话访问中进而

补充说，克里特岛西南海岸附近的断层最后一次引发足以引

起海啸的大地震是在公元1300年左右，这就意味着下一次强

地震将在未来的100年中出现。肖恩女士说，她和她的同事

测量了断层两侧的震动强度，并确定大规模地震多久发生一次

才会引起这样的震动强度，从而推算出地震产生的大致间隔

时间。根据其计算机仿真模型显示，如果断层产生8级的震

动，那么它引发的海啸就会淹没亚历山大市和北非的沿海地

区、希腊和西西里岛的南部海岸以及从亚得里亚海到杜布罗

夫尼克的广大地区。这个近似于公元365年摧毁大部分希腊地

区的地震，当时地震引发的海啸吞噬了亚历山大市和尼罗河三

角洲，造成了上千万人死亡。

第十三篇TheNorthernLights

hotandactivethateventheSun’sgravitycannotholdits

atmosphereincheck1!EnergyflowsawayfromtheSuntoward

theEarthinastreamofelectrifiedparticlesthatmoveatspeeds

articlesarecalled

plasma,andthestreamofplasma3comingfromtheSunis

eactivetheSun,thestrongerthe

solarwind.

ThesolarwindconstantlystreamstowardtheEarth,but

don’tworrybecauaprotectivemagneticfieldsurroundsour

emagneticfieldthatmakesyourcompasspoint

northalsosteerstheparticlesfromtheSuntothenorthandsouth

rgedparticlesbecometrappedinmagneticbelts

argeblastofsolarwindcrashesinto

theEarth’smagneticfield,themagneticfieldfirstgetssqueezed

andthenthemagneticfieldlinesbreakandreconnect.4

Thebreakingandreconnectingofthemagneticfieldlines

cancauatomicparticlescalledelectronstrappedinthebeltsto

fallintotheEarth’lectronsfall

totheEarth,theycollidewithgasmoleculesintheatmosphere,

mosphericgasglowsa

andnitrogenglowsredandgreenand

evariouscolorsglowand

danceinthenightsky,theycreatetheNorthernLightsandthe

SouthernLights.

Watchingaurorasisfunandexciting,butnormallyyoucan

movementoftheauroraacrosstheskyisusuallyslowenoughto

easilyfollowwithyoureyesbuttheycanalsopulsate,flicker,or

solarmaximum,5aurorasareen

asfarsouthasFlorida,evenMexico!6

Aurorasoftenemtobeveryclototheground,butthe

lowestauroraisstillabout100kilometersabovetheground,a

distancemuchhigherthancloudsareformedorairplanescan

alaurorabandcanbethousandsofkilometerslong,

afewhundredkilometershigh,butonlyafewhundredmeters

thick.

Wehopeyouareabletotraveltofar-northplaceslikethe

ArcticCircleandetheNorthernLightsatleastonceduring

youwillneverforgetit!

北极光太阳是狂暴的，有它自己独特的气候。太阳太热，

其活动又太剧烈，以至于无法控制它自己的大气层。热量以

电粒子流的形式逃离太阳，流向地球，时速高达100万英里。

这些粒子叫等离子体，来自太阳的等离子流叫太阳风。太阳

活动越剧烈，太阳风越强烈。太阳风不断地流向地球，但

是不必担心，因为有一个保护性的磁场包围右战们的地球。

使指南针指向北方的相同的磁场也把来自太阳的粒子导向

地球的南北两极。这些受控的粒子被吸附在地球周围的磁

场。当强大的太阳风侵入地球磁场时，首先磁场受到挤压，

接着磁场磁力线断开又闭合。磁场磁力线的断开和闭合产

生叫作电子的原子粒子，被截留在磁场，落入地球两极的大

气层。等离子流的电子进入地球，与大气层的气体分子发

生碰撞，在天空中产生光芒。每一种大气层的气体产生不同

颜色的光。氧和氮发红绿光，氯气发蓝紫光。当这些不同的

颜色在夜空中闪烁跳跃时，就形成了北极光和南极光。看

极光是很有意思也很令人振奋的。然而通常只有在极北面，

像阿拉斯加州和加拿大等地方才能看到。横过天空的极光移

动速度通常很慢，用肉眼就能很轻易地观测到。而它们还能

跳动、闪烁甚至像波一样流动。在太阳风暴达到最高峰的期

间，明亮的北极光甚至在位于极南面的佛罗里达州乃至墨西

哥都能看到。极光似乎很接近地面，但是最靠近地面的极

光离地面也有100公里，比云层都高，飞机也无法到达。

一条典型的极光带有数千公里长，几百公里高，但是只有几

百米厚。希望你在有生之年至少去极北面像北极圈等地区

旅游一次，看看北极光。此次经历必将使你终生难忘。

第十四篇：StageFright

'

avedthepianistVladimirFeltsmanwhen

erancellistMstislav

Rostropovichtrippedhimpurpolytocurehimof

pre-performancepanic,ansaid,"Allmyfrightwas

couldhappen?"

Today,musicschoolsareaddressingtheproblemof

anxietyinclassthatdealwithperformancetechniquesand

reavarietyofstrategiesthat

musicianscanlearntofightstagefrightanditssymptoms:icy

fingers,shakylimbs,racingheart,blankmind.

Teachersandpsychologistsofferwide-rangingadvice,from

basicslikelearningpiecesinsideout,tomentaldiscipline,suchas

'tdeny

thatyou'rejittery,theyurge;someexcitementisnatural,even

yinpublicoften,simply

fortheexperience.

PsychotherapistDianeNicholssuggests'somestrategiesfor

themomentsbeforeperformance,"Taketwodeepabdominal

breaths,openupyourshoulders,thensmile,"shesays."Andnot

oneofthe'pleadon'tkillme'oothree

friendlyfacesintheaudience,peopleyouwouldcommunicate

withandmakemusicto,andmakeeyecontactwiththem."She

doesn'twantperformerstothinkoftheaudienceasajudge.

Extremedemandsbymentorsorparentsareoftenatthe

rootofstagefright,saysDorothyDelay,awell-knownviolin

lsotherteacherstodemandonlywhattheir

studentsareabletoachieve.

WhenLynnHarrellwas20,hebecametheprincipalcellist

oftheCleverlandOrchestra,andhesufferedextremestagefright.

"ThereweretimeswhenIgotsonervousIwassuretheaudience

usttotal

oapointwhereIthought,'IfIhavetogothrough

thistoplaymusic,IthinkI'mgoingtolookforanotherjob.

Recovery,hesaid,involveddevelopinghumility-recognizingthat

whateverhistalent,hewasfallible,andthatanimperfectconcert

wasnotadisaster.6

Itisnotonlyyoungartistswhosuffer,

legendarypianistVladimirHorowitz'

greattenorFrancoCorelliisanotherexample."Theyhadtopush

himonstage,"SopranoRenataScottorecalled.

Actually,successcanmakethingswor."Inthebeginning

ofyourcareer,whenyou'rescaredtodeath,nobodyknowswho

youare,andtheydon'thaveanyexpectations,"SopranoJune

Andersonsaid."There'n,whenyou'reknown,

recomingtoeyou,andtheyhavecertainexpectations.

Youhavealottolo."

Andersonadded,"IneverstopbeingnervousuntilI'vesung

mylastnote."

如何避免怯场上台就跌倒。这是个奇特的办法！但不推荐。

可它确实拯救了钢琴家弗拉基米尔·菲兹曼，那个时候他才十

几岁，正在莫斯科表演。资深大提琴手米提斯拉夫·罗斯特罗

波维8奇故意在他上台前将他绊倒，帮助他摆脱上台前

的恐慌。菲兹曼先生说：“所有的害怕都烟消云散类。我已经

摔倒了，还有比这更糟糕的吗？”如今，音乐学校都在课堂

中强调焦虑问题，因为这是讲授表演技巧和打好表演基础的课

程。怯场有很多表现，比如手指冰冷、四肢发抖、心跳加速、

大脑一片空白，音乐家们可以学着用许多多应变策略应对这

些问题。教师和心理学家给出了许多建议，从基础的做法，

比如将演奏曲目烂熟于心，到精神训练，比如想象演出场景，

有步骤地进行放松等。他们强调，不要掩饰你的紧张感，适

度的兴奋对于精彩演出是正当甚至是必要的。为了积累经

验，要常在公众场合演出。黛安·尼克尔斯是一名心理治

疗师，她给出了一些上台前的建议：“做两次深度的腹式呼

吸，扩胸，然后微笑，注意不是那种仿佛央求对方不要杀你

的微笑，而是友好的微笑。从观众中选出三名比较友善的人，

这些是你愿意与之交流并为之演奏的人，并与他们做眼神接

触。”她不想让演奏者将观众当成是法官。多萝西·德雷

是一名著名小提琴教师，她认为来自导师和父母的苛刻要求

常常是怯场的根源。她告诉其他教师，对学生的要求要以学

生本身所能达到的水平为基础。林·哈雷尔20岁的时候

成为克利夫兰管弦乐队的首席大提琴手，但是他怯场非常严

重。他说：“有时候我非常紧张，我甚至能肯定，观众一定

能看到我的胸口随着心跳而搏动，简直变成了慌乱。”后来

我竟然到了这个地步，我想“如果演出要经历这种慌乱，我

宁可另找一份工作。”他说要克服怯场要谦虚，要认识到，

不论自己有多大的才能，都可能犯错误，一场音乐会即使有

不完美的地方，也不是灾难。当然，并不只有年轻人才会

怯场。具有传奇色彩的钢琴家弗拉基米尔·霍洛维茨的敏感

神经同样尽人皆知。另一个例子是著名男高音弗朗科·科莱

里，女高音蕾娜塔·思科多这样形容他：“必须得有人推着

他才肯上台。”实际上，成名之后情况可能会变得更糟。

“刚开始的时候，即使你怕得要死，也没有人知道你是谁，

因为对你不抱有多大期望。”女高音琼·安德森说道，“你

不会有任何损失。但你成名以后，人们专程来看你的表演，

那时他们一定是满怀期待而来，这样，你损失的东西就多

了。”安德森还说：“直到唱完最后一个音符之前，我一

直都会紧张。”

第十五篇ImageMartianDustParticles

NASA’sPhoenixMarsLanderhastakenitsfirst-everpicture

ofasingleparticleofrustyMartiandustwithoneofits

tparticlesofdustwasshownatahigher

magnificationthananythingoutsideofEarththathasbeen

ndedparticlemeasuredonlyaboutone

micrometer,oronemillionthofameter,across.

“Takingthisimagerequiriedthehighestresolution

microscopeoperatedoffEarthandaspeciallydesigneddevice

toholdtheMartiandust,”saidTomPike,aPhoenixscience

teammemberfromImperialCollegeLondon.“Wealways

knewitwasgoingtobetechnicallyverychallengingtoimage

particlesthissmall.”

Thedevicethatimagedthedustspeckiscalledanatomic

forcemicroscope,whichmapstheshapeofparticlesinthree

dimensionsbyscanningthemwithasharptipattheendofa

micforcemicroscopecandetailtheshapesof

swon’tbethe

lastdustparticlethatPhoenixwillimage.“Afterthisfirstsuccess,

we’renowworkingonbuildingupaportraitgalleryofthedust

onMars,”Pikesaid.

DustexistverywhereonMars,coatingthesurfaceand

rticlesalsocolortheMartian

ultra-finedustisthemediumthatactivelylinksgasinthe

MartianatmospheretoprocessinMartiansoil,soitiscritically

importanttounderstandingMars’environment,therearchers

said.

The$420-millionPhoenixmissionisanalyzingthedustand

subsurfaceicelayersofMars’arcticregionstolookforsignsof

ticleenintheatomicforce

microscopeimagewaspartofasamplescoopedbytherobotic

armfromthe“SnowWhite”trenchanddeliveredtoPhoenix’

smicroscopestationinearlyJuly.

探视火星尘粒美国国家航空航天局的凤凰号火星登陆器

通过其携带的望远镜观测到了迄今为止第一幅火星微粒的照

片。这次微粒的图像比以往任何拍摄地球以外的物质使用的放

大率都要高。据测成原形的微粒直径只有一微米，也就是百万

分之一米。

“此次观测需要清晰度最高的望远镜，同时要专门设计能够

握持火星尘粒的设备。”Pike说道，他是伦敦帝国学院凤凰号

科学小组的成员之一。“我们过去一直认为观察体积如此小的

微粒是具有很髙的挑战性的。”

这次用于观测微粒的设备叫作原子力望远镜，它能够通过

位于弹簧末端的尖端来扫描这些微粒并在三维空间中绘制下

它们的形状。这种望远镜能够以小到100纳米来呈现出这些

微粒。而且这不会是凤凰号扫描的最后的尘粒，科学家将会收

集更多的火星微粒进行扫描。“这次成功以后，我们正在努力

创建一座火星尘粒图像陈列馆。”Pike说道。

火星上到处都存在着尘粒，这些尘粒覆盖着火星表面，使

其呈现出锈迹斑斑的红色。这些尘粒把火星的天空染成了粉

色，而且经常会引起覆盖行星的尘暴。而超小的尘粒又是连接

大气层中的空气与火星中的土壤的媒介物，所以研究者称火星

尘粒对于了解火星环境是极端重要的。

这次耗资420万美元的凤凰号任务将会分析火星北极范

围内的尘粒和地表下的冰层，目的是发现火星上过去是否有居

住性的可能性。从原子力望远镜里观测到的尘粒是由机械手从

“白雪沟”中获得，而后在7月初被传送到凤凰号望远镜观测站

的样本的一部分。

概括大意与完成句子：

第十一篇：TheTiniestElectricMotorintheWorld

1Scientistsrecentlymadepublicthetiniestelectricmotor

ldstuffhundredsofthemintotheperiodat

asimilarenginemightpower

atinymechanicaldoctorthatwouldtravelthroughyourbody

toremoveyourdia.

2Themotorworksbyshufflingatomsbetweentwo

pletis

mallelectriccurrentis

appliedtothedroplets,atomsslowlygetoutofthelarger

lldropletgrows—

butnevergetsasbigastheotherdropletandeventuallybumps

touch,thelargedropletrapidly

ickshiftin

energyproducesapowerstroke

3Thetechniqueexploitsthefactthatsurfacetension—

thetendencyofatomsormoleculestoresistparating—

etensionisthe

samethingthatallowssomeinctstowalkonwater.

4Althoughtheamountofenergyproducedissmall—20

microwatts—itisquiteimpressiveinrelationtothetinyscale

letupislessthan200nanometersona

side,orhundredsoftimessmallerthanthewidthofahuman

uldbescaleduptothesizeofanautomobileengine,

itwouldbe100milliontimesmorepowerfulthanaToyota

Camry's225horpowerV6engine.

5In1988,ProfessorRichardMullerandcolleaguesmade

thefirstoperatingmicromotor,whichwas100micronsacross,

2003,Zettl'sgroup

2018,theybuilta

nanoconveyor,whichmovestinyparticlesalonglikecarsina

factory.

6Nanotechnologyengineerstrytomimicnature,building

therthings,nanomotorscould

beudinopticalcircuitstoredirectlight,aprocesscalled

stnvisionadaywhennanomachines,

poweredbynanomotors,travelinsideyourbodytofinddia

andrepairdamagedcells.

练习：

1．Paragraph2__TheWorkingPrincipleofthe

Nanomotor

2．Paragraph4__ADescriptionoftheNanomotorin

TermsofPowerandSize

3．Paragraph5__PreviousInventionsofNanoscale

Products

4．Paragraph6__PossibleFieldsofApplicationinthe

Future

5．Doctornvisionthatthenanomotorwouldtravelthrough

humanbodiesto__removedia

6．Surfacetensionmeansthetendencyofatomsormolecules

to__resistparating

7．Nanoconveyorscouldbeudto__transportnanoscale

objects

8．Applyingasmallelectriccurrentcausatomsto__

shufflebetweentwomoltenmetaldroplets

第十一篇世界上最小的电动机

最近科学家公布了现有的最小的电动机。就是在这句话的

句号里，你也能塞进几百个这样的电动机。将来有一天，类似

的发动机也许能够为一个微型机械医生提供动力，在人的身体

里自由移动，治疗疾病。发动机通过碳纳米管中的原子在两

小滴金属溶液间来回运动进行工作。其中一个小滴甚至比另一

个还要小。当微弱的电流通过时，大一点的小滴金属溶液中的

原子就会缓慢逸出，进入小一点的小滴。这样，后者体积不断

增大——但绝不会大到和前者一样——最后，与大一点的小滴

金属溶液相撞。当它们接触时，大的小滴便夺回它失去的原子。

能量这样迅速地来回运动就产生一次动力冲程。这项技术利

用了表面张力的原理——原子或分子有不愿被分开的倾向—

—这在纳米等级上更加重要。表面张力同样也使某些昆虫能在

水上行走。虽然这样产生的能量很少——只有20微瓦，但

与电动机的小等级相比，功率也是相当可现了。整个装置一侧

的长度不到200纳米，比人类一根头发的宽度还要小几百倍。

如果纳米电动机能按比例放大到汽车发动机的尺寸，它将会比

丰田凯美瑞的225马力的V6引擎功率还要大1亿倍。

1988年，理查德·乌勒教授和他的同事发明了第一台微型发

动机，100微米长，或者说有一根头发那么粗。2003年，泽

特尔的小组制造出第一台纳米级的发动机。2018年，他们又

造出了纳米传送带，能够像工厂里传送汽车那样移动极小的粒

子。纳米技术的工程师尽力去模拟自然，用一个个原子来制

造物体。在这些事物当中，纳米发动机能够被用于光电路来改

变光的方向，该过程被称为光学转换。未来主义者预想有一天，

被纳米发动机驱动的纳米机器能在人体内移动，发现疾病并修

复被破坏的细胞。

第十二篇AStrongGreenhouGas

1Methaneisacolorless,odorlessgas;itisalsoapotent

greenhougas,andoncereleadintotheatmosphere,itabsorbs

heatradiatingfromEarth’’swhymethaneisa

majorcontributortotheplanet’sincreasingtemperatureri—or

leformolecule,methane’sheat-trapping

powerintheatmosphereis21timesstrongerthancarbondioxide,

themostabundantgreenhougas.

2With13billioncowsbelchingalmostconstantlyaround

theworld(),it’snosurprithat

methanereleadbylivestockisoneofthechiefglobalsources

rimemethanesources:petroleum,drilling,

coalmining,solid-wastelandfillsandwetlands.

3Greenhougaslikemethaneandcarbondioxide

makeuponlyasmallpartofEarth’satmosphere,whichis78

hout

greenhougastotrapthesun’sheatandwarmtheplanet,

lifeasweknowitcouldn’helast200years,

humanactivitythatrequiresburningoil,naturalgas,andcoal

forenergyhasmagnifiedthegreenhoueffect.

4Atmosphericconcentrationsofmethanehavemorethan

orthisoftenfocus

iculture

playsamajorrole,ast40yearsalone,theglobal

cattlepopulationhasdoubled.

5Cowsmunchmostlygrassandhay—yettheygrow

?enholds

icroscopic

bacteriaandbreakdowncelluloandfiberintodigestible

uldn’

microbesdigestcellulo,cess

occursinallanimalswitharumen(cows,sheep,andgoats,for

example),’spartoftheirnormal

eychewtheircud,theyregurgitate

somefoodtorechewit,rage

cowexpels600litersofmethaneaday.

6That’swhywesaylivestockgasisalsoamajorfactorof

causingtheglobalwarming.

练习:

aph1__MethaneasaStrongGreenhouGas

aph2__LivestockasaPrimeFactorofthe

GreenhouEffect

aph4__AgricultureAlsoContributesto

IncreadConcentrationsofMethaneintheAtmosphere

aph5__WhyLivestockReleasMethane

eis___oneofthemajorcontributorstothe

intensifyinggreenhoueffect.

ougasareindispensabletomankind,butthe

problemmankindisfacedwithis___theever-increasing

atmosphericconcentrationsofgreenhougas.

llypeopleheapcriticismon___bigindustries

andgas-guzzlingvehiclesfortheplanet’stemperatureri.

ghasbeenmentionedinthepassage

about___howtocutdownthecattlepopulations.

