avalanche and its safety

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avalanche and its safety篇一：2014年职称英语 完形填空(2) Avalanche and Its Safety

第二篇 Avalanche and Its Safety

An avalanche is a sudden and rapid flow of snow, often mixed with air and water, down a mountainside.

All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack, that is too massive and unstable for the slope supports it. Determining the critical load, the amount of over-burden which is an avalanche, complex task involving the evaluation of a number of factors. Human-triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow's angle of restwhich the human incidence of avalanches is greatest, is 38 degrees. The rule of thumbto hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. Additionally, avalanche risk increases with it is that an avalanche will occur.

Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry is never 100% safe. Good avalanche evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and avalanche.词汇： avalanche / 5AvE7lB:nF/ n.雪崩 terrain / 5terein / n. 地形，地势 trigger /5tri^E / v. 引起，激发 ski / ski: /v.滑雪 snowpack / `snEJpAk / n.积雪场 steep /sti:p/ adj.险峻的，陡峭的 incidence / 5insidEns / n.发生（率） complexity /kEm5pleksiti /n. 复杂性注释:

1．angle of rest：这里指积雪保持静止的角度。

2．rule of．thumb：指“a broadly accurate principle，based on experience or practice rather that theory”，即“通用法则，经验法则 ”。

3．Additionally：是一个副词，用来引人新的事实或论点，意为 “此外”。

4．backcountry：人烟稀少的地区。

练习:

1. A among B of C to D in

2. A when B that C who D whose

3. A mostly B likely C clearly D surely

4. A are B will be C is D was

5. A weight B form C risk D work

6. A fall B flow C roll D gather

7. A fall B flow C roll D gather

8. A among B between C with D for

9. A thick B thin C flat D rocky

10. A use B time C snow D rain

11. A journey B trip C fact D process

12. A conditions B reports C forecast D event

13. A increase B reduce C improve D remove

14. A price B effort C attention D money

15. A missing B grown C big D fresh 41 2 3

答案与题解：

1．A表达“雪崩是山上可能发生的昀大危险之一 ”的意思，因此应该选择 among（在……之中）。

2．B从该句的语法结构上来看，此处需要一个关系代词，代替 slope，所以 that是昀佳选择。选项 A、C、D均不符合语法。

3．B选项 A不符合语法， C和 D符合语法，但不符合常识：过度的雪的积压可能导致雪崩，而不是必定导致雪崩。所以， B是昀佳答案。

4．C该句的主语是 Determining the critical load，从上下文来看应该使用一般现在时，所以 C是正确答案。

5．C要确定本题答案的一个有效的方法是排除法。 a low weight／form work of avalanche都不合逻辑，只有 a low risk of avalanche符合上下文的意思。下面的句子解释了 low risk of avalanche的道理，更证实了选 risk是正确的。

6．D第 6和第 7题可以一起考虑。整个句子的意思是：在坡度大的坡上，雪不会大量堆积。在较为平坦的坡面，雪不会轻易滑动。

7．B（见 6）

8．B理解了句子的意思就不难判断选项：雪在静止状态下，角度在 35～45度之间，昀可能发生人为触发的雪崩。between：在……之间。

9．C这个句子说明的是什么样的山坡昀易发生雪崩，即，A slope that is flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski。flat在此做 “平坦”解，与后面的 steep形成反义。

10．A句中的 that is表明，后半部分是对前半部分的进一步说明。所以，这里的选择要根据下文的意思判断。

use是昀佳选择，整个句子的意思是：山坡被滑雪者使用的越多，雪崩就越可能发生。

11．D尽管选项 A、B和 D都能和 continuous搭配，从全段的内容判断，只有 process是昀佳选择，因为该段描写的是如何防备雪崩，及如何做好安全措施等一系列问题。

12．A选项 A、B、C都可以与 weather搭配，但是根据上下文，只有 A昀为符合文章的内容。

13．B选项 A不符合句子的意思； C不能和 risk搭配；D也不符合句子的意思，因为不可能完全消除雪崩的隐患。

14．C该句主句使用的是被动语态，第二个动词是 pay attention to的被动形式。选项 A、B、D均不符合句子的意思。

15．A该句是作者给出的一系列忠告之一，即，认真观察地形，注意明显的雪崩路径，没有植物或植物被毁坏的地方。选项 B、C、D均不符合句义。

第二篇生物辨别技术

当一个人走路的时候，他的头、躯干、股骨和肢体的运动都会在身体变化中反映出来。电脑往资料库里存储了一个人肢体变化的资料后，以后就能根据这些变化准确地识别他的身份。这是一项新的生物学的辨认技术，能快速辨认人而又不去打搅被辨认人，尤其适合在机场和超市使用。

每个人的声音也有其独特性和惟一性。当一个人的声音被仪器记录了的时候，他的声音频谱就叫他的声纹。与指纹一样，每个人的声纹也是不同的，电脑如何利用声纹辨认人呢？首先，记录下人的声音，让电脑熟悉他的声音。然后电脑将他的声音特征转换为一系列的数码。这些数码就代表这个人的声音频率、音高和节奏。在这个基础上，电脑能够将某人的声音与他人的声音区分开来。

当需要识别那个人时，他只需说出一两个字，电脑就能立即识别他。电脑还能够识别通过电线传过来的声音。这将会为电子银行和电子购买提供更安全的保证。

我们通常带身份证、工作证或驾驶执照来证明我们的身份。如果所有这些证件都忘带或遗失了，我们怎样来证明自己的身份呢？事实上，这不难证明，因为你的身体本身就有识别的标记。有些是生理特征，像指

纹、声音、面部类型和眼睛的颜色。电脑能够帮助识别你的身份。让我们假定你的特征已经储存在资料库里。为了识别你，我们得用相机给你拍照，然后把照片发到电脑里作处理。首先，电脑需要按照你的眼睛的位置重新调整照片的角度，然后开始读取你的生理特征的信息，诸如你的瞳孔、眼睛的眼白和鼻子的形状等等。接着，电脑从资料库里寻找匹配的记录。接着，作出安全可靠的决定。

avalanche and its safety篇二：完形填空答案

1.Captain Cook Arrow Legend(库克船长弓箭的传说) It was a great legend while it lasted, but DNA testing has finally ended a two-century-old story of the Hawaiian arrow carved from the bone of British explorer Captain James Cook who died in the Sandwich Islands in 1779.

“There is no Cook in the Australian Museum,” museum collection manager Jude Philip said not long ago in announcing the DNA evidence that the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone. But that will not stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in its exhibition, “Uncovered: Treasures of the Australian Museum,” which does include a feather cape presented to Cook by Hawaiian King Kalani’opu’u in 1778. Cook was one of Britain’s great explorers and is credited with discovering the “Great South Land,” now Australia, in 1770. He was clubbed to death in the Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii.

The legend of Cook’s arrow began in 1824 when Hawaiian King Kamehameha on his deathbed gave the arrow to William Adams, a London surgeon and relative of Cook’s wife, saying it was made of Cook’s bone after the fatal fight with islanders.

