話題11 科普知識與現(xiàn)代技術(shù) 一、閱讀理解（共19小題；共38分）A Inspired by a 9-year-old cyclist who uses only part of one hand, a group of University of Guelph students has won an international award for their inventiona bike brake lever (剎車手柄). It pulls both the front brake and the back brake at the same time. Lauren Turner was able to ride her bike, but not as confidently and quickly as her friends. "She couldn't use the front brake. She was only using the back brake, but the front brake makes you stop twice as fast," says Micha Wallace, who with Katie Bell, Anina Sakaguchi and Andrew Morris won second prize in the James Dyson Awards for their single-handed bike braking lever. "She used it all last summer and she had no problems. She said it helped her go faster because she felt more confident in her braking abilities. She felt safer." says Wallace. The invention was the fourth-year design project for the four students. They designed, tested and created a prototype(模型) within a four-month period. When Wallace heard about the James Dyson Awards on the news, she and her co-inventors entered their project in the UK-based contest. The contest mainly rewards student designers who create products that improve the way we live. The Guelph students collected the second prize -2,000 for them, plus 500 for their school. As well, they had a chance to meet James Dyson, a UK inventor. While praising the students for their creativity, Dyson said the single-handed lever could improve safety for all cyclists. "By using both brakes at once," he explains, "you could prevent the possibility of flying over the handlebars and ending up with an injury." The students are hoping to sell the patent to a major company. It may be used in other devices that require two hands for operation. 1. The bike brake lever was designed for the purpose of  .A. winning James Dyson AwardsB. helping people become confidentC. applying for a patent for the inventionD. helping the disabled ride their bike safely 2. What can we know about the inventors of the brake lever?A. They created the invention in four years.B. They won their school500 for their invention.C. They won the James Dyson Awards for four times.D. They sold their patent to a major company. 3. From the passage, we could infer that the brake lever  .A. has already been widely usedB. also improves the bike's speedC. is only useful for disabled cyclistsD. will have a wide market in the futureB The following stories about great inventors will help to motivate us. As we read these stories, we will also realise the inventors are ordinary people who follow through with their creative ideas to make their dreams a reality. Earmuffs(耳套) "Baby, It's Cold Outside" "Baby, It's Cold Outside" may have been the song running through 13-year-old Chester Greenwood's head one cold December day in 1873. To protect his ears while ice skating, he found a piece of wire. With his grandmother's help, he padded(填充) the ends. In the beginning, his friends laughed at him. However, when they realised that he was able to stay outside skating long after they had gone inside freezing, they stopped laughing. Instead, they began to ask Chester to make ear covers for them, too. At age 17 Chester applied for a patent. For the next 60 years, Chester's factory made earmuffs, which made Chester rich. BAND-AID® At the turn of the century, Mrs. Earl Dickson, an inexperienced cook, often burned and cut herself. Mr. Dickson got plenty of practice in hand bandaging. Out of concern for his wife's safety, he began to prepare bandages ahead of time so that his wife could apply them by herself. By combining a piece of surgical tape and a piece of gauze(紗布), he fashioned the first crude adhesive strip (原油膠條繃帶) bandage. LIFE-SAVERS® During the hot summer of 1913, Clarence Crane, a chocolate candy manufacturer, found himself facing a dilemma. When he tried to ship his chocolates to candy shops in other cities they melted. To avoid dealing with the "mess", his customers were putting off their orders until cool weather. In order to retain his customers, Mr. Crane needed to find a substitute for the melted chocolates. He experimented with hard candy which wouldn't melt during shipment. Using a machine designed for making medicine pills, Crane produced small, circular candies with a hole in the middle. 4. What can we know about the inventors according to the passage?A. They all became rich later.B. Their inventions were for their relatives.C. They experimented with great difficulty for their inventions.D. Their inventions are very practical. 5. What can we learn about the Dicksons?A. Mrs. Dickson was skilled at hand bandaging.B. Mrs. Dickson often hurt herself when cooking.C. They always prepared bandages for inexperienced cooks.D. It was fashionable for them to use crude adhesive strip bandage. 