第十二篇一种强烈的温室气体

甲烧是一种无色无昧的气体，同时也是一种很强烈的温

室气体，一旦释放到空气中，就会吸收地球表面散发的热量。

所以说甲烧是使这个星球日趋变暖(或叫全球变暖)的一个主

要原因。按分子与分子对比，甲皖在大气中吸收热量的能力是

二氧化碳——最丰富的温室气体的21倍。由于全世界有130

亿头牛几乎在连续不断地打嘀(仅美国就有1亿头)，难怪由牲

畜释放的甲烧成为全球甲烧的主要来源。其他主要的甲烧来源

有:石油、钻井、采煤、固体垃圾以及沼泽地。甲烧和二氧

化碳等温室气体只占地球大气的一小部分，大气中78%为氯

气，将近21%为氧气。如果没有温室气体来吸收太阳的热量，

使地球变暖，我们所知道的生命就不会存在。但在过去的200

年里，通过燃烧油、天然气和煤来获取能量的人类活动加剧了

温室效应。在过去的两个世纪里，甲烧在大气中的浓度增加了

一倍多，人们常常将此归罪于大工业和汽车。但是，农业在其

中也扮演了一个重要角色。仅在过去40年里，全球牲畜数量

就翻了一番。牛吃的大部分是草，但却长得身高体壮。原因

何在?在于它们都长有瘤胃。它们的瘤胃可容纳160升的食物，

养育数十亿的微生物。这些微小的细菌和原生动物可分解纤维

素，形成可吸收的营养。没有这些微生物，牛就无法生存。当

微生物分解纤维素时，就会释放出甲烧。所有长有瘤胃的动物

(比如牛、绵羊和山羊)都会这样，因此它们经常释放出气体，

这是它们的正常吸收过程的一部分。它们反鱼时，就会将食物

重新咀嚼，于是就释放出气体。一般每头牛每天会排出600

升甲烧。因此，我们认为，牲畜释放的气体也是全球变暖的

一个主要因素。

第十三篇：FaceMasksMayNotProtectfromSuper-Flu

1Ifasuper-flustrikes,facemasksmaynotprotectyou.

Whetherwidespreaduofmaskswillhelp,orharm,duringthe

nextworldwidefluoutbreakisaquestionthatrearchersare

ltshavecomefromtheirmask

r,thegovernmentsayspeopleshould

considerwearingthemincertainsituationsanyway,justinca.

2Butit'saquestionthepublickeepsaskingwhilethe

governmentaremakingpreparationsforthenextflupandemic.

SotheCentersforDiaControlandPrevention(CDC)came

upwithpreliminaryguidelines."Wedon'twantpeoplewearing

themeverywhere,"saidtheCDC."Theoverallrecommendation

reallyistoavoidexposure."

3Whenthat'snotpossible,theguidelinessaytoconsider

wearingasimplesurgicalmaskifyouareinoneofthethree

,you'rehealthyandcan'tavoidgoingto

,you'resickandthinkyoumayhave

clocontactwiththehealthy,suchasafamilymemberchecking

,youlivewithsomeonewho'ssickandthusmight

beintheearlystagesofinfection,butstillneedtogoout.

4Influenzapandemicscanstrikewhentheeasy-to-mutate

fluvirusshiftstoastrainthatpeopleneverhaveexperienced.

Scientistscannotpredictwhenthenextpandemicwillarrive,

althoughconcernisrisingthattheAsianbirdflumighttrigger

oneifitstartsspreadingeasilyfrompersontoperson.

5Duringtheflupandemic,youshouldprotectyourlf.

Avoidcrowds,andavoidclocontactwiththesickunlessyou

n'tmasksaddedtothis

lf-protectionlist?Becautheycanhelptrapvirus-laden

s,theCDC

s

someonewhoshouldhavestayedhomewoulddonanill-fitting

maskandhoponthesubwayinstead.

eone

coversasneezewithhisorherhand,thentouchesadoorknob

ouchthatspotnextandthenputgermy

handsonyournoormouth,you''sharder

torubyournowhilewearingamaskandsoyourfacemay

chundertowipethat

sweat,andmaytransfergermscaughtontheoutsideofthe

retheproblemsfacemasks

maycreatefortheirurs.

7Whetherpeopleshouldorshouldnotufacemasks

eralpublichastowait

patientlyfortheresultsofthemaskrearchscientistsarestill

doing.

练习：

1．Paragraph2__GuidelinesonMaskU

2．Paragraph3__WhentoUFaceMasks

3．Paragraph5__ReasonsforExcludingMasksfromthe

Self-protectionList

4．Paragraph6__DangerofInfectionthroughGermy

HandsandMasks

5．Thescientistsaretryingtofindoutifmasksmayor

maynot___helpprotectpeoplefrombeingattackedbyaflu

6．TheCDCisafraidthatthepublicmay___overuface

masks

7．Thepublicwillnotknowtheansweraboutmasksuntil

scientists___announcetheresultsoftheirmaskrearch

8．WecaninferfromthepassagethattheUSauthorities

___dealwiththemaskproblemriously

第十三篇口罩也许无法预防感冒

如果一场超级流感暴发，口罩也许不能保护你。在下一

次世界性的流感暴发期间，广泛使用口罩是否有用还是个问

题，科学家正认真研究该题，但至今还没有任何结果。然而，

为了以防万一，政府建议人们在某些情况下还是应当考虑佩

戴口罩。但当政府为下一次流感流行做准备时，公众仍心

存疑问。所以美国疾病控制和预防中心提出了一些初步指导原

则，"我们不希望人们到处戴着口罩，"他们说，"，总体上是

建议要避免到有流感病毒的场合去。"在无法避免的情况下，

指导原则提出，在以下三种情况下应考虑佩戴一个简易的外科

手术口罩:第一，你很健康但要到一个人群拥挤的地方;第二，

你已经生病了但仍要与健康的人接触，如家庭成员要来看你的

病情;第三，与你居住在一起的人已经感冒了，也许你已经处

在传染的早期阶段，但你仍需外出。当易变异的感冒病毒出

现人们从未遇到过的新种类时，全国性的流行性感冒就会暴

发。如果亚洲的禽流感开始轻易地在人与人之间传播，就可能

会引起一场这样的大流行性疾病，虽然人们的忧虑不断升级，

但科学家仍无法预测这样的大暴发什么时候会出现。在流感

期间，你应当学会自我保护。避免到人多的地方去，远离流感

病人，除非你必须照顾病人。为什么不把口罩放入自我保护的

措施中呢?口罩能把咳嗽或是打喷囔飞出的含有病毒的飞沫拦

截住。但简易的外科手术口罩只能过滤大的飞沫。此外，美国

疾病控制和预防中心担心口罩可能会制造出一种虚假的安全

感。也许原本会待在家里的人会戴上一个不合适的口罩跑去

坐地铁。流感不仅仅是通过空气传染。有些人打喷囔时会用

手遮挡，带有病毒的手会接触到门把手或是地铁里的扶手。如

果你碰到这些东西，然后把带有流感病毒的手接触到嘴或者鼻

子，你就有可能被传染。戴口罩时你很难去擦鼻子，于是脸在

口罩下就变得汗津津的，当你去擦汗时，病毒就直接被带到了

鼻子里。这些问题就是口罩带给他们的使用者的。人们是否

应该使用口罩仍然是个问题。公众还要耐心地等待科学家的研

究结果。

十四、TheMagicIoPersonalDigitalPen

1CheckouttheioPersonalDigitalPenlaunchedby

Logitech：It’samagicpenthatcanstoreeverythingyouwrite

don’thavetoluga

hand-helddevicealongwithyouforittowork.1

2Logitech’stechnologyworkslikethis：Thepen

writesnormally,le

youarewriting,atinycamerainsidethepenisalsotaking

100snapshotspercondofwhatyouaredoing3,mapping

yourwritingviaapatchworkofminutedotsprintedonthe

sinformation—themovementofyourpenon

thepaper,basically—isthenstoreddigitallyinsidethepen,

whetheryouarewritingnotesordrawingcomplexdiagrams.

Youcanstoreupto40pagesworthofdoodlesinthepen’s

syouareconcerned4,youarejustusinga

normalpen.

3Itisonlywhenyoudropthepenintoits

lsoftware

onyourPCwillfigureoutwhatyouhavedone,andbeginto

downloadanydocumentsyouhavewrittensincethelast

ingonwhetheryouhaveticked

certainboxesonthespecialnotepad,itcanalsotell

whetherthedocumentisdestinedtobeane-mail,a“to

do”task,oradiagramtobeinrtedintoa

edocumentsare

downloadedyoucanviewthem,printthemoutorconvert

themtootherformats.

4TheioPersonalDigitalPenisaneatandsimple

solutiontotheproblemofstoring,sharingandretrieving

handwrittennotes,aswellasforhandlingdiagrams,

’thaveto

havetodoisjust

whipoutthepenandthespecialpaperandyouareoff5.

5Itisagreatproductbecauitdoesnotforceyou

toworkdifferently—walkingaroundwithascreen

strappedtoyourarm,orcarryingwithyouextrabitsand

islightandworkslikeanormalpenifyou

needitto,whilethespecialnotepadslookandfeellike

ystrangelookswillbefrompeoplewho

arecuriouswhyyouarewritingwithacigar.

6TheioPersonalDigitalPenalsohaspotential

6,forexample,isintroducingaversion

ofthepensothatcustomerscanfilloutformsbyhand—

insteadofpunchinglettersintocumbersomedevices.

Oncethatdataisdigitalmoreorlessanythingcanbe

donewithit—transferringitwirelesslytoacentral

computer,forexample,s

couldtransmittheirprescriptionsdirecttopharmacies,

reducingfraud;policemencouldndtheirreportsbackto

thestation,reducingpaperwork.

aph2__WorkingPrinciplesoftheIo

PersonalDigitalPen

aph3__WaystoDownloadtheStored

Information

aph5__AFriendlyandConvenientDevice

aph6__ExamplesofOtherPotential

ApplicationsoftheIoPen

snoneedtolearnhowtoutheio

PersonalDigitalPenbecau__itworkslikeanordinary

pen.

anttodownloadwhatyouhavedonewith

themagicpen,__yousimplyplacethepenintoits

computer-connectedcradle.

icpenisparticularlyconvenientwhenyou

workawayfromhomeorofficebecau__youdon’thave

tocarryyourlaptopalong

erwhatyouwriteordraw__themovementof

yourpenisrecordeddigitallyinsidethepen

神奇的私人数字笔仔细看看由Logitech公司发明的io

私人数字笔吧。这是一种神奇的笔。可以将你写的所有东西储

存下来并转换到计算机上，而你在使用这种数字笔时却不必携

带手持设备。

Logitech技术的工作原理如下：这种笔使用一种普通的圆

珠笔墨水，和平常一样写字。但是当你写字时，笔内的一个极

小的摄像头也在以每秒钟100张的速度对你所写的内容进行

快速拍摄，通过印在纸上的小点块拼出你所写的内容。然后，

无论你是记笔记还是画复杂图表，所以的信息——基本上都是

笔在纸上的移动——都将以数字形式存储于笔中。你可在笔的

存储器中存储多达40页的资料。而对你来说，你只不过是在

使用一支普通的笔而已。

只有当你将笔插入与PC机连接的笔座中时，有趣的事才

真正开始。你的PC机的专用软件会估算出你所做之事，并下

载你最新写下的所有文件。根据你是否在专用记事本的一些特

定框里打对号，这种笔还可以辨别出文档是电子邮件、“待执

行”人物还是要插入文字处理文档的图表。文档下载后，你就

可以查看、打印或将其转换为其他形式。

io私人数字笔可妥善又简单地解决手写笔记的存储、共享

和检索问题，也可处理图表、图片以及其他非文本资料。你不

必携带电脑，你只需要拿出笔和专门用纸就能开始工作了。

这是一种很了不起的产品，因为你的工作不会因之产生任

何麻烦——你不必携带显示屏，也不必携带任何附件。它非常

轻便，如果你需要的话，也可以当普通笔来用，而这种专用记

事本看起来摸起来都很像普通记事本。有些人会很好奇，不明

白为什么你在用雪茄写字，这是唯一看起来令人费解的地方。

io私人数字笔在其他方面也很有潜力。例如，联邦快递公

司正引进一种数字笔，从而用户可用手填写表格，而无需再费

力劳神地打进机器中。如果数字为数字型，几乎所有事情都可

由这种笔来完成——例如将数据通过无线方式或手机传输到

中心计算机上。医生可将处方直接转到药房，减少了欺诈行为

的发生。警察可将报告发回警察局，减少了文书工作。

第十五课MaglevTrains

1Afewcountriesareusingpowerfulelectromagnetsto

develophigh-speedtrains，isshort

formagneticlevitation，whichmeansthatthetrainsfloatovera

guidewayusingthebasicprinciplesofmagnetstoreplacetheold

steelwheelandtracktrains.

2Ifyou'veeverplayedwithmagnet，youknowthatopposite

thebasic

omagnets

aresimilartoothermagnetsintheyattractmetalobjects，butthe

easilycreateasmall

electromagnetyourlfbyconnectingtheendsofacopperwireto

isconnecteitherendof

thewirefromthebattery，themagneticfieldistakenaway.

3Themagneticfieldcreatedinthiswire-and-battery

experimentisthesimpleideabehindamaglevtrainrailsystem.

Therearethreecomponentstothissystem:Alargeelectrical

powersource，metalcoilsliningaguidewayortrack，andlarge

guidancemagnetsattachedtotheundersideofthetrain.

4Thebigdifferencebetweenamaglevtrainanda

conventionaltrainisthatmaglevtrainsdonothavean

engine—atleastnotthekindofengineudtopulltypicaltrain

ineformaglevtrainsisrather

dofusingfossilfuels，themagneticfield

createdbytheelectrifiedcoilsintheguidewaywallsandthe

trackcombinetopropelthetrain.

5Themagnetizedcoilrunningalongthetrack，calleda

guideway，repelsthelargemagnetsonthetrain's

undercarriage，allowingthetraintolevitatebetween1to10cm

etrainislevitated，poweris

suppliedtothecoilswithintheguidewaywallstocreatea

uniquesystemofmagneticfieldsthatpullandpushthtrain

ctriccurrentsuppliedtothecoilsin

theguidewaywallsisconstantlyalternatingtochangethe

angeinpolaritycaus

themagneticfieldinfrontofthetraintopullthevehicle

forward，whilethemagneticfieldbehindthetrainaddsmore

forwardthrust.

6Maglevtrainsfloatonacushionofair，eliminating

ckoffrictionallowsthetrainstoreach

unprecedentedgroundtransportationspeedsofmorethan500

kph，500

kph，youcouldtravelfromParistoRomeinjustovertwo

hours.

aph3___TheMainComponentsoftheMaglev

TrainSystem

aph4___ComparisonofMaglevTrainswith

TraditionalOnes

aph5___TheWorkingPrincipleoftheMaglev

Train

aph6___High-speedMaglevduetoZeroFriction

lcountriesintheworldareusingstrong

electromagnets___todevelopamaglevtrainrailsystem

connectawiretothepositiveandnegative

endsofabattery___tocreateamagneticfield

esystemofmagneticfieldsiscreatedbythe

coils___topullandpushthetrainforward

ctionlessmaglevtrainenablesyou__totravelfrom

ParistoRomeinabouttwohours

第十五篇磁悬浮列车

一些国家正在使用强有力的电磁体发展高速列车，这种列

车叫作磁悬浮列车。Maglev是磁悬浮的缩略词，它意味着这

些列车漂浮在导向槽上，导向槽是使用磁铁的基本原理来替换

原来的钢轮子和钢轨道的列车。如果你曾经玩过磁铁，你知

道异极相服，同极相斥的道理。这是电磁式推进背后的基本原

理。电磁体与其他磁铁在吸引金属物品方面是一样的，但是电

磁力是暂时的。你能通过铜丝连接一节5号电池的正负极很

容易地自己创造出一个小的电磁体。这就创造了一个小磁场。

如果你从电池分开导线的任意一个末端，磁场就消失。这个

导线和电池实验创造的磁场是磁悬浮列车系统背后的简单想

法。这个系统有三个成分：一个大电能来源、金属卷排列成导

向槽或轨道和附着在列车下面的大的导电磁体。磁悬浮列车

和传统列车之间的一个很大的大区别是磁悬浮列车没有发动

机——至少不是沿着轨道拉动典型的火车车厢的那种发动机。

磁悬浮列车的发动机相当不显眼。代替矿物燃料的使用，由嵌

入导向壁内的电磁线圈产生的磁场加上轨道，一起推动火车前

进。导向槽是沿着轨道延伸的带磁性的线圈。它排斥在列车

的车盘上的大磁铁，允许列车在导向槽之上1-10cm之间悬浮。

一旦列车被悬浮，就把力量供给在导向槽墙体之内的线卷来创

造出一个单独的磁场系统，沿着导向槽推拉列车。在导向槽墙

体内供给线圈的电流不断交替改变被磁化的线卷的极性。在极

性上的变化造成了列车前面的磁场向前拉动列车，而在列车后

面的磁场增加更多向前推力。磁悬浮列车漂浮在气垫上来减

少摩擦。这种缺乏摩擦(的状态)让这些列车超过500kph的速

度，(这个速度)是地面交通工具史无前例的速度，或者是最快

速的传统列车两倍的速度。500kph，你可能用刚好超过两个小

时的(时间)从巴黎旅行到罗马。

阅读理解：

三十四、BatteriesBuiltbyVirus

Whatdochickenpox,thecommoncold，theflu，andAIDS

haveincommon?They'realldiacaudbyvirus，tiny

’sno

wonder1thatwhenmostpeoplethinkaboutvirus,findingways

tosteerclearof2virusiswhat'sonpeople'sminds.

Noteveryonerunsfromthetinydiacarriers,

Cambridge，Massachutts4,scientistshavediscoveredthatsome

eputtingvirus

towork，teachingthemtobuildsomeoftheworld’ssmallest

rechargeablebatteries.

Virusandbatteriesmayemlikeanunusualpair,but

they'renotsostrangeforengineerAngelaBelcher,whofirstcame

assachuttsInstituteofTechnology

(MIT)inCambridge，sheandhercollaboratorsbringtogether

aofthe

virus-builtbatteries，thescientistscombinewhattheyknow

aboutbiology，technologyandproductiontechniques.

Belcher’steamincludesPaulaHammond，whohelpsput

togetherthetinybatteries，andYet-MingChiang,anexperton

howtostoreenergyintheformofabattery."We'reworkingon

thingswetraditionallydon’tassociatewithnature,"says

Hammond.

holdA，C

n-likebatteriesthat

r，every

year，newelectronicdeviceslikepersonalmusicplayersorcell

edevices

shrink，ordinarybakerieswon’tbesmallenoughtofitinside.

Theidealbatterywillstorealotofenergyinasmall

ow，Belcher’smodelbattery，ametallicdisk

completelybuiltbyvirus，lookslikearegularwatchbattery.

Butinside，itscomponentsareverysmall-sotinyyoucanonly

ethemwithapowerfulmicroscope.

Howsmallarethebatteryparts?Togetsomeideaofthe

size，ourhaironapiece

ofwhitepaperandtrytoehowwideyourhairis-prettythin，

right?Althoughthewidthofeachperson’shairisabit

different，youcouldprobablyfitabout10ofthevirus-built

batteryparts，sidetoside，icrobatteries

maychangethewaywelookatvirus7.

ingtothefirstparagraph，peopletryto

croorganismsrelatedtochickenpox，theflu，etc.

emlvesawayfromvirusbecautheyare

invisible.

ayfromvirusbecautheyarecausof

variousdias.

emlvesofvirus-relateddiasbytaking

medicines.

Belcher’steamdoingatprent?

ndingwaystogetridofvirus..

ss-producingmicrobatteries.

kingbatterieswithvirus.

alyzingvirusgenes.

pressionbelowisoppositeinmeaningtothe

word"shrink"appearinginparagraph5?

n.

.

.

.

fthefollowingistrueofBelcher’sbattery

mentionedinparagraph6?

deofmetal.

indofwatchbattery.

nlybeenwithamicroscope.

etallicdiskwithvirusinsideit.

yisonebatterypart?

thisonetonthofahair.

lsthewidthofahair.

thinasapieceofpaper.

thistootinytomeasure.