In the 1890s the arrow was given to the Australian Museum and the legend continued until it came face-to-face with science. DNA testing by laboratories in Australia and New Zealand revealed the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone but was more likely made of animal bone, said Philp. However, Cook’s fans refuse to give up hope that one Cook legend will prove true and that part of his remains will still be uncovered, as they say there is evidence not all of Cook’s body was buried at sea in 1779. “On this occasion technology has won,” said Cliff Thornton, president of the Captain Cook Society, in a statement from Britain. “But I am sure that one of these days „one of the Cook legends will prove to be true and it will happen one day.” 2.Avalanche and Its Safety(雪崩和安全问题)

An avalanche is a sudden and rapid flow of snow, often mixed with air and water, down a mountainside. Avalanches are among the biggest dangers in the mountains for both life and property. All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack, that is too massive and unstable for the slope that supports it. Determining the critical load, the amount of over-burden which is likely to cause an avalanche, is a complex task involving the evaluation of a numberof factors. Terrain slopes flatter than 25 degrees or steeper than 60 degrees typically have a low risk of avalanche. Snow does not gather significantly on steep slopes; also, snow does not flow easily on flat slopes. Human-triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow’s angle of rest is between 35 and 45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which the human incidence of avalanches is greatest, is 38 degrees. The rule of thumb is : A slope that is flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. Additionally, avalanche risk increases with use; that is , the more a slope is disturbed by skiers, thd more likely it is that an avalanche will occur. Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry is never 100% safe. Good avalanche safety is a continuous process, including route selection and examination of the snowpack, weather conditions, and human factors. Several well-known good habits can also reduce the risk. If local authorities issue avalanche risk reports, they should be considered and all warnings should be paid attention to. Never follow in the tracks of others without your own evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and note obvious avalanche paths where plants are missing or damaged. Avoid traveling below others who might trigger an avalanche.

3.Giant Structures(巨型建筑) It is an impossible task to select the most amazing wonders of the modern world since every year more wonderful constructions appear.Here are three giant structures which are worthy of our admiration although they may have been surpassed by some more recent wonders. The Petronas Twin Tower The petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world when they were completed in 1999.With a height of 452 metres;the tall twin owers,like two thin pencils,dominate the city of Kuala Lumpur.At the 41 flool,the towers are linked by a bridge,symbolizing a gateway to the city.The American architect Cesar Pelli designed the skyscrapers. Constructed of high-strength concrete,the building provides around 1800 square metres of office space on every floor.And it has a shopping centre and a concert hall at the base.Other features of this impressive building include double-deckder lifts, and glass and steel sunshades. The Millau Bridge

The Millau Bridge was opened in 2004 in the Tarn Valley, in southern France. At the time it was built, it was the world’s highest bridge, reaching over 340m at the highest point. The bridge is described as one of the most amazingly beautiful bridge in the world. It was built to relieve Millau’s congestion problems. The congestion was then caused by traffic passing from Paris to Barcelona in Spain. The bridge was built to withstand the most extreme seismic and climatic conditions. Besides, it is guaranteed for 120 years! The Itaipu Dam The Itaipu hydroelectric power plant is one of the largest constructions of its kind in the world. It consists of a series of dams across the River Parana, which forms a natural border between Brazil and Paraguay. Started in 1975 and taking 16 years to complete, the construction was carried out as a joint project between the two countries. The dam is well-known for both its electricity output and its size. In 1995 it produced 78% of Paraguay’s and 25% of Brazil’s energy needs. In its construction, the amount of iron and steel used was equivalent to over 300 Eiffel Towers. It is a truly amazing wonder of engineering. 4.Animal’s “Sixth Sense”(动物的”第六感”)

A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean in December, 2004. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. Wild animals, however, seem to have escaped that terrible tsunami. This phenomenon adds weight to notions that they possess a “sixth sense” for disasters, experts said.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24000 people along the Indian Ocean island’s coast clearly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found. “No elephants are dead, not even a dead rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening,” H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Department, said about one month after the tsunami attack. The waves washed floodwaters up to 2 miles inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka’s biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards.

“There has been a lot of apparent evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven,” said Matthew van lierop, an animal behavior specialist at Johannesburg Zoo. “There have been no specific studies because you can’t really test it in a lab or field setting,” he told Reuters. Other authorities concurred with this assessment. “Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon, especially birds„ there are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters,” said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.

Animals certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators. The notion of an animal “sixth sense” – or some other mythical power – is an enduring one which the evidence on Sri Lanka’s ravaged coast is likely to add to.

The Romans saw owls as omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes. 5Singing Alarms Could Save the Blind(警报器救盲人)

If you cannot see, you may not be able to find your way out of a burning building – and that could be fatal. A company in Leeds could change all that with directional sound alarms capalbe of guiding you to the exit. Sound Alert, a company run by the University of Leeds, is installing the alarms in a residential home for blind people in Sommerset and a resource centre for the blind in Cumbria. The alarms produce a wide range of frequencies that enable the brain to determine where the sound is coming from. Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarms use most of the frequencies that can be heard by humans. “It is a burst of white noise that people say sounds like static on the radio,” she says. “Its life-saving potential is great.” She conducted an experiment in which people were filmed by thermal-imaging cameras trying to find their way out of a large smoke-filled room. It took them nearly four minutes to find the door without a sound alarm, but only 15 seconds with one. Withington studies how the brain processes sounds at the university. She says that the source of a wide band of frequencies can be pinpointed more easily than the source of a narrow band. Alarms based on the same concept have already been installed on emergency vehicles. The alarms will also include rising or falling frequencies to indicate whether people should go up or down stairs. They were developed with the aid of a large grant from British Nuclear Fuels.

6.Car Thieves Could Be Stopped Remotely(远程制止偷车贼) Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in a nasty surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine off, he will not be able to start it again. For now, such devices are only available for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars, and should be available to ordinary cars in the UK in two months. The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car incorporates a miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning receiver. If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine being restarted. There are even plans for immobilizers that shut down vehicles on the move, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system.

In the UK, an array of technical fixes is already making life harder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicles crime has changed,” says Martyn Rand all of Thatcham, a security research organization based in Berkshire that is funded in part by the motor insurance industry.

He says it would only take him a few minutes to teach a novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old. Modern cars are a far tougher proposition, as their engine management computer will not allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this have helped achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997. But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken by using the owner’s keys, which doubles the previous year’s figure. Remote-controlled immobilization system would put a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could go on the market sooner than the customer expects.

7..An Intelligent Car(智能汽车) Driving needs sharp eyes, keen ears, quick brain, and coordination between hands and the brain. Many human drivers have all these and can control a fast-moving car. But how does an intelligent car control itself?

There is a virtual driver in the smart car. This virtual driver has “eyes”, “brains”, “hands” and “feet”, too. The minicameras on each side of the car are his “eyes”, which observe the road conditions ahead of it. They watch the traffic to the car’s left and right. There is also a highly automatic driving system in the car. It is the built-in computer, which is the virtual driver’s “brain”. His “brain” calculates the speeds of other moving cars near it and analyzes their positions. Basing on this information, it chooses the right path for the intelligent car, and gives instructions to the “hands” and “feet” to act accordingly. In this way, the virtual driver controls his car.

What is the virtual driver’s best advantage? He reacts quickly. The minicameras are sending images continuously to the “brain.” It completes the processing of the images within 100 milliseconds. However, the world’s best driver at least needs one second to react. Besides, when he takes action, he needs one more second.