6. What does the underlined word "retain" in the last paragraph mean?A. Contact.B. Know.C. Keep.D. Find.C A multi-height shoe with changeable heels, created by a Canadian-born shoe designer, is on display in Paris. Tanya Heath started with a simple idea: when your shoes start to hurthalfway through a party, a wedding or a workdaypress a button in the sole(鞋底), pull out your high heel and replace it with a more comfortable heel. "You can do your two-hour meeting, and then you just take off your high heel," she explained at the Ethical Fashion Show in Paris. As a crazy heel-wearer, Heath's project was born partly from her personal experience having suffered foot deformations(變形) from heels. It is estimated that 38 percent of women around the world have the same experience. In 1996, Heath left a job as policy analyst at the Canadian foreign ministry for a new life in Paris. In 2009 she quit her job and threw herself into the heel project, heading to the Dordogne to investigate taking over a struggling shoe factory. When she got there, Heath was in a shock. She saw the factory closed down and 52 people out on the street. As a trained economist, she thought maybe, with an innovation(創(chuàng)新), she could save some jobs here. She went on to surround herself with a team of 21 engineers, designers and technicians, in addition to herself and an associate, to bring her concept to life. "I would like a real working girl to be able to have them," Heath said. "But it's impossible to make a Made in France product affordable(負擔(dān)得起). A skin of leather alone costs 80 euros." While her upscale(高端的) Tanya Heath line will continue to be made in France, she already has plans for a second brand, which will have to be made somewhere else. To meet large orders, she needs to bring down her price. 7. The passage is mainly about  .A. the advantages of a multi-height shoeB. the invention of a multi-height shoe with changeable heelsC. the achievements of Tanya Heath in her lifetimeD. the benefits of Tanya Heath's innovation 8. Health designed the multi-height shoe partly because  .A. she was a crazy heel wearerB. her foot had been hurt by high heelsC. it could help make women feel relievedD. 38 percent of women worldwide needed it 9. How did Health feel when she first arrived at the shoe factory in Dordogne?A. She wanted to bring it to life.B. She planned to close it down.C. She was shocked by its situation.D. She felt pity for workers in the factory.10. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?A. The multi-height shoes are very expensive.B. The cost of a multi-height shoe is 80 euros.C. Every working girl needs a multi-height shoe.D. The factory of multi-height shoes will be moved to other places.D Not all vegetables need lots of sunshine. Mark Hoffman and his wife, Guia, own a bed-and-breakfast guesthouse in rural Kempton, Illinois. They often serve their guests fresh produce from the garden. The Hoffmans have been growing food and flowers for 25 years. For almost ten of those years, Mr. Hoffman has been experimenting and working with shade plantings. He says visitors to his websiteoften ask how to plant in shade space. They grow tomatoes near oak trees(橡樹) which can produce a lot of shade. Not only does this go against the traditional advice that tomatoes need six, eight, even 12 hours a day of full sun, it also shows how plants and tree roots can share nutrients(營養(yǎng)) and water. Mr. Hoffman also plants asparagus(蘆筍) around a tree at its drip line, the area below the outer limit of the branches. So when it rains, all the rain drips down right on the asparagus. The Hoffmans' website includes a list of trees, vegetables and herbs that have produced in partial shade. Nut trees such as filbert(榛樹) produce well with only sun in the morning. Many herbs grow well without much sun. Mint plants, for example, grow well in the shade, so do sage, dill, oregano, borage and chamomile. Mr. Hoffman says plants with wider leaves seem to do better in shady environment. He also finds that his potatoes do better in partial shade than in full sun. Vegetables' price, currently increasing, is buffeted by insect problems, so moving them out of the sun helped control an insect problem with leaf hoppers. Mr. Hoffman does not use pesticides(殺蟲劑). Instead, he plants the potatoes at the drip line, especially on the east side of the tree. The potatoes get morning sun, but they are shaded during the hottest part of the day. Leaf hoppers dislike shade, and the hottest part of the day is when they do the worst of their damage.11. What can we know from the first two paragraphs?A. Mark often meets his guests in the garden.B. Mark only eats food that grows in shade space.C. Mark has worked with shade plantings for 10 years.D. Many people go to visit Mark's bed-and-breakfast guesthouse.12. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?A. Oak trees only need sun in the morning.B. Nut trees produce well with 12 hours a day of full sun.C. Potatoes grow better in full sun than in partial shade.D. Leaf hoppers damage plants most during the hottest part of the day.13. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 5 refer to?A. The names of herbs.B. Different kinds of nut trees.C. The names of vegetables.D. Different kinds of flowers.14. The underlined word "buffeted" in the last paragraph means "  ".A. surroundedB. controlledC. determinedD. affected15. The author writes the passage to  .A. show how to grow vegetables in the gardenB. tell not all vegetables need lots of sunshineC. show advantages of growing vegetables in gardenD. explain the damage to vegetables caused by the sunE Squirrels often communicate with whistles, chirps and chucks, which sound like the word "chuck". Whistles and chirps are like the sounds that many birds make. Now scientists have translated some of their squirrel-speak. Hare, a professor of zoology at the University of Maniloha in Winnipeg, and his team managed to record squirrels' alarm calls. The researchers studied the sounds and then played them back to 60 wild squirrels. And then the scientists approached individually with a video recorder to capture(抓拍) their responses. Some squirrels lifted their heads up and became alert(警惕的). Creatures that were more frightened simply ran for their lives and dived into caves. "In effect then, whistles that mix with chucks say 'there's an enemy of average threat that's here'. Whistles without chucks say 'there's an enemy of seemingly average threat around here somewhere'. However, pure chirps say, 'I'm hiding here because there's an immediate danger.'" Hare told. Hare and some other researchers believe such sounds are part of an advanced language that develops just as all other communication systems. Although squirrels risk their lives when they call out to warn others of threats, other squirrels might admire this behaviour. And thus it increases the caller's social status, like humans who look up to heroes. Hare added that other animals, such as birds, probably understand at least some squirrel language, since they also may benefit from the alarm calls. In fact, another Canadian study found that deep-voiced, black-capped chickadees(山雀) have their own language too. According to certain research, there are a lot of tidings in chickadees' calls, such as directing fellows' activities, keeping in contact between mates, and raising alarms. While chickadees and other birds are often welcomed into gardens by homeowners, squirrels are frequently viewed as pests. Hare wishes a greater understanding of the complex social lives and communication systems of squirrels will provide "hope that humans will gain a greater appreciation and stop doing harm to these animals".16. If a squirrel is in average danger, it would probably make  .A. whistles with chucksB. pure chirpsC. whistles without chucksD. repeated chucks17. What can we learn from the passage?A. Chickadees are often seen as pest by humans.B. Some birds seem to understand the squirrels' alarm calls.C. Chickadees risk their lives to inform others of danger.D. Squirrels communicate with chickadees in a deep voice.18. What does the underlined word "tidings" in the sixth paragraph mean?A. Concepts.B. Suggestions.C. Messages.D. Words.19. What is the purpose of the research launched by Hare and his team?A. To call on people to protect the squirrels.B. To compare language of different animals.C. To understand animals' complex social lives.D. To help animals build communication system.二、作文（共1小題；共25分）20. 根據(jù)表格信息，選擇你認為最偉大的一項科學(xué)成就，給出你認為其重要的理由(至少3條)。要求： 1. 詞數(shù):120左右； 2. 內(nèi)容條理清晰，理由充足； 3. 要求用到上面五篇閱讀中的詞匯或語法（不少于3處）。答案一、閱讀理解 1. D 2. B 3. D 4. D 5. B 6. C 7. B 8. B 9. C10. A11. C12. D13. A14. D15. B16. A17. B18. C19. A二、作文20. One possible version: There is no doubt that humans have made many great scientific achievements, such as cloning, spaceships, the Internet, etc. Among these, I think, the Internet is the greatest invention. In the first place, it has changed the way people communicate and interact with one another. It has made it a reality that we can talk to anyone anywhere at any time as long as they are online. Secondly, it gives us access to all the knowledge and information of the world. It provides us with news and other media from all over the world, wherever we may be. Finally, it has brought much convenience to our life. In a word, I think we benefit a lot from the Internet and our life has changed greatly due to the wide use of it.