答案与题解：

病毒电池水痘、普通感冒、流感和艾滋病有哪些相似

之处呢？这些都是由病毒引起的疾病。病毒是能够在人与人之

间传染的微生物。难怪大部分人一提到病毒，首先想到的是如

何躲避病毒。

然而，并不是每个人都躲避这些病毒携带者。在马萨诸

塞州剑桥市，科学家发现有些病毒能起到非同寻常的作用。他

们使病毒开始工作，使病毒构成世界上最小的充电电池。

病毒和电池的搭档似乎并不常见，但这对于工程师安吉

拉·贝尔彻来说却并不陌生。安吉拉·贝尔彻最早产生了这一

想法。在位于剑桥市的麻省理工学院，她和合作者一起用新方

式融合了不同的科学领域。在由病毒构成的电池里，科学家融

合了他们在生物、技术和生产工艺方面的知识。

贝尔彻的团队包括帮助组装微型电池的宝拉·哈蒙德和

以电池形式存储能量的专家蒋业明。哈蒙德说，“我们现在从

事的行业是传统中不会想到的。”

许多电池已经很小了。A型、C型和D型电池都可以握

在手里。硬币形状的手表电池通常比分币还小。然而，个人音

乐播放器和手机等新型电子设备变得越来越小。这些设备变小

了，普通电池就无法安装进去了。

理想的电池应当体积小、储能多。，贝尔彻的电池模型

是完全由病毒构成的金属圆盘，看起来就像普通手表电池。但

里面的部件却非常小——小到用高倍望远镜才能看到。

这些电池部件到底有多小呢？从头上拔一根头发，把它放

到白纸上，看看头发的宽度——是不是很细呢？尽管每个人的

头发宽度不同，每个头发上可以并列排放大约10个病毒电池

部件。这些为电池能会改变我们对病毒的看法。

三十五PuttingPlantstoWork

havehad

solar-poweredcalculatorsandbuildingswithsolarpanelsfor

ntsaretherealexperts:They'vebeenusing

sunlightasanenergysourceforbillionsofyears.

Ceilsinthegreenleavesofplantsworkliketinyfactoriesto

convertsunlight,carbondioxide,andwaterinto1sugarsand

starches,nversion

unately,unlessyou'rea

plant,it'sdifficultandexpensivetoconvertsunlightinto

'swhyscientistsaretakingaclorlookat

exactlyhowplantsdoit.

Somescientistsaretryingtogetplants,orbiologicalcells

thatactlikeplants,toworkasminiaturephotosyntheticpower

mple,MafiaGhirardioftheNational

RenewableEnergyLaboratoryinGolden,Colo.2,isworking

'stryingtotrickthemintoproducing

hydrogen4insteadofsugarswhentheyperformphotosynthesis.

Oncetherearcherscangetthealgaeworkingefficiently,the

hydrogenthattheyproducecouldbeudtopowerfuel

Cellsincarsortogenerateelectricity,

Thealgaearegrowninnarrow-neckedglassbottlesto

photosynthesis,plants

normallymakesugarsorstarches."Butundercertain

conditions,alotofalgaeareabletouthesunlightenergynot

tostorestarch,buttomakehydrogen."

example,algaewillproducehydrogeninanairfree

'stheoxygenintheairthatpreventsalgaefrom

makinghydrogenmostofthetime.

Workinginanairfreeenvironment,however,isdifficult.

It'rardi

andhercolleagueshavediscoveredthatbyremovinga

chemicalcalledsulfatefromtheenvironmentthatthealgae

growin,theywillmakehydrogeninsteadofsugars,evenwhen

airisprent.

Unfortunately,removingthesulfatealsomakesthealgae's

cellsworkveryslowly,andnotmuchhydrogenisproduced.

Still,therearchersethisasafirststepintheirgoalto

rework,they

maybeabletospeedthecells'activityandproducelarger

quantitiesofhydrogen.

Therearchershopethatalgaewillonedaybean

anismsarecheaptogetandto

feed,Ghirardisays,andtheycangrowalmostanywhere:"You

cangrowtheminareactor,growthemin

'salotofflexibilityinhowyoucanuthe

organisms."

esthewritersayaboutplantsconcerningsolar

energy?

A)Plantsare'therealexpertsinproducingsolarenergy.

B)Plantshavebeenudtoproducesolarenergy.

C)Plantshavebeenusingsolarenergyforbillionsof

years.

D)Plantshavebeenasourceofsolarenergy.

omescientistsstudyhowplantsconvert

sunlightcarbondioxide,andwaterintosugarsandstarches?

A)Becautheywantalgaetoproducesugarsandstarches.

B)Becautheywantgreenplantstobecomeanewsource

ofenergy.

C)Becautheywanttoturnplantsugarstoanewformof

energy.

D)Becautheywanttomakephotosynthesismoreefficient.

ingtothefifthparagraph,underwhatconditions

arealgaeabletousolarenergytomakehydrogen?

A)Whenthereisalotofoxygenintheair.

B)Whenthereisnooxygenintheair.

C)Whenphotosynthesisistakingplace.

D)Whenenoughstarchisstored.

chershavemetwithdifficultieswhentryingto

neofthe

followingisonesuchdifficulty?

A)Itisnotpossibletoremovesulfatefromtheenvironment.

B)Itisnotpossibletoworkinanairfreeenvironmentto

producehydrogen.

C)Itisnoteasytomakesugarsinsteadofhydrogen.

D)Itistooslowforalgaetoproducehydrogenwhenthe

sulfateisremoved.

NOTtrueofalgae?

A)Theyareeasytogrow.

B)Theycanbeaverygoodfuelsource.

C)Theyarecheaptoeat.

D)Theycanbeudinmanyways.

植物效能太阳能的使用已经不足为奇。几十年前，人

们就开始使用太阳能计算器，制造太阳能电热板镶嵌的建筑。

但是植物当属应用太阳能的专家：十亿年来，植物一直把阳光

作为能源资源。

绿叶植物细胞的工作就像微型加工厂一样，将阳光，二

氧化碳和水转化为糖和淀粉，并且同时储存植物本身所需的能

量。这种转换过程叫做光合作用。可惜你不是一株植物，必须

困难的并且花上大价钱将阳光转换为稳定的能源。因此，科学

家们正在对植株进行准确细致的研究。

一些科学家正试图像植物的作用过程一样，将植物，或

生物的细胞活动看做微型光合发电站。例如，玛丽亚·奇若蒂

在美国科罗拉多州的国家可再生能源实验室里对绿藻进行研

究。她正想方设法的通过植物的产生氢来取代光合作用产生的

糖。一旦研究人员了解藻类如何有效率的进行工作，由此产生

的氢气可用于燃料电池动力汽车和发电。

在实验室里，藻类生长通过狭窄的颈玻璃瓶生产氢气的

环境下。在光合作用下，植物通常产生糖类或淀粉。奇若蒂说：

“但在一定条件下，有很多藻类能够利用日光能源产生氢气而

不是储存淀粉。”例如，藻类会在空气存在环境下产生氢气。

这是因为空气中的氧气，氧阻止绿藻制造氢。

藻类在空气中虽然可以工作，但是充满困难。这种方

式不能切实可行的生产廉价的能源。但是奇若蒂和她的同事

们已经发现，即使在目前的空气条件下，他们从藻类生长的

环境中，除去所谓的硫酸化学品，能够产生氢来代替糖。

只可惜消除硫酸盐不仅使藻类细胞的工作速度减慢，

而且大大减少了氢的数量。尽管如此，研究人员认为，对于

实现有效率的利用藻类产生氢这一目标，他们已经迈出了第

一步。随着工作量的加大，他们可以加速细胞的活动，从而

产生大量的氢气。

研究人员们希望，总有一天藻类会成为很容易使用的燃料来

源。藻类这种生物极易存活，他们可以在几乎任何地方成长。

奇若蒂说，：“你可以将它放在一反应堆或是池塘里，也可

以在海洋中找到它们，人们可以灵活的使用藻类的用途广

泛。”

三十六、ListeningDeviceProvidesLandslide

ListeningDeviceProvidesLandslideEarlyWarningA

devicethatprovidearlywarningofalandslidebymonitoring

ice

couldsavethousandsofliveachyearbywarningwhenan

areashouldbeevacuated,tural

disastersarccommonincountriesthatexperiencesudden,

heavyrainfall,andcanalsobetriggeredbyearthquakesand

evenwatererosion.

Landslidesstartwhenafewparticlesofsoilorrockwithin

aslopestarttomove,buttheearlystagescanbehardtospot.

Followingthisinitialmovement,"slopescanbecomeunstable

inamatterofhoursorminutes,"saysNellDixonat

SouthboroughUniversity1,awarningsystemthat

monitorsthismovement"mightbeenoughtoevacuateablock

offlatsorcleararoad,andsavelives."

Themostcommonwaytomonitoraslopeforsignsofan

imminentlandslideistowatchforchangesinitsshape.

Surveyorscandothisbymeasuringasidedirectly,ornsors

sunkintoboreholesorfixedabovegroundcanbeudto

r,change

shapewithouttriggeringalandslide,soeithermethodisprone

on'steamhasdevelopeda

devicethatlistensforthevibrations'caudwhenparticles

beginmovingwithinaslope.

Thedevicetakestheformofasteelpipedroppedintoa

eholeisfilledinwithgravelaround

thepipetohelptransmithigh-frequencyvibrationsgenerated

ibrationspassupthetube

reanalys

thevibrationsignaltodeterminewhetheralandslidemaybe

imminent.

Thedeviceiscurrentlybeingtestedina6-metre-tall

artificialclayembankmentinNewcastle2,esults

suggestitshouldprovidefewerfalpositivesthanexisting

hasbeencarefullyandthoroughlytested,the

devicecouldbeudtocreateacompleteearly-warningsystem

fordangerousSlopes.

"Locationswithasignificantriskoflandslidescould

definitelybenefitfromamachinelikethis,"saysAdamPoulter,

anexpertattheBritishRedCross."Aslongasitdoesn'tcosttoo

much,"But,Poulteraddsthatanearly-warningsystemmaynot

beenoughonitsown."Youneedtohavethehuman

communication,"hesays."Makingsystemsthatgetwarningsto

thowhoneedthemcanbedifficult."

es"Suchnaturaldisasters"inthefirstparagraph

referto?

ASudden,heavyrainfall.

BEarthquakes.

CWatererosion.

DLandslides.

fthefollowingstatementsistrueoflandslides?

ATheinitialmovementishardtospot.

BTheystartwithamovementofafewparticlesofsoilor

rock.

CTheycanbedestructiveinamatterofhoursorminutes.

DAlloftheabove.

earchersdevelopanewdevicetomonitor

signsoflandsides?

ABecauthenewdevicecanmeasurethesitedirectly.

BBecauthenewdevicecanbesunkintoboreholesor

fixedaboveground.

falalarms.

DBecauthecommonmethodsareuless.

fthefollowingstatementsisNOTtrueofthe

device,accordingtoParagraph4?

AItisfilledinwithgravel.

BItconsistsofasteelpipe.

CItisdroppedintoaboreholefilledinwithgravel.

DItisconnectedtoansoronthesurface.

ingtothecontext,whatdoestheword"positives"

inthefifthparagraphmean?

APositiveelectriccharges.

BEvidences.

CWarnings.

DPredictions.

听觉仪器提供早期山崩预警英国研究者们正在测试一

种仪器，它可以通过监测土壤振动提供早期山崩预告。科学

家们说，这种仪器通过警报某处有险情需要撤离，每年可以

拯救成千上万的生命。经历过骤降大耐，地震甚至土壤侵蚀

的国家，山崩这样的自然灾害是很常见的。

当同一个山坡上的一些土壤或石块开始移动时，山崩就

开始了，但早期很难发现。接着这个初始运动，“山坡在数

分钟或数小时内变得不稳定，”英国拉夫堡大学尼尔·迪克

森说。他说，一个监控这种运动的警报系统“足以疏散一个，

街区的人或清出一条马路，拯救生命”。

监视迫近的山崩，最常见的办法就是观察这座山形状的

变化。研究者们可以直接测量，也可以在钻孔中或者地表面

上探测山坡形状的变化。可是，山坡改变形状也未必就导致

山崩。所以任何一种方法都可能导致误警。现在，迪克森的

团队已发明了一种仪器，它在一个山坡内的颗粒开始移动时

可以接收到振动。

这个仪器是钢管形状，探人山坡上的一个钻孔中。钻孔

中仪器的四周填满沙砾，有助于传导山坡内颗粒产生的高频

振动波。振动波顺着钢管上传，被地表传感器接收。通过软

件分析振动信号，判断是否马上要发生山崩。

目前这种仪器正在英国纽卡斯尔一座6米高人造石灰大

坝中接受测试。先期结果显示它比现有的仪器提供较少的判

断误差。一旦这种仪器通过了认真彻底的检测，它将成为—

个完善的山崩早期预警系统。

“受山崩严重威胁的地区—一定会从这样的仪器中得

益，”英国红十字会的专家艾登·保特说，“只要它不是太

贵。”但是，保特又说一个早期预警系统本身并不足以防灾，

“你需要建立人际交流，”他说，“使系统发射的预警送达

到需要的人群是不容易的事。”

三十七、“Don’tDrinkAlone”GetsNewMeaning

Inwhatmaybebadnewsforbarsandpubs,anEuropean

rearchgrouphasfoundthatpeopledrinkingalcoholoutside

ofmealshaveasignificantlyhigherriskofcancerinthemouth

o

DalMasoandhiscolleaguesstudiedthedrinkingpatternsof

1,500patientsfromfourcancerstudiesandanother3,500

adultswhohadneverhadcancer.

Aftertherearchersaccountedfortheamountofalcohol

consumed,theyfoundthatindividualswhodowneda

significantshareoftheiralcoholoutsideofmealsfacedatleast

a50to80percentriskofcancerintheoralcavity,pharynx,and

esophagus,whencomparedwithpeoplewhodrankonlyat

ingalcoholwithoutfoodalsoincreadbyat

least20percentthelikelihoodoflaryngealcancer.“Roughly

95percentofcancersatthefoursitestracedtoosmokingor

drinkingbystudyvolunteers,”

discouragingnewshisteamreports,isthatdrinkingwithmeals

didn’teliminatecancerriskatanyofthesites.

Fortheirnewanalysis,theEuropeanscientistsdivided

peopleinthestudyintofourgroups,badonhowmanydrinks

est-intakegroup

highestgroupreporteddowningatleast56rvingsofalcohol

risksfor

themouthandnecksitesrosteadilywithconsumptionevenfor

tance,

comparedwithpeopleinthelowest-consumptiongroup,

participantswhodrank21to34alcoholrvingsaweekatleast

peopleintheconsumptiongroupstooksomeofthodrinks

outsidemeals,thointhehigherconsumptiongroupatleast

quadrupledtheirriskfororalcavityandesophagealcancers.

Peopleinthehighest-consumptiongroupwhodrankonly

withmealshad10timestheriskoforalcancer,7timestheriskof

pharyngealcancer,and16timestheriskofesophagealcancer

comparedwiththowhoaveraged20orfewerdrinksaweek

rast,laryngealcancerriskthehigh-intake,

with-meals-onlygroupwasonlytriplethatinthelow-intake

consumerswhodrankwithmeals.

“me,thatinflammation

cantriggercancer.”ectsthatfood

reducedcancerriskeitherbypartiallycoatingdigestive-tract

ulates

thatthereasonlaryngealrisksweredramaticallylowerforall

studyparticipantstracestothetissue’slowerexposuretoalcohol.

“Don'tDrinkAlone”GetsNewMeaning

chershavefoundthattheriskofcancerinthe

mouthandneckishigherwithpeople

nkalcoholoutsideofmeals.

nkalcoholatmeals.

erdrinkalcohol.

nkalcoholatbarsandpubs.

fthefollowingisNOTtheconclusionmadeby

therearchersabout“drinkingwithmeals”?

lowerriskofcancerthandrinkingwithoutfood.

lsobeacauofcancer.

easby20percentthepossibilityofcancerinall

sites.

noteliminatecancerriskatanyofthesites.

imatelyhowmanydrinksdothelowest-intake

groupaverageperday?

A.3drinks.

B.8drinks.

C.20drinks.

D.50drinks.

ancerriskisthelowestamongallthefour

kindsofcancermentionedinthepassage?

ncer

ealcancer

gealcancer

gealcancer

ingtothelastparagraph,tissue'slowerexposure

toalcohol

nswhyinflammationtriggerscancer.

tsforwhyfoodcancoatdigestive-tracttissues.

easonwhyfoodcanscrubalcoholofftissues.

stheriskoflaryngealcancer.

不要在就餐时间以外饮酒有了新含义一定程度上，这

对酒吧可能是一个坏消息，欧洲的一个研究小组发现人们在

就餐时间以外饮酒会使患口腔和颈部癌症的机率比就餐时

饮酒更高。LuiginoDalMaso和他的同事们研究了取自四项

癌症研究的1,500个病例的饮酒习惯模式和另外3,500个从

没患癌症的成年人的饮酒习惯模式。

在研究者分析了饮酒的总量后，他们发现和只在就餐

时饮酒的人相比，在就餐时间以外灌下大量烈酒的人面临至

少50%~80%的患口腔癌、咽癌和食道癌的危险。在就餐时

间外饮酒也会使患喉癌的可能性增加至少20%。“被研究

者的情况说明大约95%患以上四种癌症的原因就是抽烟或

饮酒。”DalMaso说。他的研究小组提供的报告令人沮丧

的消息是就餐时饮酒不会消除患以上任何一种癌症的危险。

为了进行新的颁，欧洲科学家根据每星期平均饮酒量

将被研究者分为4组。饮酒量最少的一组包括每周平均饮酒

量达20杯的人，饮酒量最高的一组每周饮酒至少56杯，平

均每天8杯以上。患口腔癌和喉癌的危险随着饮酒量而稳定

上升，即使是那些只在就餐时饮酒的人。例如，和低饮酒量

的人相比，每周饮酒21~34杯的人患除喉癌以外其他部位

的癌症的危险增加了一倍。如果这几组中的人在就餐时间以

外饮酒，那些属于高饮酒量组的人会使他们患口腔癌和食道

癌的危险至少增加3倍。

和每周只在就餐时平均饮酒至多20杯的人相比，高饮

酒量组的人在就餐时间饮酒患口腔癌的危险是低饮酒量组

的10倍，咽癌是其7倍，食道癌16倍。相反，酒精高摄入

且仅在就餐时饮酒的人患喉癌的危险是酒精低摄入且仅在

就餐时饮酒的人的3倍。

“酒精能使组织发炎，一段时间后，炎症可引发癌症。”

DalMaso说。他认为食物降低了患癌症的危险，或是通过

覆盖在消化道组织上或是通过将酒精从那些组织上擦牛。他

推测所有被研究者患喉癌的机率比其他癌症低很多的原因

是组织被酒精侵害到的部分少。

第三十八篇"LifeFormFound"onSaturn'sTitan

Scientistssaytheyhavediscoveredhintsofalienlife1onthe

Saturn'coveryofasortoflifewasannounced

afterrearchersattheUSspaceagency,NASA3,analyzeddata

fromspacecraftCassini4,whichpointedto,theexistenceof

methane-badformoflifeonSaturn'sbiggestmoon.

Scientistshavereportedlydiscoveredcluesshowing

primitivealienbeingsare"breathing"in

Titan'sdenatmospherefilledwithhydrogen.

Theyarguethathydrogengetsabsorbedbeforehitting

Titan'splanet-likesurfacecoveredwithmethanelakesandrivers.

This,theysay,pointstotheexistenceofsome"bugs"5consuming

thehydrogenatthesurfaceofthemoonlessthanhalfthesizeof

theEarth.

"Wesuggestedhydrogenconsumptionbecauit'sthe

obviousgasforlifetoconsumeonTitan,similartothewaywe

consumeoxygenonEarth,"saysNASAscientistChrisMcKay."If

thesignsdoturnouttobeasignoflife,itwouldbedoubly

excitingbecauitwouldreprentacondformoflife

independentfromwater-badlifeonEarth."

Todate,scientistshavenotyetdetectedthisformoflife

anywhere,thoughthereareliquid-

water-badmicroorganismsonEarththatgrowwellonmethane

n,wheretemperatures

arearound90Kelvin6(minus290degreesFarenheit),a

methanebadorganismwouldhavetouasubstancethatis

liquidasitsmediumforlivingprocess,butnotwateritlf.