The virtual driver is really wonderful. He can reduce the accident rate considerably on expressways. In this case, can we let him have the wheel at any time and in amy place? Experts warn that we cannot do that just yet. His ability to recognize things is still limited . He can now only drive an intelligent car on expressways.

8.Why India Needs Its Dying Vultures(印度为什么需要濒临灭亡的秃鹰) The vultures in question may look ugly and threatening, but the sudden sharp decline in three species of India’s vultures is producing alarm rather than celebration. and it presents the world with a new kind of environmental problem. The dramatic decline in vulture numbers is causing widespread disruption to people living in the Same areas as the birds. It is also causing serious public health problems across the Indian sub-continent． While4their reputation and appearance may be unpleasant to many Indians. vultures have long played a very important role in keeping towns and villages all over India clean. It is because they feed on dead cows. In India. cows are sacred animals and are traditionally left in the open when they die in their thousands upon thousands every year. The disappearance of the vultures has led to an explosion in the numbers of wild dogs feeding on the remains of these dead animals. There are fears that rabies may increase as a result．And this terrifying disease may ultimately affect humans in the region, since wild dogs are its main carriers．Rabies could also spread to other animal species, causing an even greater problem in the future．

The need for action is urgent , so an emergency project has been launched to find a solution to this serious vulture problem. Scientists are trying to identify the disease causing the birds deaths and, if possible, develop a cure. Large-scale vulture deaths were first noticed at the end of the 1980s in India. A population survey at that time showed that the three species of vultures had. Declined by over 90 percent. All three species are now listed as“critically endangered”. As most vulture lay only single eggs and take about five years to reach maturity, reversing their population decline will be a long and difficult exercise.

一.库克船长弓箭的传说

这本是个绝妙的传说，但DNA测试最终结束了这个长达两个世纪之久的古老故事。传说是关于一支据说是用1779年在桑伟奇群岛死去的英国探险家船长詹姆士库克的遗骨刻成的夏威夷弓箭。

在不久前DNA 证据宣布该弓箭并非来自于库克船长的遗骨时，奥大利亚博物馆收藏经理尤大书·菲利普说：“澳大利亚博物馆里并没有库克的遗骨。”但这并不能停止博物馆在展览会上展出弓箭。“考古发现：澳大利亚博物馆的宝藏”展览中的确还展示了一个在1778年夏威夷国王卡兰尼欧普送 给库克的一个羽毛斗篷。 库克是英国最伟大探险家之一，他在1770年发现了“南大陆”，也就是现在的澳大利亚。此后在桑伟奇群岛被棒击致死。

库克弓箭传说始于1824年，当时夏威夷国王卡莫哈莫哈在弥留之际将弓箭赐给了库克妻子的亲戚，一名伦敦外科医生威廉正当斯，并告诉他弓箭是在那次致命殴打后用库克的遗骨做成的。

在19世纪90年代，弓箭被交给澳大理亚博物馆。这个传说直到与科学直接接触才停止。

据菲利普说，澳大利亚和新西兰的试验室的DNA测试证实弓箭并非取材于库克的遗骨，而更可能来自动物的骨头。

但是，库克迷们却不肯放弃希望。他们期待库克传说之一将会被证明是正确，并且他人部分遗骨还会被发现。正如他们所说，有证据表明库克的遗骨并不是在1779年全都葬身大海了。库克船长协会的会长克利夫托马森在一个来自英国的声明中说：“在这个问题上，科技取得了胜利。我坚信某一天库克传说之一将会被证明是真的。”

二.雪崩和安全问题

雪崩是雪掺杂着空气和水沿着山体突然迅猛地滑动造成的。雪崩是造成山区人们生命和财产安全的最大危险之一。

所有雪崩都是由于物质的过渡负荷造成，通常是积雪堆积过厚，很不稳固，超出了山坡面的承载能力。要确定山坡的临界承载量，可能造成突然雪崩的负荷量是一项很复杂的任务，需要衡量多个因素。

通常倾斜度小于25度，大于60度的山坡发生雪崩的危险要小一些。积雪不会在陡峭的山坡上大量堆积，同样也不会在平缓的山坡上快速滑动。当雪在静止状态下的角度在35_45度之间，最可能发生人为触发的雪崩。人为引发雪崩的临界角度是38度，是最易人为引发雪崩的角度。常规经验是：一个平缓的足以堆积积雪，同时陡峭的适合人们滑雪的山坡，无论角度如何，都有可能产生雪崩。此外，雪崩的危险随着使用的增加而增加，换言之，滑雪者活动得越频繁，雪崩的可能性越大。

由于雪崩研究的复杂性，冬天在人烟稀少的地区旅行从来不是百分之百的安全。很好地躲避雪崩，保持安全是一个连续的过程，包括选择路线、检查积雪、了解天气状况及其他人为因素。以下几个广为人知的好习惯也可以降低风险：如果当地权威部门发布了雪崩警报，你应当予以考虑，加以注意。绝不要不加审度，就立刻接受他人意见。积雪自形成的那时就几乎注定要发生变化。认真观察地形，注意明显的雪崩路径：没有植物或植物被毁坏的地方。不要在那些可能引发雪崩的人或事物下面行走。

三.巨型建筑

挑选当今世界最神奇的奇观是一个不可能完成的任务。原因是每年都有新的更令人叹为观止的建筑出现。有这样三座巨大的建筑值得人们赞叹，尽管它们可能被某些最近建成的奇观所超越。

第一座：国油双峰塔。国油双峰塔在1999年建成时是世界上最高的建筑物，高452米，高高的双塔就像两支细铅笔，高耸于吉隆坡市。在41层，两个塔由一座桥连接，象征着通向城市的大门。该建筑的设计者是美国建筑师Cesar Pelli。

该建筑由高强度混凝土建成，每一层都有大约1800平方米的办公区域；在底部还有一个购物中心和一个音乐厅。该建筑的其他特色是双层电梯以及建材为玻璃和钢的遮阻阳篷。

第二座：米约高架桥。米约高架桥位于法国南部的Tarn山谷，2004年建成通车。它是当时世界上最高的大桥，最高点超过340米。该桥被人们描写为“世界上最神奇最美丽的大桥之一”。它是为舒缓米约的交通拥挤所建。当时的拥挤是由从巴黎到西班牙的巴塞罗那的过往车辆太多所致。该桥可以承受强震和极端气候。另外，它可以使用120年!