WaterisfrozensolidonTitan'ssurfaceandmuchtoocoldto

supportlifeasweknowit.

ScientistshadexpectedtheSun'sinteractionswithchemicals

intheatmospheretoproduceacoatingofacetyleneonTitan's

sinidetectednoacetyleneonthesurface.

TheabnceofdetectableacetyleneontheTitan'ssurfacecan

verywellhaveanon-biologicalexplanation,saidMarkAllen,a

principalinvestigator7oftheNASATitanteam.

"Scientificconrvatismsuggeststhatabiologicalexplanation

shouldbethelastchoiceafterallnon-biologicalexplanationsare

addresd,"Allensaid."Wehavealotofworktodotoruleout8

relikelythata

chemicalprocess,withoutbiology,canexplaintheresults."

vescientistsfoundaboutSaturn?

ATheyhavefoundanewmoonorbitingSaturn.

BTheyhavefoundmethane-badlifeonSaturn.

CTheyhavefoundmethane-badlifeonTitan.

DTheyhavefoundearthlikelifeonaSaturn'smoon.

scientistssayaboutTitan?

ATherearelifecluesthere.

BThereisacetylenethere.

CWateronTitanexistsintheformofice.

DRiversandlakestherecontainlifeformls.

,scientistshavenotyetdetectedthisformof

life.(paragraph5)Whatdoes"thisform

oflife"referto?

AWater-badlife.

BMethane-badlife.

CLiquid-water-badmicroorganisms.

DGas-badlife.

nbeinferredfromwhatAllensaid?

AScientistshavedifferentargumentsoverwhetherthereislife

onTitan.

BScientistsallagreethatthereislifeonTitan.

CScientistsallsuggestthatabiologicalexplanationis

reasonable.

DScientistsallagreethatanon-biologicalchemicalreactionis

apossibleexplanation.

fthefollowingcanreplacethetitleofthispassage?

AEarthlikeLivingBeingsFoundonTitan.

BFindingofOneMoreMoonofSaturn.

CTitan,aNewSatelliteFound.

DAdifferentLifeForm,aPossibility.

土卫六上发现了生命迹象科学家们说，在土卫六上发现

了外星生命迹象并宣布了这一发现。美国国家航空航天局

(NASA)的研究者们对卡西尼号探测器所传回来的数据进行

了分析，数据表明，土星卫星中最大的一颗卫星有以甲烷为

基础的生命的存在迹象。

据报道，科学家们已经找到了在土卫六高浓度氢气大气

层里“呼吸”的原始外星生命的线索。

他们认为，氢气在到达布满甲烷河流湖泊的土卫六类似

行星一样的表层前就已经被吸收了。这就证明在这个不及半

个地球大小的卫星表面有某种微生物在依靠氢气生存。

美国国家航空航天局的科学家ChrisMckay说，“我们

提出有氢气的消耗，是由于它是土卫六上生命赖以生存的显

而易见的气体，就像我们地球上用氧气呼吸一样。如果这些

迹象最终证明是生命的迹象，它会加倍令人兴奋，因为它会

代表完全不同于地球上水基生命的第二种生命。”

时至今日，尽管地球上的依赖液体水的微生物在甲烷里

生长良好或把它作为废物排出，科学家在任何地方都没有探

测到这种生命的形式。在土卫六上，绝对温度达到90度(相

当于摄氏-273．15度)，依赖于甲烷的微生物不得不用某种

液体物质作为生存的介质，这种液体不是水，水在土卫六上

会冻成冰块，不能融化。我们知道，冰块太冷不能维持生命。

科学家们原指望太阳与大气层中的化学物质相互作用

会在土卫六上产生一层乙炔。但卡西尼号在它的表面没有探测

到乙炔。

MarkAllen是美国宇航局土卫六项目组的主要负责人，他

说道，既然在土卫六的表面没有探测到乙炔，那就充分说明上

面没有生物。

Allen说：“科学界的保守主义者们建议，要做出土卫六

上有生物的结论，首先必须对土卫六上所有没有生物的观点做

出回应；要排除土卫六上可能没有生物的观点，我们任重道远。

极为可能的是，一种化学过程而非生物学能解释这些结果。”

三十九、CloneFarm

Factoryfarmingcouldsoonenteraneweraofmass

iesintheUSaredevelopingthetechnology

neededto"clone"hicken

withdesirabletraitshasbeenbredorgeneticallyengineered2,

tensofthousandsofeggs,whichwillhatchintoidenticalcopies,

nsofclones

couldbeproducedeachyeartosupplychickenfarmswithbirds

thatallgrowatthesamerate,havethesameamountofmeatand

tastethesame.

This,atleast,isthevisionoftheUS'sNationalInstituteof

ScienceandTechnology,whichhasgivenOrigenTherapeuticsof

Burlingame,California,andEmbrexofNorthCarolina$4.7

specthasalarmedanimal

welfaregroups,whofearitcouldincreathesufferingoffarm

birds.

That'sunlikelytoputoff5thepoultryindustry,however,

whichwantsdia-resistantbirdsthatgrowfasteronlessfood.

"Producerswouldlikethesamemeatquantitybuttoureduced

inputstogetthere,"this

demand,Origenaimsto"createananimalthatiffectivelya

clone",cloningdoesn'tworkinbirdsbecau

eggscan'd,thecompanyis

tryingtobulk-grow6,embryonicstemcells7takenfromfertilized

eggsassoonasthey'relaid."Thetrickistoculture8thecells

withoutthemstartingtodistinguish,sotheyremainpluripotent,"

saysFitzgerald.

Usingalong-establishedtechnique,thedonorcellswillthen

beinjectedintotheembryoofafreshlylaid,fertilizedrecipient

egg9,formingachickthatisa"chimera".Strictlyspeakinga

chimeraisn'taclone,becauitcontainscellsfrombothdonor

zgerald

saysitwillbeenoughif,say,95percentofachicken'sbody

developsfromdonorcells."Inthepoultryworld,itdoesn'tmatter

ifit'snot100percent,"hesays.

pluripotent/plua'ripetent/adj.多能的embryo/'embrieu/n.胚胎

chimera/kai'miara/n.嵌合体vaccine/'vaeksiin/n.疫苗‘

AnotherchallengeforOrigenistoscaleup10production.

Todothis,ithasteamedupwith11Embrex,whichproduces

machinesthatcaninjectvaccinesintoupto50,000eggs12an

isnowtryingtomodifythemachinestolocate

theembryoandinjectthecellsintoprecilytherightspot

withoutkillingit.

Infuture,Origenimaginesfreezingstemcellsfrom

rscomeinforaparticular

strain,millionsofeggscouldbeproducedinmonthsoreven

ent,maintainingallthevarietiesthemarket

mightcallforistooexpensiveforbreeders,andktakesyears

tobreedenoughchickenstoproducethebillionsofeggsthat

farmersneed.

tatementisthebestdescriptionoftheneweraof

factoryfarmingaccordingtothefirstparagraph?

eallgeneticallyengineered.

ndsofeggsareproducedeveryhour.

chickensarebulk-producedwiththesamegrowth

rate,weightandtaste.

caleggscanbehatchedontheproductionlines.

nstitutionhasoffered$4.7milliontofundthe

rearch?

’sNationalInstituteofScienceandTechnology.

therapeuticsofBurlingame,California.

ofNorthCarolina.

welfaregroups.

hirdparagraph,bysaying“Producerswouldlikethe

samemeatquantitybuttoureducedinputstogetthere.”

MikeFitzgeraldmeansthathewishes

ns’qualitycouldbemaintainedbutwithless

investment.

B)chickens'tastecouldbeimprovedbutatlesscosts.

C)chickens'growthratecouldbequickenedbutwithless

inputs.

D)chickenscouldgrowtothesameweightbutwithlessfeed.

fthefollowingstatementsaboutOrigenandEmbrex

iscorrectaccordingtothefifthparagraph?

A)OrigenandEmbrexwilljointlyinventmachinestoincrea

production.

B)Origenwantstopurchaanefficientdonorcellsinjecting

machine.

C)OrigenhasjoinedhandswithEmbrexinproducing

cell-injectingmachines.

D)Origenistheleadingcompanyinproducing

embryo-locatingmachines.

hnologyoffreezingstemcellsfromdifferentstrains

ofchickencandoallthefollowingEXCEPTthat

A)farmerscanordercertainstrainsofchickenonly.

B)Origencansupplyallthestrainsofchickenthemarketmight

need.

C)chickenfarmersordercertainstrainsofchickenforeconomic

reasons.

D)chickenfarmerscanbesuppliedwithwhateverstrainthey

need.

克隆农场工业化农场很快会进入一个大产量的新领域。美

国的公司正在开发一项需要大规模克隆小鸡的技术。一旦一个

具有所期望特性的小鸡被孵化出来或被基因改造，每小时成千

上万的鸡蛋会孵出如出一辙的小鸡滚下生产线。每年上百万的

克隆小鸡能被孵化出来，从而为鸡场提供以相同比例生长，重

量相同并且味道相同的小鸡。

这至少是美国国家科技院的梦想，科技院给

OnrigenTherapeuticsofBurlinggame,California，以及

EmbrexofNorthCaroling470万基金以资助研究。这个预想为担

忧增加鸡场小鸡痛苦的动物福利组织拉响了警报。

那好像并没有让使家禽养殖业气馁，然而，他们想使抗痛小鸡

吃得更少，长得更快，“养殖者希望减少投入但仍获得相同的

产量，”MikeFitzgeraldofOrigen说，为了达到这个要求，Origen

致力于“制造一个有效克隆体的小鸡，”他说，正常的克隆技

术对鸟类无效，因为卵不能被移动或移植。然而，公司正试图

大量繁殖刚产下的受精卵中提取的胚胎的干细胞。技巧是在细

胞开始显示其差别前对其进行培育，这样它们还保持多能性。”

Fitzgerald说

运用早已形成的技术，这些干细胞会被注入刚孵出的，已受精

的，要接受细胞植入的鸡蛋的胚胎中，形成一个嵌合体的小鸡。

严格地说，嵌合体的小鸡不是克隆鸡，因为它既有植入的细胞

又有本身的细胞。但Fitzgerald说，如果小鸡身体的95%是由

被植入的细胞发展而来的就足够了。“在家禽界，不是100%

也没关系。”

Origen面临的另一个挑战是提高生产量。为了做到这点，他和

Embrex合作研制了一个可将疫苗注入50000个鸡蛋中的仪

器。Embrex正试图改造那个仪器，从而使胚胎和注射的细胞

落在准确的位置而不杀死它。

在将来，Origen设想将不同品种小鸡的干细胞冷冻，如果定单

要某一种小鸡，成百万的卵能在几个月甚至几个星期被生产出

来，目前，维持市场可能需要的各种小鸡对养殖者来说太昂贵

了，那要花数年的时间培育足够多的小鸡以生产出农民需要的

上百万鸡蛋。

第四十篇TeachingMath,TeachingAnxiety

Inanewstudyaboutthewaykidslearnmathinelementary

school,thepsychologistsatthe

UniversityofChicagol1SianBeilockandSusanLevinefounda

surprisingrelationshipbetweenwhatfemaleteachersthinkand

whatfemalestudentslearn:Ifafemaleteacherisuncomfortable

withherownmathskills,thenherfemalestudentsaremore

likelytobelievethatboysarebetterthangirlsatmath.

"Ifthegirlskeepgettingmath-anxiousfemaleteachers2

inlatergrades,itmaycreateasnowballeffectontheirmath

rwords,girlsmayendup

dysuggests

thatifthegirlsgrowupbelievingthatboysarebetteratmath

thangirlsare,thenthegirlsmaynotdoaswellastheywould

haveiftheyweremoreconfident.

Justasstudentsfindcertainsubjectstobedifficult,teachers

canfindcertainsubjectstobe

jectofmathcanbe

particularlydifficultforeveryone.

Rearchersutheword"anxiety"todescribesuchfeelings:

anxietyisuneasinessorworry.

Thenewstudyfoundthatwhenateacherhasanxietyabout

math,thatfeelingcaninfluence

dyinvolved

65girls,52boysand17first-and

cond-gradeteachersinelementaryschoolsintheMidwest.

Thestudentstookmathachievementtestsatthebeginningand

endoftheschoolyear,andtherearcherscomparedthescores.

Therearchersalsogavethestudentsteststotellwhether

thestudentsbelievedthatamathsuperstarhadtobeaboy.

Thentherearchersturnedtotheteachers:Tofindoutwhich

teacherswereanxiousaboutmath,therearchersaskedthe

teachershowtheyfeltattimeswhentheycameacrossmath,

erwhogot

nervouslookingatthenumbersonasalesreceipt,for

example,wasprobablyanxiousaboutmath.

Boys,onaverage,wereunaffectedbyateacher'

average,girlswithmath-anxious

teachersscoredlowerontheend-of-the-yearmathteststhan

,onthetestshowingwhether

someonethoughtamathsuperstarhadtobeaboy,20girls

showedfeelingthatboyswouldbebetteratmath--andallof

thegirlshadbeentaughtbyfemaleteacherswhohadmath

anxiety.

"Thisisaninterestingstudy,buttheresultsneedtobe

interpretedaspreliminaryandinneed

ofreplicationwithalargersample6,"saidDavidGeary,a

psychologistattheUniversityofMissouri7inColumbia.

theresultoftherearchattheUniversityof

Chicago,accordingtothefirstparagraph?

AGirlscomfortablewiththeirownmathskillsarebetterthan

boysatmath.

BGirlsuncomfortablewiththeirownmathskillsarenotasgood

asboysatmath.

CFemaleteachers'mathskillshaveinfluenceovergirlstudents'

mathskills.

DFemaleteachers'confidenceintheirmathskillsisrelatedto

girl'smathskills.

impliedinthethirdparagraph?

AMathteachers,likemathlearners,donotlikethesubjectdueto

itsdifficulty.

BAdifficultsubjectlikemathmayaffectteachers'confidencein

teachingthesubject.

CTeachersaremoreanxiousteachingmaththantheirstudents

learningmath.

DMathissodifficultthatnoteachersliketoteachit.

ingtotheexperiment,thoteacherswereprobably

anxiousaboutmathwhentheyfelt

Anervousmemorizingthenumbersofasalesreceipt.

Bhelplesssavingthenumbersofasalesreceipt.

Cuneasyreadingthenumbersofasalesreceipt.

Dhopelessfillinginthenumbersofasalesreport.

thparagraphtellsusthattherearchfindings

Aproveastronglinkbetweenfemaleteachers'mathanxietyand

theirfemalestudents'math

achievements.

Bshowthatmalestudentsarelesslikelytobeaffectedbytheir

mathanxietythanfemale

students.

Cprovidestrongevidencethatmathsuperstarsaremorelikelyto

bemalesthanfemales.

Ddiscoverastronglinkbetweenteachers'mathanxietyandtheir

students'mathachievements.

earythinksthat

Athestudyisinterestingbutitisbadonunreliablerearch

process.

Btherearchresultsneedtoberetestedbadonalarger

sample.

Ctherearchresultsneedtobereinterpretedtobemeaningful.

Dthestudyiswellbadandproducessignificantresults.

教数学，教焦虑在最新一项关于小学生学数学的研究中，

芝加哥大学的心理学家SianBeilock和SusanLevine发现，女

教师的想法和女学生的学习之间有着惊人的联系：如果女教师

对自己的数学能力感到焦虑，她的女学生很可能认为男孩子数

学比女孩学得更好。

"如果一直由对数学有焦虑的女教师教授数学，就会对她

们的数学成绩产生雪球效应"，Levine说。换言之，女孩子们

最后从老师那里获得的是对数学的焦虑。该研究表明，如果

女孩子们在一个认为男孩比女孩数学好的环境中成长，那么

她们的数学可能会不如在更自信的状态下学得好。

如同学生，教师也会觉得某些学科难学和难教，这就是

研究者所言的"焦虑"：不自在或担心。

此研究发现，教师对数学的焦虑能够传染给她的女学生

们。该研究的研究对象包括65个女孩，52个男孩和17位

在中西部教一二年级的教师。学生们在学年的开始和结束时

都进行数学测试，研究者们比较得分。

研究者们测试学生是否认为数学明星一定会是男孩。然

后研究者们测试教师，试图找出哪些教师对数学感到焦虑，

研究者们问教师们当碰到数学问题诸如阅读销售清单时的

感受，如果一位教师一看到销售清单的数字就感到紧张，那

么她很可能对数学存在焦虑。

平均来说，教师的焦虑不会影响到男孩子。但是，一般

说来，如果教女孩子的教师有数学焦虑症，那么女孩子们在

学年结束时测试得分比其他的女孩要低。另外，在关于是否

认为数学明星应该是男孩的测试中，有20个女孩认为男孩

数学比女孩好，这20个女孩的老师都是女性，且都患有数

学焦虑症。

来自密苏里大学的心理学家DavidGeary说"这是一个

有趣的研究，但是这只是初步结果，需要用更大的调查样本

进行重复验证"。

四十一、TooLittleforGlobalWarming

Oilandgaswillrunouttoofastfordoomsdayglobal

warmingscenariostomaterialize,accordingtoacontroversial

newanalysisprentedthisweekattheUniversityofUppsala

horswarnthatallthefuelwillbeburnt

beforethereinoughcarbondioxideintheatmosphereto

realizepredictionsofmeltingicecapsandaringtemperatures.

Defendingtheirpredictions,scientistsfromthe

IntergovernmentalPanelonClimateChangesaythey

consideredarangeofestimatesofoilandgasrerves,and

pointoutthatcoal-burningcouldeasilymakeuptheshortfall.

Butallagreethatburningcoalwouldbeevenworforthe

planet.

TheIPCC’spredictionsofglobalmeltdownpushed

forwardthe1997KyotoProtocol,anagreementobliging

Cconsidereda

rangeoffuturescenarios,fromunlimitedburningof

fossil-fuelstoafasttransitiontowardsgreenerenergysources.

ButgeologistsAndersSivertsson,KjellAleklettandColin

CampbellofUppsalaUniversitysaythereisnotenoughoiland

gaslefteventhemostconrvativeofthe40IPCCscenariosto

cometopass.

Althoughestimatesofoilandgasrervesvarywidely,

therearchersarepartofagrowinggroupofexpertswhobelieve

thatoilsupplieswillpeakassoonas2018,andgassoonafter.

Theiranalysissuggeststhatoilandgasrervescombinedabout

totheequivalentofabout3,500billionbarrelsofoilconsiderably

lessthanthe5,000billionbarrelstimatedinthemostoptimistic

eaverageforecastofabout

8,000billionbarrelsismorethantwicetheSwedishestimateof

theworld’sremainingrerves.

NebojsaNakicenovic,anenergyeconomistattheUniversity

ofVienna,Austriawhoheadedthe80-strongIPCCteamthat

producedtheforecasts,saysthepanel’

theyfactoredinamuchbroaderandinternationallyaccepted

rangeofoilandgastimatesthanthe“conrvative”Swedes.

Evenifoilandgasrunout,“there’sahugeamountofcoal

undergroundthatcouldbeexploited”,hesaysthatburningcoal

couldmaketheIPCCscenarioscometrue,butpointsoutthat

dirtierthanoilandgas

andproducesmoreCO2foreachunitofenergy,aswellas

thelatestanalysis

isa“shotacrossthebows”forpolicymakers.

theauthorsofthenewanalysisprentedatthe

UniversityofUppsalaintendtosay?

A．theburningofcoalwillacceleratethearrivalofEarth’

sdoomsday.

B．Theoilrervesarebigenoughtomaterializethe

doomsdayscenarios

C．Meltingicecapsandaringtemperaturexistonlyin

sciencefiction

D．OilandgaswillrunoutsofastthatEarth’sdoomsday

willnevermaterialize.

sthatsignedtheKyotoProtocolagreeto

entiontoglobalmeltdown

2emissions

egreenenergy

ingfossilfuels

etheestimatesoftheworld’soilandgasrerves?

A.4,000billionbarrelsbytheaverageforecast

B.8,000billionbarrelstimatedbytheSwedes

C.3,500barrelnvisagedbyIPCC

D.3,500billionbyagrowingnumberofscientists

fthefollowingaboutNebojsaNakicenovicistrue?

A．hethinksfossilfuelsareasdirtyasoilandgas

B．hethinksgreenfuelswillreplaceoilandgaventually

C．hethinksIPCC’sviewontheworld’srervesistoo

optimistic

D．hethinksthatIPCC’stimatesaremoreoptimisticthan

theSwedes

fthefollowingisthenearexplanationof

Nakicenovic’sasrtionthat“..suchaswitchwouldbe

disastrous..?

Cscenarioswouldcometruebecauburning

coalwillemitlargeramountsofCO2”

htoburningcoalwouldproducedisastrous

environmentalproblems

gastoreplacecoalasfuelwouldspeedupthe

processofglobalwarming

全球变暖“缺油”根据本周在瑞典乌普萨拉大学新发表

的一个具有争议性的分析，石油和天然气会在全球变暖这一

世界末日的场景到来之前耗尽。作者警告说，在使大气中含

有足够的二氧化碳造成冰冠融化和温度升高等场景出现之

前，石化燃料会先消耗殆尽。来自政府间气候变化专门委员

会（IPCC）的专家为自己的预测变化说,他们是根据一系列

的石油及天然气存量来预测，并指出燃煤可减轻填补不足的

差额。不过所有人都同意燃煤将会对地球造成更糟的影响。

IPCC的全球冰雪融化预测推动了1997年京都协议书的

签订，签署国同意将缩减二氧化碳的总排放量。IPCC预测

了一系列包含从无节制的使用石化燃料至快速过度到较环

保能源所将产生的未来场景。但是乌普萨拉大学的地质学家

AndersSivertsson,KjellAleklett和ColinCampbell表示，即

使是IPCC最保守的40个预测场景，也没有足够的石油和

天然气存量使其成真。

尽管乌普萨拉大学对石油和天然气存量的估算差别很

大，但越来越多的研究者认为2018年将是石油供应的高峰

期，紧接着就是天然气。他们的分析表明石油和天然气的存

储总量在35，000亿桶左右。而IPCC最乐观的估算是50，

000亿桶左右。对世界石油和天然气存量的平均预测是8，

000亿桶，这甚至是瑞典人估算值的两倍。

NebojsaNakicenovic是奥地利维也纳大学的能源专家

和经济学家。他领导了多达80人的IPCC研究小组并做出

了上述预测。他说，IPCC对世界燃料的存量估计仍然站得

住脚。他认为和保守的瑞典人相比，IPCC的估算考虑到一

些范围更广的、国际认定的燃料存在。

即使石油和天然气消耗殆尽，“还有大量的地下煤可以

开采，”他说，煤的燃烧能使IPCC的预言成为现实。但他

指出，这一转换会灾难性的后果。煤比石油和天然气脏，

每一能量单位的使用会产生更多的二氧化碳，并释放出大量

的微粒。他说最近的研究给政策制定者们泼了盆冷水。

四十二、RenewableEnergySources

Todaypetroleumprovidesaround40%oftheworld’s

energyneeds,stillud,

mostlyinpoverstations,tocoverone-quarterofourenergy

needs,butitistheleastefficient,unhealthiestandmost

lgasrervescould

plugsomeofthegapfromoil,butrervesofthatwillnotlast

pertspredictwewillexhaust

dfastreachan

torapidlydevelopsustainablesolutionsto

-pollutingrenewableenergysourcesoffera

ybenefitthe

world’spoortoo.“Renewable”referstothefactthatthe

resourcesarenotudfasterthantheycanbereplaced.

Hydroelectricpowerisnowthemostcommonformof

renewableenergy,supplyingaround20%ofworldelectricity.

China’sthreegorgesDam,whichhasjustbeencompleted,isthe

timesthesizeoftheUS’sHooverDam,its

26turbineswillgeneratetheequivalentenergyof18coal-fired

satisfy3%ofChina’ntireelectricity

demand.

In2003,thefirstcommercialpowerstationtoharnesstidal

signedlike

windmill,butotherstaketheformofturbines.

Aspricesfall,windpowerhasbecomethefastestgrowing

typeofelectricitygeneration–quadruplingworldwidebetween

windfarmsconsistofturbinesthat

itwillbemoreexpensive,thereis

morethanenoughwindtoprovidetheworld’ntireenergy

n

oftenendupatspotsofnaturalbeauty,andareoftenunpopular

binesarenottotallybenign–theycan

interferewithradarandleaveasignificantecologicalfootprint,

ingbirdsmayhave

ndisbuildingeurope’slargest

windfarm,whichwilpower200,’sgoalisto

generateonefifthofpowerfromrenewablesources,mainlywind,

smaycauproblems,becauwindisunreliable.

etheenergyresourcesthatarenotrenewableaccording

tothearticle?

APetroleumandcoal.

BNaturalgas.

CWindandwater.

DAandB.

'sThreeGorgesDam

Aisthefirsthydroelectricdamintheworld.

BisofthesamesizeoftheUS'sHooverDam.

Cisthelargestofallthehydroelectricdamsintheworld.

Dsuppliesaround20%oftheworldelectricity.

sthecountrywiththefirstcommercialpowerstation

thatmakesuofoceancurrentsproducedbytides?

AChina.

BNorway.

CEngland.

DAmerica.

fthefollowingstatementsistrueofwindpower?

AThereisplentyofwindtoprovidetheworld'ntireenergy

needs.

BItisthemostrapidlygrowingtypeofelectricityproduction.

CItmaynotbereliable.

DAlloftheabove.

ingtothearticle,resourcessuchaswind

Aaresustainablebutnotreplaceable.

Barerenewablesosustainable.

Caresustainablesorenewable.

Dareirreplaceable.

可再生能源现今，汽油满足了世界上约百分之四十的能

源需要，大多用来为汽车提供燃料。煤仍被使用，主要是在

发电站，以解决我们四分之一的能源需求。但煤却是最无效

率，最不健康，最不环保的矿物燃料。天然气的储量可填补

部分石油短缺。但这些储量也不能维持到22世纪。许多专

家预计，我们很容易在50年内耗尽可采掘的燃料储备。我

们将很快遇到能源危机。我们需要立即发展可持续的方案来

为未来提供能源。污染少的可再生能源为我们提供了一个更

现实的长期解决方案。这些能源也会对世界上的穷人有益。

“可再生”是指这些能源被使用的速度低于其被更新的速

度。

2000多年前，中国人和罗马人使用风车。但第一个水电大

坝是1870年建于英国。现在的水力发电已是最常见的可再

生能源，占世界电力总量的20％。中国刚建成的三峡大坝

是最大的一个发电站。它是美国胡佛发电站的5倍大。它的

26台涡轮机可产生相当于18个烧煤的发电站所发的电量。

它将满足中国电力总需求的3％。令人吃惊的是，有人说，

水电站排放大量温室气体、2003年，第一个利用大海上的

潮汐能发电的商业电站在挪威建成。它的设计好像一个风

车，但其他方面则采用了涡轮的形式。

由于费用降低，风力发电已成为了发展最迅速的一种发电方

式——1999年到2005年翻了两番。现代风力农场由发电的

涡轮机组成。尽管成本更高，却会有源源不断的风力来满足

全世界的所有能量需求。风力农场分向岸和向海两种形式。

它们常常会出现在美丽的环境中，并常常人烟稀少。涡轮机

也并非百无一害的。它们可干扰雷达信号，并在生态环境中

留下痕迹，改变气候，杀死海鸟。迁徙的鸟类可以更幸运地

避开它们。苏格兰正在建造欧洲最大的风力农场，可为20

万户家庭提供电力。英国的目标是截至2020年达到五分之

一的电力来自可再生能源，主要指风能，但这样做也有问题，

因为风是不可靠的。

四十三、ForecastingMethods

Thereareveraldifferentmethodsthatcanbeudtocreatea

hodforecasterchoosdependsuponthe

experienceoftheforecaster,theamountofinformationavailable

totheforecaster,thelevelofdifficultythattheforecastsituation

prents,andthedegreeofaccuracyorconfidenceneededinthe

forecast.

Thefirstofthemethodsisthepersistencemethod；the

sistencemethod

assumesthattheconditionsatthetimeoftheforecastwillnot

mple,ifitissunnyand87degreetoday,the

persistencemethodpredictsthatitwillbesunnyand87degree

nchesofrainfelltoday,thepersistencemethod

r,if

weatherconditionschangesignificantlyfromdaytoday,the

persistencemethodusuallybreaksdownandisnotthebest

forecastingmethodtou.

Thetrendsmethodinvolvesdeterminingthespeedand

directionofmovementforfronts,highandlowpressurecenters,

hisinformation,the

forecastercanpredictwhereheorsheexpectsthofeaturestobe

mple,ifastormsystemis1,000miles

westofyourlocationandmovingtotheeastat250milesperday,

suingthetrendsmethodyouwouldpredictittoarriveinyour

ndsmethodworkswellwhensystems

continuetomoveatthesamespeedinthesamedirectionfora

slowdown,speedup,changeintensity,

orchangedirection,thetrendsforecastwillprobablynotworkas

well.

Theclimatologymethodisanothersimplewayofproducing

thodinvolvesaveragingweatherstatistics

mple,if

youwereusingtheclimatologymethodtopredicttheweatherfor

newYorkCityonJuly4th,youwouldgothroughalltheweather

datathathasbeenrecordedforeveryJuly4thandtakeanaverage.

Theclimatologymethodonlyworkswellwhentheweather

thepatternisquiteunusualforthegiventimeofyear,the

climatologymethodwilloftenfail.

Theanalogmethodisaslightlymorecomplicatedmethodof

lvexaminingtoday'sforecast

scenarioandrememberingadayinthepastwhentheweather

scenariolookedverysimilar(ananalog).Theforecasterwould

predictthattheweatherinthisforecastwillbehavethesameasit

logmethodisdifficulttoubecauitis

sweather

featuresrarelyalignthemlvesinthesamelocationsthey

alldifferencesbetweenthe

currenttimeandtheanalogcanleadtoverydifferentresults.

1WhatfactorisNOTmentionedinchoosingaforecasting

method?__________

AImaginationoftheforecaster.

BNecessaryamountofinformation.

CPracticalknowledgeoftheforecaster.

DDegreeofdifficultyinvolvedinforecasting.

2Persistencemethodwillworkwell__________.

Aifweatherconditionschangegreatlyfromdaytoday

Bifweatherconditionsdonotchangemuch

Consunnydays

Donrainydays

3Thelimitationofthetrendsmethodisthesameasthe

persistencemethodinthat__________.

Aitmakespredicationsaboutweather

Bitmakespredicationsaboutprecipitation

Ctheweatherfeaturesneedtobewelldefined

Dtheweatherfeaturesneedtobeconstantforalongperiod

oftime

4Whichmethodmayinvolvehistoricalweatherdata?

__________

AThetrendsmethod.

BTheanalogmethod.

CBothclimatologymethodandanalogmethod.

DThetrendsmethodandthepersistencemethod.

5Itwillbeimpossibletomakeweatherforecastusingthe

analogmethod__________.

Awhenthecurrentweatherscenariodiffersfromtheanalog

Bwhenthecurrentweatherscenarioisthesameasthe

analog

Cwhentheanalogisovertenyearsold

Dwhentheanalogisasimplerepetitionofthecurrent

weatherscenario

天气预报的方法天气预报可用几种不同的方式来制作。

一个天气预报员采用什么方法来制作天气预报是由其经验

决定的，预报员可利用的信息的数量，预报情况的困难程度，

预报中需要的准确度和置信度。

每一种方法是持续性的方法。这是制作天气预报最简单的方

法。持续性方法假设在天气预报时，条件是不会发生变化的。

例如，如果今天是晴，87度，持续性方法会预测明天也会

是晴，87度。如果今天的降雨量是2英寸，持续性方法会

预测明天也会是2英寸。然而，如果天气状况一天天地显著

变化，持续性方法常会出错，所以这不是制作天气预报的最

佳方法。

趋势性方法包括测定锋运动的速度和方向，高、低压的中心和

多云、降水地区。利用这些信息，预报员能预测将来的某个时

间什么地区会出现同样特征的天气状况。例如，如果一个风暴

在你居住地以西100英里且以每天250英里的速度向东移近。

运用趋势性方法，你能预测这个风暴在4天以后将到达你所在

的地区。当某一大气现象长时期以同一速度向同一方向运动

时，趋势性方法很有效。如果它们减速、加速变化或方向转变，

这种制作天气预报的方法可能会不准确。

气候学方法是另一种制作天气预报的简单方法。这种方法通过

计算多年来积累的天气状况值的平均数来制作天气预报。例

如，如果你用气候学方法来预测7月4日纽约的天气状况，你

会浏览每年7月4日纽约的天气数据记录，然后计算其平均值。

气候学方法只有当天气状况与所选时间的预期天气状况相似

时才有效，若天气状况和所取时间的天气状况非常不同，运用

气候学方法常会失败。

相似物方法是有点儿复杂的制作天气预报的方法。它包括测量

今天的天气状况和回想过去和今天天气状况相似的一天，预报

员会预测现在的天气将发生和过去那天同样的变化。相似物方

法很难被应用，因为事实上不可能找到所期望的同样的天气状

况。各种不同的天气特征极少同时出现在与前次出现时一样的

地点。即使现在的天气状况与其过去的相似物有一点小差别都

能造成不同的结果。

四十四、DefendingtheTheoryofEvolutionStillSeemsNeeded

,abiologyprofessorwhorvesas2president

oftheAmericanInstituteofBiologicalSciences(AIBS)isleading

anationwideeffortto“defend，，

leadstheeffortinthefaceofwhattheinstituteviewsas

oppositionandindifferencefromschoolboardsandgovernment

entities3.

TheInstitutebelievesthattheteachingofevolutionin

Americaisbeingdiminishedbytheteachingofcreationismas

wellasbyanoveralllackofteachingDarwin's4theoryinhigh

school."There'snothingthatrequiresschoolstoteachevolution.

r,

fromthepointofviewofbiologists,evolutionisthecentral

theoryofbiologyuponwhicheverythingisbad,"saidWeis.

"Unfortunately,teachingevolutionhasbecomeapoliticalissuein

manypartsofthecountryandAIBS,asareprentativeof

biologists,wantedtobeamajorforcespeakingoutinfavorofits

teaching."6

WeissaidtheinstituteisworkingtogetherwiththeAmerican

GeologicalInstituteandtheNationalAssociationofBiology

Teachersandits80-plusmemberorganizations7toaddress8the

es

challengingitsteaching,theinstituterespondsbyndingletters

toschoolboardsandstatelegislatures,byprovidingtestimonyat

publicmeetingsandbynotifyingmembersandaffiliated

,withmorethan80membersocietiesand

250,000members,hastablishedane-mailsystemenabling

scientistsandteachersineachstate,andmembersocieties,to

keepeachotherinformedaboutthreatstotheteachingof

evolution.

Darwin'stheoryofevolutionholdsthatlivingthings

changeandadapttotheirenvironmentandthatprent-day

species(includinghumanbeings)aredescendedfromearlier

ory

hasbeenacceptedbyscientistsfornearly100years,Weissaid,

andhasbeenrefined,extendedandstrengthenedovertheyears

byfindingsinpaleontologyanddevelopmentalbiology.

Discoveriesingenetics,molecularbiology9andgenomics

—allofwhichprovidesignificantbenefitsforhumanhealth

—wouldnotbepossiblewithouttheunderlying10knowledge

,Weisadds,"modernmolecularbiologyand

genomicshaveincreadourunderstandingofhowevolution

works."Nonetheless,evolutionremainsapolitically,ifnot

scientifically,controversialissue.

Weissaidthatthisyearalone,venstateshavehadeither

localorstatewideeffortstowaterdown11theteachingof

evolution,or"balance"itwiththeteachingofcreationism一

areligiousbeliefthatdifferentspecieswerecreatedparately

byahigherpower,suchasGod."Rarelydoesanyonenowu

theword‘creationism，，becauthat'stooobvious,"Weissaid.

"Thecurrentterminologyis‘intelligentdesign.，，，

ingtothefirstparagraph,whichofthe

followingstatementsaboutthetheoryofevolutionistrue?

A)GovernmententitiessupportAIBS'fforttodefend

thetheoryofevolution.

B)SchoolboardsoppoAIBS'fforttodefendthe

theoryofevolution.

C)AIBSandschoolboardsadvocatetheteachingofthe

theoryofevolution.

D)Thetheoryofevolutionandthatofcreationism

co-existpeacefullyinschools.

neofthefollowingisNOTthereasonforan

overalllackofteachingDarwin'stheory?

A)Teachingofcreationismdiminishesteachingof

evolution.

B)TeachersarenotrequiredtoteachDarwin'stheory.

C)Teachersoftenleaveouttheteachingofevolution.

D)Darwin'stheoryisdeniedasthecentraltheoryof

biology.

compodof‘

A)morethan80societiesand250,000members.

B)250,000biologists.

C)80memberorganizations.

D)morethan250,000membersand80membersocieties.

ingtoWeisinthe5thparagraph,thetheoryof

evolution

A)isfundamentaltothedevelopmentofmoderngenetics,

molecularbiologyandgenomics.

B)isapoliticalissue.

C)isbadongenetics,molecularbiologyandgenomics.

D)hasincreadourunderstandingofhumanhealth.

5Becauthetermcreationismistoodirect.

捍卫进化论仍必要美国生物科学研究所主席JudithS.

Weis正发动全国的力量来“捍卫”进化论。研究所看到了来

自学校董事会和政府部门的反对和冷漠,尽管如此，Weis仍带

领大家为捍卫进化论而努力。

研究^f认为美国的进化论教育由于神创论教育和高中完全缺

少达尔文理论的讲授而减少。“没有命令要求学校教授进化

论。高中老师有肘就忽略了它。然而，从生物学家的角度来

看，进化论是生物学的中心理论，是万物存在的基础，”Weis

说。“不幸的是，在美国许多地方和美国生物科学院，讲授

进化论成了一个政治事件，作为生物学家的代表，我想为进

化论教育而疾呼。”

Weis说生物学院正和美国的地质研究所和国家生物教师联合

会及其80多个成员组织合作来对抗来自政治上和法律上的

关于教授进化论的威胁。在国内，面对进化论教育的挑战，

生物科学院寄信给学校董事会和国家立法机关，在公众会议上

展示证据，通知其成员及联合组织。生物科学院拥有80多个

成员社团和250000个成员，它建立了一个电子邮件系统使各

州的科学家和成员社团能相互联合，告知进化论教育面临的威

胁。

达尔文的进化论主张生物变化以适应它们的环境，并且现有物

种（包括人类）是由早期物种经过自然选择的改造遗传下来

的。这个理论已经被科学家接受了近100年，Weis说，并且

由于古生物学的发现和生物学的发展而被完善、拓展、加强。

基因、分子生物学和整组遗传因子方面的发现——这些都对人

类健康大有好处——如果离开进化论是不可能实现的。而且，

Weis补充说，“现代分子生物学和基因学加深了我们对进化

论的认识。”然而，进化论仍是政治性而非科学性的争议问题。

Weis说仅今天，七个州的地方性或全州性地减少了进化论教

育或使其处于和神创论教育同等的地位。神创论是指从宗教

上相信物种是由一种更高级的力量，例如上帝分别创造。“极

少有人使用‘神创论’这个词，因为它太明显了，”Weis说：

“目前使用的术语是‘天才的设计”

四十五、SmallButWi

OnDecember14,NASA1blastedasmallbutmighty

escopeiscalledWISEandisabout

'tletitssmallsizefoolyou:

WISEhasapowerfuldigitalcamera,anditwillbetaking

picturesofsomethewildestobjects2intheknownuniver,

includingasteroids,faintstars,blazinggalaxies3andgiant

cloudsofdustwhereplanetsandstarsareborn.

"I'mveryexcitedbecauwe'regoingtobeeingpartsof

theuniverthatwehaven'tenbefore,"saidNedWright,a

scientistwhodirectstheWISEproject.

Sincearrivinginspace,theWISEtelescopehasbeen

circlingtheEarth,heldbygravityinapolarorbit4(thismeans

itcrossclotothenorthandsouthpoleswitheachlap5).Its

cameraispointedoutward,awayfromtheEarth,andWISE

willsnapapictureofadifferentpartoftheskyevery11

ixmonthsitwillhavetakenpicturesacrossthe

entiresky.