第三座：伊泰普水电站。伊泰普水电站是同类建筑中最大的一个。它由横跨巴拉那河的一组大坝组成，成为巴西和巴拉圭的自然边境。该建筑作为两个国家的共同开发项目，1975年动工修建，历时16年完工。该大坝因它的发电量和规模之大而闻名。1995年，它为巴拉圭和巴西分别提供了78%和25%的能源需求。该建筑使用的钢铁量是埃菲尔铁塔的300倍还多。该建筑令人叹为观止，名不虚传。

四.动物的“第六感”

2004年12月由印度洋海域地震引发的海啸造成亚洲和东非十几万人死亡。但野生动 物们似乎躲过了可怕的海啸的袭击。有专家表示，这进一步证实了动物对自然灾难有“第 六感”的观点。

斯里兰卡负责野生动物的官员表示，巨浪席卷印度洋海岛沿岸，淹死了两万四千多人， 但野生动物似乎都幸免于难，目前尚未发现一具动物的尸体。

斯里兰卡野生动物部门的副部长H·D，拉特纳亚克在海啸袭击过后一个月说道：“没有一头大象死亡，甚至没有一只野兔死亡。我认为动物能够感知灾难。它们有 ‘第六感’，它们知道灾难何时发生。”海洪冲向离

岸二英里远的亚拉国家公园，这里是斯里兰卡最大的野生动物保护区，生活着几百头野生大象和一些美洲豹，海啸引发的洪水使亚拉国家公园所 在的东南部地区变得一片狼藉。

“每当火山爆发或地震发生前，动物们的行为就会发生许多异常，比如犬吠或鸟类迁 徙，但这些现象尚未得到科学证明。”南非约翰内斯堡动物园的动物行为专家马修·范·利 罗普说。

他对路透社记者说：“目前还没有这方面的专门研究，因为你无法在实验室或实际环境 中进行真正的试验。”其他专家也同意这一看法。

野生动物似乎能够感知某些特殊现象，尤其是鸟类。很多报告显示鸟类能察觉即将来临的灾难。克莱夫·沃克这样说，他曾经写过数本关于非洲野生动物的书。

一些动物确实是依靠嗅觉或听觉等人类已知的官能来躲避危险的，比如食肉动物。

关于动物“第六感”(或者其他神秘力量)的说法已有很长时间，斯里兰卡被摧残的海滩可能会为这一说法再添一笔证据。

罗马人把猫头鹰视为迫近凶险的征兆，很多古代文明都将大象看做拥有特殊能力或象征的“圣兽”。

五.警报器救盲人

如果看不见，那你可能会因找不到路而逃不出一幢失火楼房，那将是致命的。英国利兹市的一家公司发明的一种可指方向的警报器可能会把你引向出口。

声音警报是一家由利兹大学设立的公司。该公司现在正在为位于萨莫塞特的一家盲人收容所和位于卡姆布雷亚的一家盲人资源中心安装此种装置。这种警报器发出的频率范围广，使人脑可以判断出声音的来源。

该公司的戴博拉·威星顿称此种警报器使用人类可以听到的大部分音频。她说：“它们是一种突出的频谱连续而均匀的噪音。人们感觉它们听上去就像是收音机发出的静电噪声，其在救人方面潜力巨大。”

她进行了一次试验。她让人们在一所充满浓烟的大屋子里设法找到出路，同时她用热效应成像摄像机进行拍摄。在没有警报器时，这些人用了近四分钟才找到门，而在警报器的指引下，只用了15秒。

她在大学里对人脑如何处理声音进行研究，并提出与波段窄的频率相比，人们更容易发现波段宽的音响源。基于此理论的警报器已被应用于急救车上。

这种警报器也容纳了音频的升降，以指示人们上、下楼。这种设备是得到英国核燃料组织的大笔资助才开发成功的。

六.远程制止偷车贼

超速驾驶在偷来的汽车里，偷车贼以为自己大获全胜。但是他马上就会又惊又恼。车上已经被装了远程制动装置，一个几英里以外的控制中心发来的无线信号将确保盗贼一旦启动引擎，他就不能再次发动汽车了。 目前，这种装置只用于卡车队或者用于建筑工地的特殊车辆上。但是远程制动技术很快就会逐步应用到普通汽车上。并且应该在两个月之内用在英国的普通汽车上。

计划是这样的。把一个集合有微型无绳电话，微量处理器，存储器以及全球定位系统的卫星接收器的控制合子安装在汽车上。如果汽车被盗，一个被编码的无绳电话信号就会告诉这个装置停止车辆引擎控制系统来阻止引擎再次被启动。

甚至还有一些人主张计划将制动装置装在运行着的车辆上，可是这一来人们就会担心这个系统的安全性。 在英国，一系列的技术装置已经让盗车贼步履维艰了。玛丁兰多来自位于贝克郡的一个由汽车保险工业投资成立的名为撒策姆的安全研究机构。他说：“车辆盗窃的手法已经有所改变。”他还声称只要是10年以上的汽车，他就能用几样的简单的工具有几分钟之内教会一个新手怎样的偷车。

现代车却远没有这么简单，因为它们的引擎管理计算机装置只有接收到一个独一无二的由点火钥匙发送过来的身份密份才可以启动汽车。自1997年以来，在英国，技术人员已经利用此项技术帮助减少了31%的涉及车辆犯罪案。

但是不死心的盗贼们却还在一直想方设法偷车。例如很多时候，他们在夜里盗走主人的汽车钥匙进而偷车。在2000年，英国21%的车辆被盗案是由于主人的钥匙被盗，这个数字比前一年增长了1倍。

远程控制的制动系统给盗贼设置了一个全新的障碍。包括撒策姆，公安部门，保险公司以及安全技术公司的这样一个群体已经为体系开发出了一个标准，将比顾客所预期的更早地被很快推广到市场上。

七.智能汽车

开车需要目光锐利，耳朵灵敏，反应敏捷和手脑间的协作。许多人类司机这些条件都具备，并可控制一辆急速行驶的汽车。但一辆智能车如何进行自控?

智能车中有一位虚拟驾驶员。这位司机同样有“眼”有“脑”有“手”有“脚”。车两侧的微型摄像头就是他的眼，负责观察车前方的路况。他们注意着车两侧的交通情况。车中也有高度自动化的驾驶系统。这就是内置的电脑，也就是虚拟司机的大脑。这个大脑计算出车近旁正在运动车辆的速度，并分析它们的位置。基于这些信息，它为智能车选择最佳路径，并给出指示以让手脚做出相应运动。通过这样的方式，虚拟司机就对车辆实行了控制。

虚拟司机的最大优点是什么?他的反应速度很快。微型摄像头不断向大脑发送图像数据。他完成图像处理的时间为100毫秒。然而，世界上最优秀的人类司机也至少需要1 秒钟的反应时间。当他作出行动时，又多需一秒。 虚拟司机的确很棒。在高速公路上，他可大大减少事故发生率。鉴于此，我们是否可以让他在任何时间任何地

avalanche and its safety篇三：完型填空

Captain Cook Arrow Legend

It was a great legend while it lasted, but DNA testing has finally ended a two-century-old story of the Hawaiian arrow carved from the bone of British explorer Captain James Cook who died in the Sandwich Islands1 in 1179.

“There is no Cook2 in the Australian Museum,” museum collection manager Jude Philip said not long ago in announcing the DNA evidence that the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone. But that will not stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in itsexhibition, “Uncovered: Treasures of the Australian Museum,3” which dose include a feather cape presented to Cook by Hawaiian King Kalani’opu’u in 1778.

Cook was one of Britain’s great explorers and is credited with discovering the “Great South Land,” now Australia, in 1770. He was clubbed to death in the Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii. The legend of Cook’s arrow began in 1824 when Hawaiian King Kamehamcha on his deathbed gave the arrow to William Adams, a London surgeon and relative of Cook’s wife, saying it was made of Cook’s bone after the fatal fight with islanders.

In the 1890s the arrow was given to the Australian Museum and the legend continued until it came face-to-face with science.

DNA testing by laboratories in Australia and New Zealand revealed the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone but was more likely made of animal bone, said Philp.

However, Cook’s fans refuse to give up hope that one Cook legend will prove true and that part of his remains will still be uncovered, as they say there is evidence not all of Cook’s body was buried at sea in 1779. “On this occasion technology has won,4” said Cliff Thornton, president of the Captain Cook Society，in a statement from Britain. “But I am sure that one of these days „ one of the Cook legends will prove to be true and it will happen one day.”