ThepicturestakenbyWISEwon'tbelikeeverydaydigital

photographs,andsfor"Wide-fieldInfrared

SurveyExplorer."Asitsnamesuggests,theWISEcamera

takespicturesoffeaturesthatgiveoffinfraredradiation6.

elight,

includingthefamiliarspectrumoflight7thatbecomesvisible

inarainbow,ordinary

digitalcameratakesapictureofatree,forexample,itreceives

thewaventerthecamerathroughthelens,they’re

procesdbythecamera,whichthenputstheimagetogether.

Wavesof'infraredradiationarelongerthanwavesof

visiblelight,soordinarydigitalcamerasdon'tethem,and

ghinvisibletothe

eye,longerinfraredradiationcanbedetectedaswarmthbythe

skin.

That'sakeyideatowhyMSEwillbeabletoethings

othertelescopescan’rythingintheunivershowsup

ids,forexample,aregiantrocksthat

floatthroughspace——buttheyabsorbmustofthelightthat

n'treflectlight,sothey'redifficulttoe.

Buttheydogiveoffinfraredradiation,soaninfraredtelescope

its

missionWISEwilltakepicturesofhundredsofthousandsof

asteroids.

Browndwarfs8areanotherkindofdeep-spaceobjectthat

willshowupinWISE'bjectsare"failed"

stars——whichmeanstheyarenotmassiveenoughtojump

start9thesamekindofreactionsthatpowerstarssuchasthe

d,browndwarfssimplyshrinkandcooldown.

They'resodimthatthey'realmostimpossibletoewithvisible

light,butintheinfraredspectrumtheyglow.

sospecialaboutWISE？

allinsizebutcarriesalargecamera.

smallasatrashcan.

italcameracanhelpastronomerscoethe

unknownspace.

eforehasatelescopecarriedadigitalcamerain

space.

sNOTthesynonymfortheword"snap"inthe

thirdparagraph?

.

.

.

raph.

eraonWISE

fferentfromanordinarycamera.

teinfraredradiationwhiletheordinarycamera

does.

stheinfraredradiationwhiletheordinarycamera

doesnot.

tslightthathumaneyescane.

fthefollowingisNOTcorrectabout"asteroids'

accordingtoparagraph7?

idsfloatthroughspacegivingoffvisiblelight.

idsdonotreflectlightthatreachesthem.

fficulttotakeasteroids'picturesbyordinary

cameras.

Etelescopecantakepicturesofasteroids.

impliedinthelastparagraph?

warfsgiveoffvisiblelight.

warfsgiveoffinfraredradiation.

warfsarepowerstarslikethesun.

warfsareimpossibletoewiththeWISE

telescope.

小而聪明美国国家航空航天局发射了一个体积小而威力

大的望远镜，它的名字叫“WISE”（聪明），大约只有一个

垃圾盒子那么宽。你可千万不要轻视这个小东西，WISE可是

一款商强数码相机，它将在人类已知的宇宙里拍摄任何你所能

想到的天体，包括小行星、那些只能看到微弱的光和因燃烧而

无法观察的天体，以及自行星和恒星诞生以来的巨大尘埃云。

NedWright是主持WISE项目的科学家，他说：“我十分兴奋，

因为我们就要看到以前从未看到过的那部分宇宙”。到达宇宙

空间后，WISE由于受极地轨道重力作用，一直在围绕地球旋

转。（这意味着，每转一圈，它就离南极和北极靠近）。它的

镜头是向外的，远离地球。每11分钟WISE就会抓拍天空一

个不同的部分。六个月之后，它将把整个天空拍摄完毕。然

而，WISE拍摄的相片不会像我们日常的数码相片。WISE

是Wide-fieldInfraredSurveyExplorer（广域红外勘测探测

器）的缩写。正如名字所示，WISE能拍到发出红外线辐射

物体的相片。辐射是波浪状行进的一种能量。人能看到的光，

包括大家熟悉的、在彩虹里看到的光谱就是射线的一个例

子。当普通的数码相机给一棵树照相时，它能接收到树反射

回来的、可见的光波。光波通过镜头进入到相机里，相机对

它进行加工，然后把图像合成。红外线的波长比可见光长，

所以，普通的数码相机捕捉不到他们，人眼也看不到这种射

线。尽管人们看不到，人的皮肤能感受到较长红外线带来的

温暖。这就是为什么WISE能捕捉到其他望远镜看不到的物

体的主要原因。宇宙中，不是所有的东西都以可见光的方式

呈现出来。例如，小行星是在太空中漂浮的大岩石，但是小

行星吸收射到他们表面的大部分光。他们不能反射光，所以

要看到他们很困难。但他们却释放出红外线，所以，像WISE

这样的红外线望远镜才能够捕捉到它们的图像。WISE的任

务就是拍摄成千上万的小行星图像。WISE的任务就是拍摄

成千上万的小行星图像。WISE的另一任务是为另外一种太

空深处的天体一褐矮星拍照。这种天体是“失败的”恒星，

它们是一些不够大，不能像太阳的能量那样启动相同的反

应。褐矮星只能缩小和冷却。他们发出的光如此之微弱，人

们根本看不到，但是在线外频谱中，它们是发光的。

四十六、AntsHaveBigImpactonEnvironmentas

"EcosystemEngineers"

RearchbytheUniversityofExeter1hasrevealedthat

antshaveabigimpactontheirlocalenvironmentasaresultof

theiractivityas"ecosystemengineers"

study,publishedintheJournalofAnimalEcology,foundthat

antshavetwodistincteffectsontheirlocalenvironment.

Firstly,throughmovingofsoilbynestbuilding2activity

andbycollectingfoodtheyaffectthelevelofnutrientsinthe

nindirectlyimpactthelocalpopulationsofmany

animalgroups,fromdecomporstospeciesmuchhigherup

thefoodchain.

Secondly,theypreyonawiderangeofotheranimals,

includinglargerpreywhichcanbeattackedbyvastnumbersof

antworkers.

DirkSanders,anauthorofthestudyfromtheuniversity's

CentreforEcologyandConrvation,said:"Antsarevery

'realso

veryterritorial3andveryaggressive,defendingtheirresources

hismeansthey

haveastronginfluenceontheirsurroundingarea."

"Inthisrearch,westudiedforthefirsttimehowbigthis

foundisthatdespite

beingpredators,theirprencecanalsoleadtoanincreain

nuinely

playakeyroleinthelocalenvironment,havingabiginfluence

onthegrasslandfoodweb,"Sanderssaid.

Thestudy,carriedoutinGermany,studiedtheimpactofthe

prenceofdifferentcombinationsanddensitiesofblackgarden

antsandcommonredants,bothspecieswhichcanbefound

acrossEurope,dthatalowdensityof

antsinanareaincreadthediversityanddensityofother

animalsinthelocalarea,particularlythedensityofherbivores

erdensitiesantshadnoortheopposite

effect,showingthatpredationiscounteractingthepositive

influence.

DrFrankvanVeen,anotherauthoronthestudy,said:"What

wefindisthattheimpactofantsonsoilnutrientlevelshasa

positiveeffectonanimalgroupsatlowlevels,butasthenumber

ofantsincreas,theirpredatoryimpactshavethebiggereffect

—therebycounteractingthepositiveinfluenceviaecosystem

engineering."

Antsareimportantcomponentsofecosystemsnotonly

becautheyconstituteagreatpartoftheanimalbiomass5but

diversity6is

incrediblyhighandtheorganismsarehighlyresponsiveto

humanimpact,r,it

isnotclearhowsuchdisturbancedamagesthemaintenanceofant

rvicestotheecosystem7．Antsareimportantinbelowground

process8throughthealterationofthephysicalandchemical

environmentandthroughtheireffectsonplants,microorganisms,

andothersoilorganisms.

antscomparedtoecosystemengineers?

ABecautheybuildtheirownnests.

BBecautheycollectfood.

CBecautheiractivityaffectstheenvironment.

DBecautheyarepredators.

ators,ants

Apreyonsmallaswellaslargeanimals.

Bcollectnutritiousfoodfromthesoil

Ccollectfoodasdecompors.

Dpreyonspeciesmuchhigherupthefoodchain.

ders'studycenteredonhowants

Acanmanagetothriveinhugenumbers.

Bdefendtheirresourcesandterritoryagainstotherpredators.

Cattackthoinvadinganimalsforsurvival.

Dproducesuchabigimpactontheenvironment.

esparagraph6tellus?

AAntsbringaboutanegativeinfluencetoanareawhentheir

populationissmall.

BAntsbringaboutapositiveinfluencetoanareawhentheir

populationissmall.

CAnts'predationcounteractsthepositiveinfluencetheymay

haveonanarea.

DAthigherdensity,antsproduceapositiveinfluenceonan

area.

illremainsunclearaboutants,accordingtothelast

paragraph?

AWhatrolesdoantsplayintheecosysteminwhichtheylive?

BHowdoantsaffecttheanimaldiversityinagiven

ecosystem?

CHowdohumanactivitiesaffectants'influenceonagiven

ecosystem?

DHowdoantsalterthephysicalandchemicalenvironment?

蚂蚁作为“生态系统工程师”对环境影响巨大埃克斯特

大学所做的研究表明，蚂蚁作为“生态系统工程师”和食肉

动物的行为对当地的环境影响巨大。该研究发表在动物生态

杂志上，它表明蚂蚁对当地的环境有两大显著的影响。

第一，通过筑巢而挪动土壤或采集食物，蚂蚁影响土壤

的营养水平。这可间接影响当地从腐生物到食物链高层的许

多动物种群的数量。

第二，它们捕食的动物种类很多，包括那些被大量工蚁

攻击的大猎物。

DirkSanders是该大学生态和保护中心所做的此项研究

的作者，他说：“蚂蚁是高效的食肉动物，而且能大量繁殖。

它们具有很强的领地意识，并且会竭尽全力对抗其他的食肉

动物来保卫自己的领地。所有这些都意味着蚂蚁对周围环境

影响巨大。”

“在该研究中，我们第一次对蚂蚁带来的影响程度及微

妙程度进行研究。所得的发现是：尽管是食肉动物，蚂蚁的

出现能促使其他动物族群在数量和品种上的增长。并对当地

的环境起到切实重要的作用，对大草原的食物链影响巨大。”

Sanders说。

该研究在德国进行，它对花园黑蚂蚁和一般的红蚂蚁在

不同混合程度和不同密度下的影响力进行研究。黑蚂蚁和红

蚂蚁在整个欧洲包括英国都能找到。研究发现，一个地区的

蚂蚁密度小，而其他动物尤其是食草动物和腐生物的数量和

种类会增多。如果蚂蚁的密度大，就不可能产生同样的影响，

或者产生相反的影响，这表明，蚂蚁的掠食活动会抵消蚂蚁

给环境带来的积极影响。

DrFrankvanVeen是本研究的另一作者，他说：“我们

的发现是：如果蚂蚁的数量少，其对土壤的营养水平的影响

会对动物族群产生积极的效果。但是如果蚂蚁的数量增加，

其捕食的影响会达到最大化，因此会抵消蚂蚁通过生态工程

给环境带来的积极影响”。

蚂蚁是生态系统的重要组成部分，不仅因为它占有很大部

分的生物量，而且因为其作为生态系统工程师的角色。蚂蚁具

有难以想象的多样性，但极易受人类的影响，这就使它的多样

性有显著的减少。然而，科学家还不清楚人类对蚂蚁这种干扰

如何破坏蚂蚁对生态系统的维护作用。蚂蚁通过变动物理的和

化学的环境，通过对植物、微生物和其他土壤生物的影响而对

生态环境起至关重要的作用。

四十七、ListeningtoBirdsong

lyhe

noticesafemalebird,nearby:Herealizeshehasanaudienceand

femaletellthedifference

inhisperformance?Accordingtoanewstudy,thefemalezebra

prefersthespecialtrillshecreateswhenhe

ebrafinchchangeshissongwhensingingto

female

finchcantellthedifference.

Scientistshadnoticedslightvariationsinthesongsofmale

zebrafinchesbadonwhethertheyweresingingaloneor

whethertherewasafemale(andpotentialmate)

audience,themalesspedupthepaceoftheirsongsandcontrolled

thenotestheyud.

ForthisStudy,yandAllison

DoupeattheUniversityofCalifornia,SanFranciscodecidedto

focusattentiononthelisteningfemales,whichhavenotbeen

wellstudiedinthepast.

Inthestudy,WoolleyandDoupetupalongcagewitha

adcastthesoundofamale

zebrafinchsingingtohimlf,likesomeonesingingintheshower.

Theotherspeakerbroadcastamaleperformingforafemale

audience,asifhewasgivingaconcert.

thebirdshadmates,othersdidn'alesshiftedarounda

bit,andthenmostofthemhoppedovertositbesidejustone

birdsthatmadeaclearchoicelikedsongsmeant

forafemaleaudience,evenifthey'dnevermetthemale.

Matedfemalesalsohadachancetolistentotwodifferent

performancesongs,onefromanunknownmale,andonefrom

entmoretimelistening,totheconcertversion

oftheirmates'ggeststhatafterawhile,females

learntorecognize--andprefer—thesongsoftheirmates.

und

certainareasofthebrainperkedupwhenthebirdslistenedtothe

rainareasmaybeinvolvedinrecognizing

andevaluatingthesongs,andstoringthememoriesofthem.

Thisrearchdealswithwhat'scalleddirected

communication,whenthecommunicator,ornder,focusthe

mpleisthewaymoms

saroundtheworlduthesame

sortofhigh-pitchedsing-songchatter,andthebabiesrespond

rdsareoneoftheonlyother

speciesknowntolearntheircommunication,inthiscatheir

songs.

esthefirstparagraphsayaboutzebrafinches?

A)Malezebrafinchesliketosingtofemalezebrafinches.

B)Malezebrafinchessinglouderthanfemalezebrafinches.

C)Malezebrafincheschangetheirsongsinfemalezebra

finches'prence.

D)Malezebrafinchesliketolistentofemalezebrafinchessing.

dtherearchersfredintheirstudyoffemalezebra

finches?

A)Femalefincheslikedsongsmalefinchessangforthem.

B)Femalefinchesonlylikedsongsmalefinchessangfortheir

mates.

C)Femalefincheslikedtolistentosongsfrombothspeakers.

D)Femalefincheschothebestmalesingersastheirmates.

meantby"concertsongs"intheventhparagraph?

A)Songssungbyzebrafinchesataconcert.

B)Songssungbymalefinchesforfemalefinches.

C)Songssungbyfemalefmchesformalefinches.

D)Songssungbymalefmchestomanyfemalefinches.

NOTtrueofdirectedcommunication?

A)Thenderofamessagehasaspecificaudience.

B)Malezebrafinchessingtofemalefinches.

C)Motherstalktotheirbabies,

D)Malezebrafinchessingtothemlves.

fthefollowingcanbestreflectthethemeofthe

passage?.

A)Chirpingaway.

B)Birdsongsascommunication.

C)Zebrafinchesandtheirlife.

D)Enjoyingbirdsongs.

倾听鸟鸣一只雄性斑胸草雀对着自己吱喳而鸣。突然间，

他注意到不远处有一只雌性斑胸草雀。他意识到自己有了一

位听众并立即改变了自己的声调。那只雌性斑胸草雀能发现

他的不同吗?根据一项新的研究结果显示，答案是可以的。

并且那只雌性斑胸草雀更喜欢当雄性斑胸草雀为她歌唱时

所制造的特殊颤音。人类很难发觉雄性斑胸草雀对着雌性斑

胸草雀鸣叫时所做出的改变，但是雌性胸斑草雀可以发现其

中的不同。

科学家们根据雄性斑胸草雀是否在独自歌唱或者根据其周

围是否有一只雌性斑胸草雀(潜在配偶)在场，发现了他们歌

声中的略微不同。当有听众在场的时候，雄性斑胸草雀就会

加快他们呜叫的速度并且控制其所用的鸣音。

为了此项研究，加州大学旧金山分校的两位研究员：萨拉•C•

伍利和艾莉森•杜普决定关注倾听者——雌性斑胸草雀，而雌

性斑胸草雀在过去并没有被仔细研究过。

．在研究中，伍利和杜普建了一个很长的笼子，笼子两边分别

装有一个扬声器。其中一边播放的是雄性斑胸草雀对着自己演

唱时所发出的鸣叫声，好似一个人在洗澡时所唱的歌。另一边

播放的则是雄性斑胸草雀向另一只雌性观众表演时的所发出

的鸡叫声，仿佛他是在举行一场音乐会。

雌鸟被放置在两个扬声器之间。这些雌鸟中有的已经有了配

偶，有的还没有。她们徘徊了一会，便大多飞向并暂栖在了其

中的一个扬声器旁边。所有的鸟都选择了为了雌鸟而发出的表

演性鸣叫声，即使她们从未见过那只发音的雄性胸斑草雀。

有了配偶的雌性胸斑草雀还可以听到两个不同的表演性鸣叫

声，其中一个来自未知的雄鸟，另一个则来自她们的配偶。她

们花了更多的时间倾听自己配偶的歌声。而这表明雌鸟在经过

一段时间后可以识别出并且更加喜爱自己配偶的歌声。

科学家们继而研究了雌鸟的脑部。他们发现当雌鸟听到表演性

鸣叫声的时候，这些鸟的脑部的特定区域会变得活跃起来。而

这些区域可能同识别、评价和储存歌声有关。

这项研究所关注的就是所谓的“指向性交流”，即当传播者或

信息发送者所发送的信息就是为了特定的观众。其中一个例子

就是母亲向婴儿说话的方式。全世界的母亲都采用同样一种方

式：高声调的歌咏式的喋喋不休。婴儿对这种声音的反应最好。

而鸣鸟是其他已知物种中唯一可以获知这种指向性交流的物

种，而在这种情况下，则是他们的歌声。

第四十八篇RearchersDiscoverWhyHumansBegan

WalkingUpright

re

eminglysimpleactivitiesthatthemajorityofusdon’tquestion.

Butaninternationalteamofrearchers,nd

fromGW'sColumbianCollegeofArtsandSciences，have

discoveredthathumanwalkingupright,mayhaveoriginated

millionsofyearsagoasanadaptationtocarryingscarce,high-

mofrearchersfromtheU.S.,

England,JapanandPortugalinvestigatedthebehaviorof

modern-daychimpanzeesastheycompetedforfoodresources，in

anefforttounderstandwhatecologicalttingswouldleadalarge

ape—onethatremblesthe6million-yearoldancestorwe

sharedincommonwithlivingchimpanzees—towalkontwo

legs.

“Thechimpanzeesprovideamodeloftheecological

conditionsunderwhichourearliestancestorsmighthavebegun

walkingontwolegs,"，nd.

Therearchfindingssuggestthatchimpanzeesswitchtomoving

ontwolimbsinsteadoffourinsituationswheretheyneedto

ngontwolegsallowsthemto

carrymuchmoreatonetimebecauitfreesuptheirhands.

Overtime，intenburstsofbipedalactivitymayhaveledto

anatomicalchangesthatinturnbecamethesubjectofnatural

lectionwherecompetitionforfoodorotherresourceswas

strong.

st

studywasconductedbytheteaminKyotoUniversity’s

“outdoorlaboratory”inanaturalclearinginBossouForest.

Rearchersallowedthewildchimpanzeesaccesstodifferent

combinationsoftwodifferenttypesofnut—theoilpalm

nut，whichisnaturallywidelyavailable,andthecoulanut,

mpanzees’behaviorwasmonitoredin

threesituations:(a)whenonlyoilpalmnutswere

available,(b)whenasmallnumberofcoulanutswere

available，and(c)whencoulanutswerethemajorityavailable

resource.

Whentherarecoulanutswereavailableonlyinsmallnumbers,

rly,when

coulanutswerethemajorityresource,thechimpanzeesignored

mpanzeesregardedthe

coulanutsasamorehighly-prizedresourceandcompetedfor

themmoreintenly.

Insuchhigh-competitionttings，thefrequencyofcasin

whichthechimpanzeesstartedmovingontwolegsincread

ywasitobviousthatbipedal

movementallowedthemtocarrymoreofthisprecious

resource,butalsothattheywereactivelytryingtomoveas

muchastheycouldinonegobyusingeverythingavailable一

eventheirmouths.