Avalanche and Its Safety

An avalanche is a sudden and rapid flow of snow, often mixed with air and water, down a mountainside. Avalanches are among the biggest dangers in the mountains for both life and property.

All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack, that is too massive and unstable for the slope that supports it. Determining the critical load, the amount of over-burden which is likely cause an avalanche, is acomplex task involving the evaluation of a number of factors.

Terrain slopes flatter than25degrees or steeper than60degrees typically have a low risk of avalanche. Snow does not gather significantly on steep slopes; also, snow does not flow easily on flat slopes. Human-triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow’s angle of rest1 is between 35 and45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which the human incidence of avalanches is greatest, is38degrees. The rule of thumb2 is: A slope that is flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. Additionally3, avalanche risk increases with use ;that is, the more a slope is disturbed by skiers, die more lijkely it is that an avalanche will occur.

Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry4 is never 100% safe. Good avalanche safety is a continuous process ,, including route selection and examination of the snowpack, weather conditions and human factors. Several well-known good habits can also_ reduce the risk. If local authorities issue avalanche risk reports, they should be considered and all warnings should be paid attention to. Never follow in the tracks of others without your own evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and note obvious avalanche paths where plants are missing or damaged. Avoid traveling below others who might trigger an avalanche.

Giant Structures

It is an impossible task to select the most amazing wonders of the modem world since every year more wonderful constructions appear. Here are three giant structures which are worthy of our admintreation although they may have been surpassed by some more recent wonders. The Petronas Twin Towers

The Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world when they were completed in 1999. With a height of 452 metres, the tall twin towers, like two thin pencils, dominate the city of Kuala Lumpur. At the 41st floor, the towers are linked by a bridge, symbolizing a gateway to the city. The American architect Cesar Pelli designed the skyscrapers.

Constructed of high-strength concrete, the building provides around 1，800 square metres of office space on every floor. And it has a shopping centre and a concert hall at the base. Other features of this impressive building include double-decker lifts, and glass and steel sunshades. The MiUau Bridge

The Millau Bridge was opened in 2004 in the Tam Valley，in southern France. At the time it was built，it was the world’s highest bridge, reaching over 340m at the highest point. The bridge is described as one of the most amazingly beautiful bridges in the worl D. It was built to relive Millau's congestion problems. The congestion was then caused by traffic passing from Paris to Barcelona in Spain. The bridge was built to withstand the most extreme seismic and climatic conditions. Besides, it is guaranteed for 120 years!

The Itaipu Dam

The Itaipu hydroelectric power plant is one of the largest constructions of its kind in the worl D. It consists of a series of dams across the River Parana, which forms a natural border between Brazil and Paraguay. Started in 1975 and taking 16 years to complete, the construction was carried out as a joint project between the two countries. The dam is well-known for both its electricity output and its size. In 1995 it produced 78% of Paraguay’s and 25% of Brazil’s energy needs. In its construction, the amount of iron and steel used was equivalent to over 300 Eiffel Towers. It is a truly amazing wonder of engineering.

Animal’s “Sixth Sense”

A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean in December, 2004. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. Wild animals however , seem to have escaped that terrible tsunami. This phenomenon adds weight to notions that1 they possess a “sixth sense”

for disasters , experts said.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island’s coast clearly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.

“No elephants are dead, not even a dead rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening,” H. D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Department, said about one month after the tsunami attack. The waves washed floodwaters up to 2 miles inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka’s biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards.

“There has been a lot of oapparent evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven,” said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behavior specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.

“There have been no specific studies because you can’t really test it in a lab or field setting2，” he told Reuters. Other authorities concurred with this assessment

“Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon especially birds ... there are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters/’ said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.

Animals certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.

The notion of an animal “sixth sense” — or some other mythical power — is an enduring one3 which the evidence on Sri Larika’s ravaged coast is likely to add to.

The Romans saw owls as omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes.

Singing Alarms Could Save The Blind

If you cannot see, you may not be able to find your way out of a burning building - and that could be fatal. A company in Leeds could change all that with directional sound alarms capable of guiding you to the exit.

Sound Alert, a company run by the University of Leeds, is installing the alarms in a residential home for blind people in Sommerset and a resource centre for the blind in Cumbria. The alarms produce a wide range of frequencies that enable the brain to determine where the sound is coming from.

Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarms use most of the frequencies that can be heard by humans. "It is burst of white noise that people say sounds like static on the radio." she says. "Its life-saving potential is great."

She conducted an experiment in which people were filmed by thermal-imaging cameras trying to find their way out of a large smoke-filled room. It took them nearly four minutes to find the door without a sound alarm, but only 15 seconds with one.

Withington studies how the brain processes sounds at the university. She says that the source of a wide band of frequencies can be pinpointed more easily than the source of a narrow band. Alarms based on the same concept have already been installed on emergency vehicles.

The alarms will also include rising or falling frequencies to indicate whether people should go up or down stairs. They were developed with the aid of a large grant from British Nuclear Fuels.

Car Thieves could Be Stopped Remotely

Speeding off ina stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in a nasty surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine off, he will not be able to start it again.

For now, such devices are only available for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars, and are be available to ordinary cars in the UK in two months.

The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car incorporates a miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellitepositioning receiver. If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle's engine management system and prevent the engine being restarted.

There are even plans for immobilizers that shut down vehicles on the move, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system.

In the UK. An array of technical fixes is already making life harder for car thieves. "The pattern of vehicles crime has changed," says Martyn Randall of Thatcham, a security research organization based in Berkshire that is funded in part by the motor insurance industry.

He says it would only take him a few minutes to teach a novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.

Modern cars are a far tougher proposition, as their engine management computer will not allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this have helped achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997. But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner's keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken using the owner's keys double the previous year's figure.

Remote-controlled immobilization system would put a major new obstacle in the criminal's way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes That cham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could go on the market sooner than the customer

An Intelligent Car

Driving needs sharp eyes, keen ears, quick brain, and coordination between hands and the brain. Many human drivers have all these and can control a fast-moving car. But how does an intelligent car control itself?

There is a virtual driver in the smart car. This virtual driver has “eyes,”“brains”，“hands” and “feet”，too. The minicameras on each side of the car are his “eyes,” which observe the road and conditions ahead of it. They watch the traffic to the car’s left and right. There is also a highly automatic driving system in the car. It is the built-in computer, which is the virtual driver’s “brain. ” His “brain” calculates the speeds of other moving cars near it and analyzes their positions. Basing on this information, it chooses the right path for the intelligent cars, and gives instructions to the “hands”and “feets”to act accordingly. In this way, the virtual driver controls his car.

What is the virtual driver’s best advantage? He reacts quickly. The mini-cameras are sending images continuously to the “brain”. It completes the processing of the images within 100 milliseconds. However, the world’s best drier at least needs one second to react. Besides, when he takes action, he needs one more second.

The virtual driver is really wonderful. He can reduce the accident rate considerably on expressway. In this case. Can we let him have the wheel at any time and in any place? Experts warn that we cannot do that just yet. His ability to recognize things is still limited. He can now only drive an intelligent car on expressways.

hy India Needs Its Dying Vultures

The vultures in question may look ugly and threatening,but the sudden sharp decline in three species of India's vultures is producing alarm rather than celebration,and it presents the world with a new kind of environmental problem The dramatic decline in vulture numbers is causing widespread disruption to people living in the same areas as the birds .It is also causing serious public health problems across the Indian sub-continent.

While their reputation and appearance may be unpleasant to many Indians，vultures have long played a very important role in keeping towns and villages all over India clean.It is because they feed on dead cows.In India,cows are sacred animals and are traditionally left in the open when they die in their thousands upon thousands every year.

The disappearance of the vultures has led to an explosion in the numbers of wild dogs feeding on the remains of these dead animals.There are fears that rabies may increase as a result.And this terrifying disease may ultimately affect humans in the region,since wild dogs are its main carriers.Rabies could also spread to other animal species,causing an even greater problem in the future.

The need for action is urgent ,so an emergency project has been launched to find a solution to this serious vulture problem.Scientists are trying to identify the disease causing the birds，deaths and,if possible,develop a cure.

Large-scale vulture deaths were first noticed at the end of the 1980s in India.A population survey at that time showed that the three species of vultures had declined by over 90 per cent.All three species are now listed as "critically endangered".As most vultures lay only single eggs and take about five years to reach maturity,reversing their population decline will be a long and difficult exercise.

Wonder Webs

Spider webs are more than homes,and they are ingenious traps.And the world's best web spinner may be the Goldern Orb Weaver spider.The female Orb Weaver spins a web of fibers thin enough to be invisible to insect prey,yet tough enough to snare a flying bird without breaking.

The secret of the web's strength?A type of super-resilient silk called dragline.When the female spider is ready to weave the web's spokes and frame,she uses her legs to draw the airy thread out through a hollow nozzle in her belly.Dragline is not sticky,so the spider can race back and forth along it to spin the web's trademark spiral.

Unlike some spiders that weave a new web every day,a Goldern Orb Weaver reuses her handiwork until it falls apart,sometimes not for two years.The silky thread is five times stronger than steel by weight and absorbs the force of an impact three times better than Kevlar,a high-strength human-made material used in bullet-proof vests.And thanks to its high tensile strength,or the ability to resist breaking under the pulling force called tension,a single strand can stretch up to 40 percent longer than its original length and snap back as well as well as new.No human-made fiber even comes close.

avalanche and its safety篇四：英语完形填空

（一）Captain Cook Arrow Legend(库克船长弓箭的传说)It was a great legend while it lasted, but DNA testing has finally ended a two-century-old story of the Hawaiian arrow carved from the bone of British explorer Captain James Cook who died in the Sandwich Islands in 1779.“There is no Cook in the Australian Museum,” museum collection manager Jude Philip said not long ago in announcing the DNA evidence that the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone. But that will not stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in its exhibition, “Uncovered: Treasures of the Australian Museum,” which does include a feather cape presented to Cook by Hawaiian King Kalani’opu’u in 1778.Cook was one of Britain’s great explorers and is credited with discovering the “Great South Land,” now Australia, in 1770. He was clubbed to death in the Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii.The legend of Cook’s arrow began in 1824 when Hawaiian King Kamehameha on his deathbed gave the arrow to William Adams, a London surgeon and relative of Cook’s wife, saying it was made of Cook’s bone after the fatal fight with islanders.In the 1890s the arrow was given to the Australian Museum and the legend continued until it came face-to-face with science.DNA testing by laboratories in Australia and New Zealand revealed the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone but was more likely made of animal bone, said Philp.However, Cook’s fans refuse to give up hope that one Cook legend will prove true and that part of his remains will still be uncovered, as they say there is evidence not all of Cook’s body was buried at sea in 1779. “On this occasion technology has won,” said Cliff Thornton, president of the Captain Cook Society, in a statement from Britain. “But I am sure that one of these days …one of the Cook legends will prove to be true and it will happen one day.”（二）Avalanche and Its Safety(雪崩和安全问题)An avalanche is a sudden and rapid flow of snow, often mixed with air and water, down a mountainside. Avalanches are among the biggest dangers in the mountains for both life and property.All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack, that is too massive and unstable for the slope that supports it. Determining the critical load, the amount of over-burden which is likely to cause an avalanche, is a complex task involving the evaluation of a numberof factors.Terrain slopes flatter than 25 degrees or steeper than 60 degrees typically have a low risk of avalanche. Snow does not gather significantly on steep slopes; also, snow does not flow easily on flat slopes. Human-triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow’s angle of rest is between 35 and 45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which the human incidence of avalanches is greatest, is 38 degrees. The rule of thumb is : A slope that is flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the poten

tial to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. Additionally, avalanche risk increases with use; that is , the more a slope is disturbed by skiers, the more likely it is that an avalanche will occur.Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry is never 100% safe. Good avalanche safety is a continuous process, including route selection and examination of the snowpack, weather conditions, and human factors. Several well-known good habits can also reduce the risk. If local authorities issue avalanche risk reports, they should be considered and all warnings should be paid attention to. Never follow in the tracks of others without your own evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and note obvious avalanche paths where plants are missing or damaged. Avoid traveling below others who might trigger an avalanche.（三）What Is the Coolest Gas in the Universe?(宇宙中哪种气体温度最低?)What is the coldest air temperature ever recorded on the Earth? Where was this low temperature recorded? The coldest recorded temperature on Earth was -91℃, which occurred in Antarctica in 1983.We encounter an interesting situation when we discuss temperatures in space. Temperatures in Earth orbit actually range from about +120℃to -120℃. The temperature depends upon whether you are in direct sunlight or shade. Obviously, -120℃ is colder than our body can safely endure. Thank NASA science for well-designed space suits that protect astronauts from these temperature extremes.The space temperatures just discussed affect only our area os the solar system . Obviously, it is hotter closer to the Sun and colder as we travel away from the Sun. Astronomers estimate temperatures at Pluto are about -210℃. How cold is the lowest estimated temperature in the entire universe? Again, it depends upon your location. We are taught it is supposedly impossible to have a temperature below absolute zero, which is -273℃, at which atoms do not move. Two scientists, whose names are Cornell and Wieman, have successfully cooled down a gas to a temperature barely above absolute zero. They won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 for their work – not a doscovery, in this case.Why is the two scientists’ work so important to science?In the 1920s, Satyendra Nath Bose was studying an interesting theory about special light particles we now call photons. Bose had trouble convincing other scientists to believe his theory, So he contacted Albert Einstein. Einstein’s calculations helped him theorize that atoms would behave as Bose thought—but only at very cold temperatures.Scientists have also discovered that ultra-cold atoms can help them make the world’s atomic clocks even more accurate. These clocks are so accurate today they would only lose one second every six million years! Such accuracy will help us travel in space because distance is velocity times ti