Thecondstudy,byKimberleyHockingsofOxfordBrookes

University,wasa14-monthstudyofBossouchimpanzees

crop-raiding,asituationinwhichtheyhavetocompeteforrare

,35percentofthe

chimpanzeesactivityinvolvedsomesortofbipedalmovement,

andonceagain,thisbehaviorappearedtobelinkedtoaclear

attempttocarryasmuchaspossibleatonetime.

fthefollowingstatementsisNOTtrueaccordingto

thefirsttwoparagraphs?

AManypeoplequestionthesimplehumanactivitiesof

walkingandcarryingitems.

BChimpanzee’sbehaviorsmaysuggestwhyhumanswalkon

twolegs.

CHumanwalkinguprightisviewedasanadaptationto

carryingpreciousresources.

DOurancestors'ecologicalconditionsrembledthoof

modern-daychimpanzees.

ndconductedtheexperimentwiththepurpoof

finding

Awhenhumansbeganwalkingontwolegs.

Bwhatmadeourancestorswalkupright.

Cwhatbenefitswalkinguprightbroughttoourancestors.

Dhowwalkinguprighthelpedchimpanzeesmonopolize

resources.

,University'sstudydiscoveredthatchimpanzees.

Aregardedbothtypesofnutaspricedresources.

Bpreferredoilpalmnutstocoulanuts.

Clikedcoulanutsbetterthanoilpalmnuts.

Dignoredbothtypesofnutaltogether.

thechimpanzeeswalkontwolimbsduringKyoto

University'xperiment?

ABecautheyimitatedthehumanwayofwalkingjustforfun.

BBecautheywantedtopleatherearcherstogetmore

coulanutsfromthem.

CBecautheywantedtogettodienut-richforestfasterby

walkingthatway.

DBecautheywantedtocarrymorenutswithtwofreelimbs.

nweinferfromthereadingpassage?

AChimpanzeesareinthesameprocessofevolutionasour

ancestorswere.

BChimpanzeesaresimilartohumansinmanybehaviors.

CWalkingontwolimbsandwalkingonfourlimbachhave

theiradvantages.

DHumanwalkingontwolegsdevelopedasameansofsurvival.

研究人员发现人类开始直立行走的原因我们大多数人每

天都走路而且手里搬着东西。这样的活动看似太简单，大多数

人没有疑问。但是一个国际研究者（包括乔治•华盛顿大学哥

伦比亚艺术与科学学院的Richmond博士）团队已经发现了人

类直立行走可能源于数百万年以前适应搬运稀有的、高质量的

资源。这些来自美国、英国、日本和葡萄牙的研究者研究了当

代黑猩猩争抢食物时的行为特征，试图对什么样的生态环境竟

然导致大猿（一种我们与现存的黑猩猩一样的600万年前的祖

先）直立行走作出解释。

“这些黑猩猩居住的生态环境和我们最早的祖先开始直立行

走时是相同的，”Richmond博士说。研究结果显示，当黑猩

猩需要独占一种资源时，它们就从四肢行走转换为直立行走。

由于直立行走可以解放它们的双手，这使得它们能搬更多的东

西。久而久之，双足活动的强烈爆发可能导致了解剖学上的变

化，因此这种变化也就成为自然选择的主题，在那种情况下，

对食物或其他资源的争夺是十分激烈的。

有两项研究是在几内亚完成的。第一项研究是在京都大学博苏

森林的一块天然空地——“室外实验室”进行的。研究者们允

许森林里的黑猩猩能得到两种不同的坚果，一种叫油棕榈坚

果，自然界随处可见，一种叫可乐果，自然环境中不常见。

人们监控黑猩猩在下列三种情形下的行为：(a)只有油棕榈

坚果；（b)只有少量的可乐果，大多数是油棕榈坚果;(c)大

多数是可乐果，少数是油棕榈坚果。

当稀有的可乐果数量很少时，黑猩猩一次就会拿得多。同样，

当大部分是可乐果时，黑猩猩对油棕榈坚果根本视而不见。

黑猩猩认为可乐果才是珍贵的资源，并为得到可乐果激烈竞

争。

处于这种激烈竞争的环境中，黑猩猩直立行走的频率增加了

四倍。很显然，双足行走可以使它们拿走更多的稀有资源，

而且，为了尽可能地一口气多拿，它们积极利用可用到的任

何方法，甚至嘴巴。

第二项研究是在牛津布鲁克斯大学的KimberleyHockings

进行的。该研究历时14个月，主题是博苏的黑猩猩抢劫粮

食，场景是它们不得不为稀有和不可预知的资源竞争。在这

项研究中，黑猩猩35%的活动是直立行走。而这一次研究

再一次证实了黑猩猩的直立行走与它们试图一次搬走尽可

能多的东西有关。

四十九、istsConfirmWateronMars

NASA1scientistssaidthatMarswascoveredonceby

vastlakes,flowingriversandavarietyofotherwet

environmentsthathadthepotentialtosupportlife.

LaboratorytestsaboardNASA'sPhoenixMarsLander2

haveidentifiedwaterinasoilsample;thelander'sroboticarm

deliveredthesampleWednesdaytoaninstrumentthat

identifiesvaporsproducedbytheheatingofsamples.

"Wehavewater,"saidWilliamBoyntonoftheUniversity

ofArizona,leadscientistfortheThermalandEvolved-Gas

Analyzer3,orTEGA."ThisisthefirsttimeMartianwaterhas

beentouchedandtasted."

TheroboticarmisacriticalpartofthePhoenixMars

ededtotrench"intotheicylayersofnorthern

polarMarsanddeliversamplestoinstrumentsthatwillanalyze

whatMarsismadeof,whatitswaterislike,andwhetheritis

orhaverbeenapossiblehabitatforlife.

Thesoilsamplecamefromatrenchapproximately2

eroboticarmfirstreachedthatdepth,it

emptstodeliversamples

oficysoilondayswhenfreshmaterialwaxpodwere

ofthematerialinWednesday'ssamplehadbeenexpodtothe

airfortwodays,lettingsomeofthewaterinthesample

vaporizeawayandmakingthesoileasiertohandle.

"Marsisgivingussomesurpris,"saidPhoenixprincipal

investigatorPeterSmithoftheUniversityofArizona."We're

-richlayersstickto

thescoopwhenpoidinthesunabovethedeck,differentfrom

whatweexpected,fromalltheMarssimulationtestingwe've

donesofar."

SincelandingonMay25,Phoenixhasbeenstudyingsoil

withachemistrylab,TEGA,amicroscope,aconductivityprobe

enceteamistryingtodeterminewhetherthe

watericeeverthawnoughtobeavailableforbiologyandif

carbon-containingchemicalsandotherrawmaterialsforlifeare

prent.

Themissionixaminingtheskyaswellastheground.A

Canadianinstrumentisusingalarbeamtostudydustand

cloudsoverhead.

"It'sa30-wattlightbulbgivingusalarshowonMars,"

saidVictoriaHipkinoftheCanadianSpaceAgency.

Afull-circle,colorpanoramaofPhoenix'ssurroundingsalso

hasbeencompletedbythespacecraft.

"Thedetailsandpatternsweeinthegroundshowan

ice-dominatedterrainasfarastheeyecane,"saidMark

LemmonofTexasA&MUniversity,leadscientistforPhoenix's

SurfaceStereoImager4camera."Theyhelpusplan

measurementswe'remakingwithinreachoftheroboticarmand

interpretthomeasurementsonawiderscale."

sdiscoveredbyNASA'sPhoenixMarsLanderon

Mars?

A)Vastlakes.

B)Flowingrivers.

C)Waterinasoilsample.

D)Livingthings.

thefirsttwoattemptstodeliversamplesfail?

A)Thesamplevaporizedaway.

B)Freshmaterialwaxpodtotheair.

C)Thesamplesgotstuckinsidethescoop.

D)Theroboticarmhitahardrock.

neofthefollowingstatementsisNOTmeantby

thewriter?

A)Scientistshavebeentryingtobreaktheice-richlayersof

soilonMars.

B)ScientistshavebeensurpridbyhowthesoilonMars

behaves.

C)Scientistshavebeentryingtofendoutifthereislife

supportingmaterialonMars.

D)Scientistshavebeentryingtoknowifwatericewillmelt.

rethescientistsinvolvedintherearchfrom?

A)TheyarefromAmerica.

B)TheyarefromCanada.

C)TheyarefrombothAmericaandCanada.

D)TheyarefromneitherAmericanorCanada.

fthefollowingdoyouthinkisthebest

descriptionofPhoenix'sSurfaceStereoImagerCamera,

accordingtoyourunderstandingofthepassage?

A)Itimitateshumanvisionandisabletocapture

three-dimensionalimages.

B)Itimitateshumanvoiceandisabletorecordslight

soundswhiletakingphotos.

C)Ittakesclearphotosthatshoweverydetailoftheobject.

D)Itisthisparticulartypeofcamerathatcantakewide

anglepictures.

美国科学家确认火星上有水美国国家航空航天局

的科学家们称火星曾被巨大的湖泊、流动的河流以及其他潮

湿的自然环境所覆盖，而这些都使其有了维持生命的可能。

在美国国家航空航天局的“凤凰”号火星登陆器的实验室所

做的试验中，已经在一份土壤样本中鉴别出了水。登录器的

机器臂在星期三的时候把样本传送给了一个仪器，此仪器可

以鉴别出通过样本加热而产生的水蒸气。

“我们找到了水”，热力与先进气体分析仪(也称TEGA)的

主要科学家、亚利桑那大学的威廉•博尔顿说道，“这是我

们第一次接触和品尝到火星上的水。”

登录器的机器手臂是“凤凰”火星计划重要的组成部分。它

需要破开火星北极的冰冻地表，深入到土壤伸出铲取样本，

并将样本传送给仪器，使其可以分析火星的构成，火星上的

水的形态和火星是否适合或曾经适合人类居住。

土壤标本来自于一个大概2寸深的沟渠。当机器臂第一次达

到这个沟的时候，它触到了一层硬的冻土。当新鲜的冻土暴

露在空气中的时候，机器臂曾经两次尝试对冻土样本进行传

送，但样本同铲斗粘在了一起，使这两次尝试都以失败告终。

星期三所采集的大部分样本已经暴露在空气两天，这使样本

中的一些水分得以蒸发，从而使土壤更易处理。

“火星正在给我们一些惊喜，”“凤凰”计划的主要调查员、

亚利桑那大学的彼得•史密斯说道，“我们很激动是因为发

现源于惊喜。其中一个惊喜就是土壤的表现。当富冰层被悬

挂于甲板上方的太阳底下的时候，它会和铲斗粘在一起，这

是我们从未预期到的，也不同于我们迄今为止所做过的任何

火星模拟实验。”

自5月25日登陆以来，凤凰号就利用一个化学实验室、热

力与先进气体分析仪、一个显微镜，一根传导性探针和相机

来研究火星土壤。这只科学团队尝试确定火星上的水冰是否

曾经大量融化，从而能支持生物存在。同时，它还将寻找火

星土中是否有以碳为基础的有机化合物，这些化合物是形成

生命的“原材料”。

这次任务同时对天空和地表进行研究，加拿大所制造的仪器

所发射的激光可以帮助研究头上方的尘埃和云层。

“这是一个30瓦的灯泡，它在火星上给了我们一场激光秀。”

加拿大航天局的维多利亚•西普金说道。

航天器还成功采集了“凤凰”号着陆的周围地区的彩色全景图。

“我们获得的地表图案显示，火星基本上是一片以冰为主的地

区。”“凤凰”号负责地表立体成像首席科学家、德州A&M

大学的马克•莱蒙说，“立体成像技术可以帮助我们在机器臂

所及范围之内的进行测量，同时帮助我们在更广的规模上解释

这些测量结果。”

五十、CellPhonesIncreaTraffic,PedestrianFatalities

newstudiesshowthattalkingonthephonewhiletraveling,

whetheryou'redrivingoronfoot,isincreasingbothpedestrian

deathsandthoofdriversandpasngers,andrecommend

crackdownsoncell1ubybothpedestriansanddrivers.

Thenewstudies,lead-authoredbyRutgersUniversity,

Newark,2,relatetheimpact

ofcellphonesonaccidentfatalitiestothenumberofcellphones

inu,showingthatthecurrentincreaindeathsresultingfrom

cellphoneufollowsaperiodwhencellphonesactuallyhelped

r,thisreduction

infatalitiesdisappearedoncethenumbersofphonesinu

reacheda"criticalmass"3of100million,

studieslookedatcellphoneuandmotorvehicleaccidentsfrom

1975through2002,andfactoredin4anumberofvariables,

includingvehiclespeed,alcoholconsumption,atbeltu,and

diesfoundthecellphone-fatalitycorrelation

tobetrueevenwhenincludingfactorssuchasspeed,alcohol

consumption,andatbeltu.

Loebandhisco-authordeterminedthat,atthecurrenttime,

cellphoneuhasa"significantadvereffectonpedestrian

safety"andthat“cellphonesandtheirusageaboveacritical

thresholdsaddstomotorvehiclefatalities."Inthelate1980sand

partofthe1990s,beforethenumbersofphonexploded,cell

phoneuactuallyhada"life-savingeffect"inpedestrianand

trafficaccidents,Loebnotes."Cell-phoneurs'wereableto

quicklycallformedicalassistancewheninvolvedinanaccident.

Thisquickmedicalresponactuallyreducedthenumberof

trafficdeathsforatime,"Loebhypothesizes.

However,thiswasnotthecawhencellswerefirstudin

themid-1980s,whentheycauda"life-takingeffect"among

pedestrians,eearly

days,whentherewerefewerthanamillionphones,fatalities

incread,saysLoeb,becaudriversandpedestriansprobably

werestilladjustingtothenoveltyofusingthem,andthereweren't

enoughcellphonesinutomakeadifferenceinsummoning

helpfollowinganaccident,heexplains.

The"life-savingeffect"occurredasthevolumeofphones

grewintotheearly1990s,andincreasingnumbersofcells

wereudtocall911followingaccidents,leadingtoadropin

fatalities,slife-savingeffectwas

canceledout6oncethenumbersofphonesreacheda"critical

mass"ofabout100millionandthe"life-takingeffect"-

increadaccidentsandfatalitiesoutweighedthebenefitsof

quickaccessto911rvices,accordingtoLoeb.

Loebandhisco-authorsudeconometricmodelsto

analyzedatafromanumberofgovernmentandprivatestudies.

Heandhisco-authorsrecommendthatgovernmentsconsider

moreaggressivepoliciestoreducecellphoneubyboth

driversandpedestrians,toreducethenumberoffatalities.

newstudies,lead-authoredbyProfessorPeter

Ashowthattalkingonthephonewhiledrivingorwalking

inthestreetincreasdeathsofdriversandpedestrians.

Bshowthattalkingonthephonewhiledrivingincreas

pedestriandeaths.

Crecommendthatstrictmeasuresbetakentorestraincell

phoneu.

DbothAandC.

ingtothecondparagraph,whendidcell

phonesactuallyhelptoreducepedestrianandtrafficfatalities?

ARightaftercellphoneswereinvented.

BBeforethenumberofcellphoneursreachedacritical

massCWhencellphoneurstotaledtoacertainnumber.

DWhenthenumberofcellphonesdecreadtoacertain

number.

saidaboutcellphoneuinparagraph4?

AThenumberofcellphonesinuexplodedinthelate

1980sandpartofthe1990s.

BThenumberoftrafficdeathswasreducedinthelate

1980sandpartofthe1990sduetocellphoneu.

CCellphoneursarelikelytobeinvolvedintraffic

accidents.

DTheuofcellphoneshasalife-savingeffectfor

pedestriansanddrivers.

saidaboutcellphoneuinthemid-1980sin

paragraph5?

AIthadalife-takingeffectbecauthereweren'tenough

cellphonesinuthen.

BTheincreaduofcellphonesthencauda

"life-takingeffect."CTrafficfatalitiesincreadthenbecau

thenumberofcellphonesinudecread.

DTrafficfatalitiesdecreadthenbecauthenumberofcell

phonesinuincread.

fthefollowingstatementsDOESNOTanswerthe

question"Whatcaudthe"life-savingeffect"tooccurinthe

early1990s?"

AThereweremorecellphoneursduringthatperiod.

BThenumberofcellphoneursreachedabout100million.

CMorecellphoneswereudtocall911whenaccidents

occurred.

DCellphonenabledpeopletohavequickaccessto911

rvices.

手机增加交通行人死亡手机在路上有多种多样的危险。

两个新的研究表明，不管开车还是步行时打手机，都会增加行

人、司机和乘客死亡的危险，所以该研究建议严厉限制行人和

司机使用手机。

这是一项第一作者为罗格斯大学纽瓦克分校的经济学教授

的新研究成果，它把手机的意外Ic命的影响和

大量手机使用数量联系起表明目前由于手机所引起的死亡数

目有所增加，而在此之间的一段时间里，手机事实上能够帮

助降低行人和交通致命率。但研究发现，当手机使用人数达

到1亿这个临界数量时，手机降低交通致命率的作用就消失

了。

这些研究涉及到从1975年到2002年间的手机使用和机动车辆

事故之间的关系，也涉及包括车速、酒精消耗、安全带的使

用和行驶的里数等其他方面。这些研究表明甚至当考虑比如速

度、酒精消耗和安全带的使用这些因素时，二者之间的关联

也是真实存在的。

在目前，Loeb和他的合者决定手机的使用“在行人安全上有

严重的反作用”并且“手机的使用数量已经超过了临界数量

也增加了机动车辆的致命性。”在20世纪80年代末和90年

代的一段时间，在手机使用数量达到大爆炸之前，手机的使

用确实在交通事故中起到过“保护生命的作用”。“当发生

交通意外时，手机使用者能够快速地打电话寻求医疗帮助，这

种快速的医学求救反应确实能在一定时间内减少一定数量的

事故死亡”，Loeb假设。

但是，在20世纪80年代当手机开始被使用时并不是这样，在

那时手机在行人、司机和乘客间造成了“致命的效果。”在

早些日子里，那时有不到一百万部手机，致命率增加了，Loeb

说，因为司机和行人或许在那时还在适应怎样使用它们，还

没有足够的手机能够在事故中呼叫帮助，他解释说。

这“保护生命的效果”是在20世纪90年代当大数量的手机被

使用的时候出现的，越来越多的手机在事故之后拨打“911”.

求助，这就降低了致命率，Loeb解释说。但是一旦手机的使

用量超过大约一亿的“临界数量”时，这种保护生命的效果

就被抵消了，而且这种“致命的效果”——增加了事故和死

亡——超过了能快速呼叫“911”服务的好处，根据Loeb所说。

Loeb和他的合著者们使用计量经济模式来分析从许多政府

和私人研究中得来的数据。他和他的合著者们都推荐政府

采取强制性措施来减少司机和行人的手机使用数量，来减少

死亡事件的发生。

补全短文：

十一、VirtualDriver

Drivinginvolvessharpeyesandkeenears，analyzingwith

abrain，andcoordinationbetweenhands,

hassharpeyesandkeenears,analyzesthroughhisbrain,and

howdoesanintelligentcarcontrolitlf?Apparentlythereisn't

anyoneinthedriver'scab,butthereisinfactavirtualdriver1.

Thisvirtualdriverhayes,brains,

minicamerasoneachsideofthecarareityesandare

responsibleforobrvingtheroadconditionsaheadofitas

pentheboot,you

canethemostimportantpartoftheautomaticdriving

system：

brainofthecarisresponsibleforcalculatingthespeedsobjects

surroundingthecararemovingat2，analyzingtheirposition

ontheroad，choosingtherightpath，andgivingorderstothe

wheelandthecontrolsystem.

Incomparisonwiththehumanbrain,thevirtualdriver's

letesthe

processingoftheimagesntbythecameraswithin100

r,ittakestheworld'sbestracecardriver

atleastonecondtoreact,andthisdoesn'tincludethetimehe

needstotakeaction.

Withitsrapidreactionandaccuratecontrol，thevirtual

drivercanreducetheaccidentrateonexpressways

ca,isitpossibleforustoletithavethe

wheel3atahytimeandinanyplace?Expertssaythatwe

slimitedabilitytorecognize

things,thecarcannowonlytravelonexpressways.

Theintelligentcardeterminesitsdirectionbytheclear

linesthatmarkthelanesclearlyandrecognizesvehicles

r,itcannotrecognize

movingpeopleandbicyclesonordinaryroadsthathaveno

ingtheca4,peoplestillhave

highhopesaboutdriverlesscars，andthinkhighlyintelligent

carsarewhatthecarsofthefutureshouldbelike.