me(d=v*t). With the long distances involved in space travel, we need to know time as accurately as possible to get accurate distance.（四）Animal’s “Sixth Sense”(动物的“第六感”)A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean in December, 2004. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. Wild animals, however, seem to have escaped that terrible tsunami. This phenomenon adds weight to notions that they possess a “sixth sense” for disasters, experts said.Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24000 people along the Indian Ocean island’s coast clearly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.“No elephants are dead, not even a dead rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening,” H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Department, said about one month after the tsunami attack. The waves washed floodwaters up to 2 miles inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka’s biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards.“There has been a lot of apparent evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven,” said Matthew van lierop, an animal behavior specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.“There have been no specific studies because you can’t really test it in a lab or field setting,” he told Reuters. Other authorities concurred with this assessment.“Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon, especially birds… there are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters,” said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.Animals certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.The notion of an animal “sixth sense” – or some other mythical power – is an enduring one which the evidence on Sri Lanka’s ravaged coast is likely to add to.The Romans saw owls as omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes.（五）Singing Alarms Could Save the Blind(警报器救盲人)If you cannot see, you may not be able to find your way out of a burning building – and that could be fatal. A company in Leeds could change all that with directional sound alarms capalbe of guiding you to the exit.Sound Alert, a company run by the University of Leeds, is installing the alarms in a residential home for blind people in Sommerset and a resource centre for the blind in Cumbria. The alarms produce a wide range of frequencies that enable the brain to determine where the sound is coming from.Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarms use most of the frequencies that can be heard by humans. “It is a burst of white noise that people say sounds like static on the radi

o,” she says. “Its life-saving potential is great.”She conducted an experiment in which people were filmed by thermal-imaging cameras trying to find their way out of a large smoke-filled room. It took them nearly four minutes to find the door without a sound alarm, but only 15 seconds with one.Withington studies how the brain processes sounds at the university. She says that the source of a wide band of frequencies can be pinpointed more easily than the source of a narrow band. Alarms based on the same concept have already been installed on emergency vehicles.The alarms will also include rising or falling frequencies to indicate whether people should go up or down stairs. They were developed with the aid of a large grant from British Nuclear Fuels.（六）Car Thieves Could Be Stopped Remotely(远程制止偷车贼)Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in a nasty surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine off, he will not be able to start it again.For now, such devices are only available for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars, and should be available to ordinary cars in the UK in two months.The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car incorporates a miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning receiver. If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine being restarted.There are even plans for immobilizers that shut down vehicles on the move, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system.In the UK, an array of technical fixes is already making life harder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicles crime has changed,” says Martyn Rand all of Thatcham, a security research organization based in Berkshire that is funded in part by the motor insurance industry.He says it would only take him a few minutes to teach a novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.Modern cars are a far tougher proposition, as their engine management computer will not allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this have helped achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997.But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken by using the owner’s keys, which doubles the previous year’s figure.Remote-controlled immobilization system would put a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by mak

ing such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could go on the market sooner than the customer expects.（七）An Intelligent Car(智能汽车)Driving needs sharp eyes, keen ears, quick brain, and coordination between hands and the brain. Many human drivers have all these and can control a fast-moving car. But how does an intelligent car control itself?There is a virtual driver in the smart car. This virtual driver has “eyes”, “brains”, “hands” and “feet”, too. The minicameras on each side of the car are his “eyes”, which observe the road conditions ahead of it. They watch the traffic to the car’s left and right. There is also a highly automatic driving system in the car. It is the built-in computer, which is the virtual driver’s “brain”. His “brain” calculates the speeds of other moving cars near it and analyzes their positions. Basing on this information, it chooses the right path for the intelligent car, and gives instructions to the “hands” and “feet” to act accordingly. In this way, the virtual driver controls his car.What is the virtual driver’s best advantage? He reacts quickly. The minicameras are sending images continuously to the “brain.” It completes the processing of the images within 100 milliseconds. However, the world’s best driver at least needs one second to react. Besides, when he takes action, he needs one more second.The virtual driver is really wonderful. He can reduce the accident rate considerably on expressways. In this case, can we let him have the wheel at any time and in amy place? Experts warn that we cannot do that just yet. His ability to recognize things is still limited . He can now only drive an intelligent car on expressways.（八）A Biological Clock(生物钟)Every living thing has what scientists call a biological clock that controls behavior. The biological clock tells plants when to form flowers and when the flowers should open. It tells insects when to leave the protective cocoons and fly away, and it tells animals and human beings when to eat, sleep and wake.Events outside the plant and animal affect the actions of some biological clocks. Scientists recently found, for example, that a tiny animal changes the color of its fur because of the number of hours of daylight. In the short days of winter, its fur becomes white. The fur becomes gray brown in color in the longer hours of daylight in summer.Inner signals control other biological clocks. German scientists found that some kind of internal clock seems to order birds to begin their long migration flight twice each year. Birds prevented from flying become restless when it is time for the trip, but they become calm again when the time of the flight has ended.Scientists say they are beginning to learn which parts of the brain contain biological cloc

avalanche and its safety篇五：2013年职称英语完形填空(理工类)

第一篇 Captain Cook Arrow Legend

It was a great legend while it lasted, but DNA testing has itish ich Islands in 1179. 2

“There is no Cook in the Australian Museum,” museum collection manager Jude Philip said not long ago in announcing the DNA evidence that the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone. But that will not stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in its , “Uncovered: Treasures of the 3

Australian Museum,” whichinclude a feather cape presented to Cook by Hawaiian King Kalani’opu’u in 1778.

Cook was one of Britain’s great explorers and is credited with the “Great South Land,” Australia, in 1770. He was clubbed to death in the Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii.

The legend of Cook’s arrow began in 1824 relative of Cook’s wife, saying it was made of Cook’s bone after the fatal

In the 1890s the arrow was given to the Australian Museum and the legend continued ith science.

DNA testing by laboratories in Australia and New Zealand revealed the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone but was more Philp.

ill prove true and that part of his remains will still be uncovered, as they say there is 4

evidence not all of Cook’s body was at sea in 1779. “On this occasion technology has won,” said Cliff Thornton, president of the Captain Cook Society，in a

Britain. “But I am sure that one of these days … one of the Cook legends will prove to be true and it will happen one day.”

第二篇 Avalanche and Its Safety

An avalanche is a sudden and rapid flow of snow, often mixed with air and water, down a mountainside. Avalanches are among the biggest dangers in the mountains for both life and property.

All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack, that is too massive and unstable for the slopeetermining the critical load, the amount of over-burden which is likely an avalanche, is a complex task involving the evaluation of a number of factors. 1 iggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow's angle of rest2 45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which the human incidence of avalanches is greatest, is 38 degrees. The rule of thumbis: A slope that is flat 3

enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. Additionally, avalanche risk increases with ill occur. 4Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry is never 100% safe. Good avalanche safety is a continuous process , including route selection and examination to the snowpack, weatherever follow in the tracks of others without your own evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and note obvious avalanche paths

第三篇 Germs on Banknotes

People in different countries use different types yuan in China, pesos in Mexico, pounds in the United Kingdom, dollars in the United States, ies, and probably all countries, still have one thing in common1: Germs on the banknotes.

Scientists have been studying the germs on money for well over2 100 years. At the turn of the 20th living on money could spread disease.

Most studies of germy money have looked at the germs on the one country. In a new study, Frank Vriesekoop3 and other researchers Vriesekoop3 is a microbiologist at the University of Ballarat in Australia4. He led the study, wfrom 10 nations. The scientists studied 1,280 banknotes in total; all came from places where people buy food, like supermarkets street vendors and cafes, because those businesses often rely on cash.

Overall, the Australian dollars hosted the fewest live bacteria ---- no more than 10 per square centimeter. Chinese yuan had the most ---- about 100 per square centimeter. Most of the germs on money probably would not cause harm.