十二、MusicalTrainingCanImproveCommunication

Skills

Americanscientistssaymusicaltrainingemstoimprove

und

thatdevelopingmusicalskillsinvolvesthesameprocessinthe

entistsbelievethat1could

helpchildrenwithlearningdisabilities.

NinaKrausisaneurobiologist(神经生物学家)at

smusicaltraining

involvesputtingtogetherdifferentkindsofinformation,suchas

hearingmusic,lookingatmusicalnotes,touchinganinstrument

ocessisnotmuchdifferent

volvedifferentns.

Shefurtherexplainsmusicaltrainingandlearningtospeak

sspeech

andmusicpassthroughastructureofthenervoussystemcalled

recently,expertshavethoughtthebrainstemcouldnotbe

fessorKranssandherteamfound

thatmusicaltrainingcanimproveaperson'sbrainstemactivity.

Thestudyinvolvedindividualswithdifferentlevelsof

reaskedtowearanelectricaldevicethat

ividualsworetheelectrodewhile

theywatchedavideoofsomeonespeakingandapersonplayinga

instemcontrolsour

dyfoundthatthemoreyearsoftraining

peoplehad,themorensitivetheyweretothesoundandrhythm

howereinvolvedinmusicalactivities

werethesamepeopleinwhomtheimprovementofnsory

stheimportanceofmusical

susing

musictoimprovelisteningskillscouldmeantheyhearntences

andunderstandfacialexpressionsbetter.

十三、AffectionateAndroids

Computersarenowpowerfulenoughtoallowtheageof

on’tbelongbeforewewill

erealisticcybercompanions,completewithskin,dexterity,and

llbeprogrammedtotendtoyoureveryneed.

Willweeverwanttomarryrobots?Artificialintelligence

rearcherDavidLevyhaspublishedabookclaiming

human-robotrelationshipswillbecomepopularinthenextfew

ouwanttogoaheadandtietheknotwithyour

specialelectronicfriend，Levysaidthatsuchmarriageswillbe

sociallyacceptablebyaround2050.

Willhumansreallybeabletoformdeepemotionalattachmentsto

machines?Itwill,infact,berelativelyeasytoformthestrong

attachmentsbecauthehumanmindlovestoanthropomorphize:

togivehumanattributestoothercreatures—evenobjects.

Forexample,rearchersinSanDiegorecentlyputasmall

humanoidrobotinwithatoddlerplaygroupforveralmonths.

Thebotkneweachchildbecauitwasprogrammedwithface

andvoicerecognition，anditgiggledwhentickled.

laydownbecauitsbatterieswereflat，thekidvencovered

itwithablanket.

Inafewdecades,whenhumanoidrobotswithplasticskinlook

andfeelveryreal,willpeoplewanttoformrelationshipswith

them?Whatifthebotscouldholdaconversation?Andbe

programmedtobetheperfectcompanions—soulmates,even?

Maybeyourgenerationcouldresist,buteventuallytherewill

beagenerationofpeoplewhogrowupwithhumanoidrobots

ethotoddlersinthe

experiment,theywillbeveryacceptingofthem.

Thenextquestion,then,iswhetherthereisanythingwrong

todaytherearepeoplewhoformdeepattachmentstotheirpets

considerthatunethical.

Butasophisticatedrobotwillprobablybeevenmoreattractive.

Forthowhoalwaysemtoendupmarryingthewrongman

orwoman,ouldbemighty

atherofartificialintelligence,MarvinMinsky,

putitwhenaskedabouttheethicsoflonelyolderpeople

formingclorelationshipswithrobots:“Ifarobothadallthe

virtuesofapersonandwassmarterandmoreunderstanding,

whywouldtheelderlybothertalkingtoothergrumpyold

people?”

Arobotcouldbeprogrammedtobeasdumborsmart,as

independentorsubrvient,t’sthe

theperfectrobotpartnerwilldamage

theabilitytoformequallydeephuman-humanrelationships.

you’rebehavingbadly,r,

fewownerswillprogramtheirrobotstopointouttheirflaws.

Peopleinrelationshipshavetolearntoadapttoeachother:to

enjoytheircommoninterestsandtodealwiththeirdifferences.

Itmakesusricher,stronger,companionwill

r,therewillbenothingtomove

therelationshiptogrowtogreaterheights.

十四、RoboticHighwayCones

AUniversityofNebraskaprofessorhasdevelopedrobotic

oboticconesandbarrelscanmove

outoftheway,orintoplace,fromcomputercommandsmade

nevenbeprogrammedtomoveontheir

own1atanyparticularpartoftheday,saidShaneFanitor,an

assistantprofessorofmechanicalengineeringatNebraska.

Forexample,ifworkersarrivedat6am,theconescould

movefromthesideofthehighwaytoblockoffthelaneatthat

ycanreturntotheoriginalplaceattheendofthe

day.“Itjustemslikeaverygoodapplicationforrobots,”

Farritorsaid.“Theroboticconeswouldalsohelpremovepeople

fromhazardousjobsonthehighwayputtingbarrelsandcones

intoplace，”Fanitorsaidinareportohhiscreation.

Workontheideabeganin2002usingaNationalAcademy

dallowedFarritortoworkonthe

projectwithgraduatestudents2atNebraskaandhisassistant

SteveGoddard.

Therobotsareplacedatthebottomoftheconesandbarrels

andaresmallenoughnottogreatlychangetheappearanceofthe

constructionaides.“Itwouldlookexactlythesame,”Farritor

said.“Normallythere’sakindofrubbery,blackbatothem.

Wereplacethatwitharobot.”

FarritorhastalkedwithofficialsfromtheNebraska

DepartmentofRoadsabouthowtherobotswouldbemostuful

towhatthey3mightneed.

Therobotscouldcomeinhandy4followingaslow-moving

maintenanceoperation,likepaintingastripeonaroadormoving

asphalt,wherenowthebarrelshavetobepickedupandmovedas

theoperationproceeds.“Thatwayyoudon’thavetoblockoffa

10-milestripfortheoperation,5”Fanitorsaid.

While6prototypeshavebeenmade,theyarenotinu

orsaidhehasappliedforapatentandis

inkingaboutstartingasmall

sothinkingaboutmarketingtherobotstoroads

departmentsandothersacrossthecountrywho7maybenefitfrom

them.

十五、AMemoryDrug?

IT’SDIFFICULTTOIMAGINEMANYTHINGSthat

peoplewouldwelcomemorethanamemory-enhancingdrug.A

memoryenhancercouldhelpeliminateforgettingassociatedwith

rmore,suchadrugcouldhelppeople

rememberpastexperiencesmoreclearlyandhelpusacquirenew

ntists

learnmoreaboutmemory,weareclosinginonthistantalizing

goal.1

Someofthemostexcitingevidencecomesfromrearch

thathasbuiltonearlierfindingslinkingLTP2andmemoryto

emakesa

proteinthatassiststheNMDA2receptor，whichplaysan

importantroleinlong-termmemorybyhelpingtoinitiateLTP.

Micebredtohaveextracopiesofthisgeneshowedmoreactivity

intheirNMDAreceptors，moreLTP，andimprovedperformance

onveraldifferentmemorytasks—learningaspatial

layout3,recognizingfamiliarobjects，andrecallinga

fear-inducingshock.

Ifthebasicinsightsaboutgenes,LTP,andthesynaptic

basisofmemorycanbetranslatedtopeople—andthat

remainstobeen—theycouldpavethewayfor

emakesaproteinthat

assiststheNMDA2receptor，whichplaysanimportantrolein

long-termmemorybyhelpingtoinitiateLTP.

Axcitingasthismaysound,italsoraistroublingissues.

Considerthepotentialeducationalimplicationsof

ryenhancerswereavailable,

childrenwhoudthemmightbeabletoacquireandretain

extraordinaryamountsofinformation,allowingthemto

progressfarmorerapidlyinschoolthantheycouldotherwi.

Howwellcouldthebrainhandlesuchanonslaughtof

information?Whathappenstochildrenwhodon’thaveaccess

tothelatestmemoryenhancers?Aretheyleftbehindinschool

—andasaresulthandicappedlaterinlife?

Whatarethepotentialimplicationsofmemory-enhancing

drugsfortheworkplace?Imaginethatyouareapplyingfora

jobthatrequiresagoodmemory，suchasamanagerata

technologycompanyorasalespositionthatrequires

rememberingcustomers’namesaswellastheattributesof

outakea

memory-enhancingdrugtoincreayourchancesoflanding

theposition?Wouldpeoplewhofeltuncomfortabletakingsuch

adrugfindthemlvescutoutoflucrativecareer

opportunities?

Memorydrugsmightalsohelptakethestingoutof

disturbingmemoriesthatwewishwecouldforgetbutcan’t.4

The2004hitmovieEternalSunshineoftheSpotlessMindtold

thestoryofayoungmanekingjustsuchfreedomfromthe

illeinthe

ctiononpersistencelaterinthechapter,emotionallyarousing

eventsoftencreateintrusivememories,andrearchershave

alreadymutedemotionalmemorieswithdrugsthatblockthe

emergencyworkerswhomust

confronthorrifyingaccidentscenesthatcanburdenthemwith

persistingmemoriesbeprovidedwithsuchdrugs?Shouldsuch

drugsbegiventorapevictimswhocan’tforgetthetrauma?

Memorydrugsmightprovidesomerelieftosuchindividuals.

Butcouldtheyalsointerferewithanindividual’sabilityto

assimilateandcometotermswithadifficultexperience?We

mayfindourlvesstrugglingwiththekindsofquestionsin

thenot-too-distantfuture.

完形填空：

第十一篇ClimateChangePosMajorRisksforUnprepared

Cities

Anewexaminationofurbanpolicieshasbeencarried

outrecentlybyPatriciaRomeroLankao．Sheisasociologist

specializinginclimatechangeanduebandevelopment．She

warnsthatmanyoftheworld’sfast-growingurbanareas，

especiallyindevelopingcountries．willlikelysufferfromthe

impactsofchangingclimate．Herworkalsoconcludesthatmost

citiesarefailingtoreduceemissionsofcarbondioxideand

othergreenhougas．Thegasareknowntoaffect

theatmosphere．”Climatechangeisadeeplylocalissueandpos

profoundthreatstothegrowingcitiesoftheworld,”saysRomero

Lankao.”Buttoofewcitiesaredevelopingeffectivestrategies

toprotecttheirresidents."

Citiesaremajorsourcesofgreenhougas．Andurban

populationsarelikelytobeamongthomostverelyaffected

’sfindingshighlightwaysin

whichcity-residentsareparticularlyvulnerable,andsuggest

policyinterventionsthatcouldofferimmediateand

longer-termbenefits．

Thelocationsanddenconstructionpatternsofcitiesoften

placetheirpopulationsatgreaterriskfornaturaldisasters.

Potentialthreatsassociatedwithclimateincludestormsurges

urgescanfloodcoastalareas

andprolongedhotweathercanheatheavilypavedcities

morethansurroundingareas．Theimpactsofsuchnaturalevents

canbemoreriousinanurbanenvironment．Forexample，a

prolongedheatwavecanincreaexistinglevelsofairpollution，

causingwidespreadhealthproblems．Poorerneighborhoods

thatmaylackbasicfacilitiessuchasdrinkingwaterora

dependablenetworkofroads，areespeciallyvulnerabletonatural

disasters．Manyresidentsinpoorercountriesliveinsubstandard

housingwithoutaccesstoreliabledrinkingwater，roadsand

basicrvices.

Localgovernments,therefore,shouldtakemeasuresto

protecttheirresidents.”Unfortunately，theytendtomovetowards

rhetoricratherthanmeaningfulrespons,RomeroLankao

writes,”Theydon’timpoconstructionstandardsthatcould

n'temphasize

,many

localgovernmentsaretakingahands—offapproach.”Thus,

sheurgesthemtochangetheiridlepoliciesandtotake

strongstepstopreventtheharmfuleffectsofclimatechangeon

cities.

第十二篇、FreeStatinsWithFastFoodCouldNeutralizeHeart

Risk

Fastfoodoutletscouldprovidestatindrugsfree

ofchargesothatcustomerscanreducetheheartdia

dangersoffattyfood,rearchersatImperialCollege

Londonsuggestinanew

study．

Statinsreducetheamountofunhealthy”LDL”

hoftrialdatahasproventhem

tobehighlyeffectiveatloweringaperson’sheart

attackrisk.

InapaperpublishedintheAmericanJournalof

Cardiology，DrDarrelFrancisandcolleaguescalculatethatthe

reductioninheartattackriskofferedbyastatin

inoughtooffttheincreainheartattackrisk

fromeatingacheeburgeranddrinkingamilkshake．

DrFrancis，fromtheNationalHeartandLungInstituteat

ImperialCollegeLondon，whoistheniorauthorofthestudy,

said:”Statinsdon’tcutouta11oftheunhenlthyeffects

ofcheeburgersandFrenchfries．It’sbettertoavoidfattyfood

altogether．Butwe’veworkedoutthatintermsof

a

statincanreduceyourrisktomoreorlessthe

samedegreeasafastfoodmealincreasit.”“It’sironic

thatpeoplearefreetotakeasmanyunhealthvcondimentsin

fastfoodoutletsastheylike,butstatins,whichare

beneficialtohearthealth,sn

tomakerisk-reducingstatinsavailablejustaasilyasthe

unhealthycondimentsthatareprovidedfreeofcharge．It

wouldcostlessthan5pencepercustomer一notmuch

differenttoasachetofsugar.”DrFrancissaid．

Whenpeopleengageinriskybehaviourslikedrivingor

smoking,they’reencouragedtotakemeasuresthatlower

theirrisk,1ikewearingaatbeltorchoosingcigarettes

astatinisarationalway

oftakingsomeoftherisksofeatingafattymeal．

第十三篇BetterSolarEnergySystems:MoreHeat,More

Light

Solarphotovoltaicthermalenergysystems,orPVTs,

generatebothheatandelectricity,butuntilnowtheyhaven’t

beenverygoodattheheat-generatingpartcomparedtoa

’sbecautheyoperate

atlowtemperaturestocoolcrystallinesiliconsolarcells,which

letsthesilicongeneratemoreelectricitybutisn’tavery

efficientwaytogatherheat.

That’larhot-water

systemscanharvestmuchmoreenergythanasolar-electric

，salsoaspace

problem：photovoltaiccellscantakeupallthespaceontheroof,

leavinglittleroomforthermalapplications.

Inapairofstudies,JoshuaPearce,anassociateprofessorof

materialsscienceandengineering,hasdevidasolutioninthe

rearchcollaboratorsareKunalGirotrafromThinSiliconin

CaliforniaandMichaelPathakandStephenHarrisonfrom

Queen’sUniversity,Canada."

Mostsolarpanelsaremadewithcrystallinesilicon，butyou

canalsomakesolarcellsoutofamorphoussilicon,commonly

n’tcreateasmuchelectricity,

buttheyarelighter,flexible,,becauthey

requiremuchlesssilicon,theyhaveagreenerfootprint.

Unfortunately，thin-filmsiliconsolarcellsarevulnerableto

somebad-newsphysicsintheformoftheStaebler-Wronskieffect.

“Thatmeansthattheirefficiencydropswhenyouexpo

themtolight—prettymuchtheworstpossibleeffectforasolar

cell,”Pearceexplains，whichisoneofthereasonsthin-film

solarpanelsmakeuponlyasmallfractionofthemarket.

However,Pearceandhisteamfoundawaytoengineer

aroundtheStaebler-Wronskieffectbyincorporatingthin-film

’thavetocooldown

，Pearce’sgroup

discoveredthatbyheatingittosolar-thermaloperating

temperatures，neartheboilingpointofwater,theycouldmake

thickercellsthatlargelyovercametheStaebler-Wronskieffect.

Whentheyappliedthethin-filmsilicondirectlytoasolarthermal

energycollector,theyalsofoundthatbybakingthecelloncea

day，theyboostedthesolarcell’lectricalefficiencybyover

10percent.

十四、SharksPerformaServiceforEarth'sWaters

Itishardtogetpeopletothinkofsharksasanythingbuta

thefish2performavaluablerviceforearth'swatersand

inessandsportfishing3arethreatening

theirexistenceSomesharksareatriskofdisappearingfrom

earth.

Warmweathermayinfluencebothfishandsharkactivity.

Manyfishswimnearcoastalareasbecauoftheirwarm

ssaysharksmayfollowthefishintothesameareas,

,mostsharksdonotpurpoly

ethoughttomistakeaperson

foraaanimal,whypeople

shouldnotswimintheoceanwhenthesungoesdownorcomes

rethetimeswhensharksarelookingforfood.

Expertsalsosaythatbrightcolorsandshinyjewelrymay

causharkstoattack.

Asharkhasanextremelygoodnofsmell4'Itcanfind

smallamountsofsubstancesinwater,suchasblood,body

eat

fish,anyothersharks,andplantsthatliveintheocean.

Medicalrearcherswanttolearnmoreabouttheshark's

bodydefen,andimmunesyestermagainstdia.

Rearchersknowthatsharksrecoverquicklyfrom

udythesharkinhopesoffindingawaytofight

humandia.

Sharksareimportantfortheworld'soceansTheyeat

untingactivitiesmeanthatthe

numbersofotherfishinoceanwatersdonotbecometoo

greatThisprotectstheplantsandotherformsoflifethatexist

intheoceans.

第十五篇“Liquefaction”KeytoMuchofJapane

EarthquakeDamage

Themassivesubductionzone1earthquakeinJapancauda

significantlevelofsoil"liquefaction"2thathassurprid

rearcherswithitswidespreadverity,anewanalysisshows.

"We'veenlocalized3examplesofsoilliquefactionas

extremeasthisbefore,butthedistanceandextentofdamage

inJapanwereunusuallyvere,"saidScottAshford,a

professorofgeotechnicalengineering4atOregonState

University5."Entirestructuresweretiltedandsinkingintothe

diments,"Ashfordsaid."Theshiftsinsoildestroyedwater,

drainandgaspipelines6,cripplingtheutilitiesand

someplacesthatsankasmuchasfourfeet."

Somedegreeofsoilliquefaction7iscommoninalmostany

'saphenomenoninwhichsoilssoaked

withwater,particularlyrecentdimentsorsand,canlo

n

allowstructurestoshiftorsinkorcollap.

Butmostearthquakesaremuchshorterthantherecent

eventinJapan,gthoftheJapane

earthquake,asmuchasfiveminutes,mayforcerearchersto

reconsidertheextentofliquefactiondamagepossiblyoccurring

insituationssuchasthis8.

"Withsuchalong-lastingearthquake,wesawhow

structuresthatmighthavebeenokayafter30condsjust

continuedtosinkandtiltastheshakingcontinuedforveral

moreminutes,"hesaid."Anditwasclearthatyounger

diments,andespeciallyareasbuiltonrecentlyfilledground,

aremuchmorevulnerable."

ThedataprovidedbyanalyzingtheJapaneearthquake,

rearcherssaid,shouldmakeitpossibletoimprovethe

understandingofthissoilphenomenonandbetterprepareforitin

dsaiditwascriticalfortheteamtocollectthe

informationquickly,beforedamagewasremovedinthe

recoveryefforts9.

"There'snodoubtthatwe'lllearnthingsfromwhathappenedin

Japan10that11willhelpustoreducerisksinothersimilar

events,"Ashfordsaid."Futureconstructioninsomeplacesmay

makemoreuoftechniquesknowntoreduceliquefaction,such

asbettercompactiontomakesoilsden,oruofreinforcing

stonecolumns."

AshfordpointedoutthatnorthernCaliforniahaveyounger

soilsvulnerabletoliquefaction---onthecoast,nearriverdeposits

"young"diments,ingeologic

terms,maybethodepositedwithinthepast10,000yearsor

on,forinstance,thatdescribesmuchofdowntown

Portland,thePortlandInternationalAirportandothercities.

Anythingnearariverandoldfloodplainsisasuspect12,

andtheOregonDepartmentofTransportationhasalready

concludedthat1,100bridgesinthestateareatriskfroman

han15percentofthemhavebeenreinforced

assufferedtremendouslossin

theMarch11earthquake,butJapaneconstructionstangards

helpedpreventmanybuildingsfromcollap---evenasthey

tiltedandsankintotheground.