What we call “paper” money usually isn't made from paper. The U. S. dollar, for example, is printed on fabric that is mostly cotton.Different countries may int their money. Some of the currencies studied by Vrican dollar were made from cotton. Others were made from polymers.

The three currencies with the lowest numbers of bacteria were all printed on polymers. They included the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar and some Mexican pesos. harder time staying alive on polymer surfaces. Scientists need to do more studies to understand how germs live on money-----and whether or not we need to Whatever Vriesekoop finds, the fact remains: Paper money harbors germs We should wash our 15 after touching it; after alle your money 's been. Or what's living on it

第四篇 Animal’s “Sixth Sense”

A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean in December, 2004. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. Wild 1

they possess a “sixth sense” for experts said.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island’s coast no dead animals found.

“No elephants arc dead, not Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Department, said about one month after the tsunami attack. The inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka’s biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. “There has been a lot of ons or earthquakes. But it has not been proven,” at Johannesburg Zoo. “There have been nostudies because you can’t really test it in a lab 2

or field setting,” he told Reuters. Other authorities concurred with this assessment . “Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon , especially birds … there are many reports of birds

detecting impending disasters,” said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife. Animals 3

smell or hearing to avoid danger slid as predators. The notion of an animal “sixth sense” — or some other mythical power is an enduring one which the

第五篇 Singing Alarms Could Save the Blind 12 If you cannot see, you may not be able to find your way out of a burning building — and that could be fatal. A company in Leeds could change all thatdirectional sound alarms capable of guiding you to the exit.

Sound Alert, a company run by the University of Leeds, is installing the alarms in a residential home for blind people in Sommerset and a resource centre for the blind in C

Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarms use most of the frequencies that can behite noise say sounds like static on the radio,” she says. “Its life-saving potential is great.” 3She conducted an experiment in which people were filmed by thermal-imaging cameras trying to find their way out ofthem nearm, but only 15 seconds with one.

The alarms will also include rising or falling frequencies to indicate whether people should go up stairs. They wwith the aid of a large grant from British Nuclear Fuels.

第六篇 Car Thieves Could Be Stopped Remotely 123

Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in a nasty surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine 4

For now, such devices and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could 5

soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars, and should be available to ordinary cars in the UK in two months. 67

The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car incorporates miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPSsatellite positioning receiver. car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine restarted. 8

There are even plans for immobilizers, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system. 9In the UK, an array of technical fixes is already makingharder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicles crime has changed.” says Martyn Randall of 11

Thatcham, a security research organization based in Berkshirethat is funded in part by the motor insurance industry. 12

He says it would only take him a few minutes to . But only if the car is more than 10 years old. 13

Modern cars are a far tougher proposition, as their engine management computer will not allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code 14 15

beamed outby the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997.

But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken by using the owner’s keys, which doubles the previous year’s figure.

Remote-controlled immobilization system would a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could go on the market sooner than the customer expects.

第七篇 An Intelligent Car

Driving needs sharp eyes, keen ears, quick brain, and coordination between hands and the brain. Many human drivers have all and can control a fast-moving car. But how does an intelligent car control itself?

11

There is a virtual driver in the smart car. This virtual driverhas “eyes,” “brains,” “hands” and “feet,” too. The minicameras “eyes,” which observe the road conditions ahead of it. They watch the traffic to the car’s left and right. There is also a highly automatic driving system in the car. It is the built-in computer, which is the virtual driver’s “brain.” His “brain” calculates the speeds of2

positions. Basing on this information, it chooses the rightto the “hands” and “feet” to act accordingly. In this way, the virtual driver controls his car. 3

What is the virtual driver’s best advantage? He reacts mages continuously to the “brain.” It processing of the images within 100 milliseconds. However, the world’s best driver needs one more second. 4

The virtual driver is really wonderful. He can reduce the accident at any 5 just yet. His ability to recognize things is still e can now only drive an intelligent car on expressways.

第八篇 A Biological Clock

Every living thing has what scientists call a biological clock that controls behavior. The biological clock tells plants 1

when to form flowers and when the flowers should open. It tells

fly away, and it tells animals and human beings when to eat, sleep and wake.

Events outside the plant and animal affect the actions of some biological clocks. Scientists recently found, for example, that a tiny animal changes the color of its fur hours of daylight in summer.

Inner signals control other biological clocks. German scientists found that some kind of internal clock seems to order birds to begin their long migration twice each year.

Birds

Scientists say they are beginning to learn which part of the brain contain biological clocks. An American researcher, Martin Moorhead, said a small group of cells near the front of the brain seek food. Scientists say there probably are other biological clock cells that control other body activities. 2

Dr. Moorhead is studying how our biological clocks affect the way we do our work. For example, most of us have great difficulty if we must often change to different work hours. 3

many days for a human body to accept the major change in work hours. Dr. Moorhead said industrial officials should have a better

understanding of biological clocks and how they affect workers. He said such understanding could cut sickness and accidents at work and would help increase a factory’s production.

第九篇 Wonder Webs

Spider webs are more than homes, and they are ingenious traps. And the world’s best web spinner may be the Golden Orb Weaver spider. The female Orb Weaver spins a web of fibers thin enough to be invisible to insect prey, yeteaking.

The secret of the web’s strength? A type of super-resilient silk called dragline. When the female spider is ready to weave the web’s spokes and frame, she uses her legs to draw the airy thread out through a hollow nozzle in her belly. Dragline is not sticky, so the spider can race back and forth along web’s trademark spiral. 1

Unlike some spiders that weave a new web every day, a Golden Orb Weaver reuses her handiwork until it falls apart, sometimes not for two years. The silky thread is five times stronger than steel by weight and absorbs the force of an impact three times better than Kevlar, a high-strength human-made vests. And thanks to its high tensile strength, or the ability to resist breaking under the pulling force called tension, a single strand can stretch up to 40 percent longer than its original 2ing for spider silk. In the consumer pipeline: high-performance fabrics for athletes and stockings that never run. Think parachute cords and suspension bridge cables. A steady spider silk would be worth billions of dollars — but how to produce it？ Harvesting silk on spider farms does not ial arthropods have a tendency to devour their neighhors.

Now, scientists at the biotechnology company Nexia are spinning artificial silk modeled after Golden Orb dragline. The from the spiders. Next, implant the genes into goat egg cells. The nanny goats that grow from the eggs secrete dragline silk proteins in their . “The young goats pass on the silk-making gene without help from us,” says Nexia president Jeffry Turner. Nexia is still perfecting the

spinning process, but they hope artificial spider silk will soon be snagging customers as fast as the real thing snags

第十篇 Chicken Soup for the Soul：Comfort Food Fights Loneliness

Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, may be bad for your arteries． but according to a study in Psychological Science, they’re good for your heart ．The study focuses on “comfort food” and how it makes people feel．

"For mead author on the study．The study came out of the research program of his co—author Shira Gabriel．It has looked at non-human things that may affect human emotions．Some people reduce loneliness by bonding with show, building virtual relationships with a pop song singer or looking at pictures of loved ones．Troisi and Gabriel wondered if comfort food could have the same effect think of their nearest and dearest. In one experiment, in order to make participants feel lonely, the researchers had them write for six minutes about a fight with someone close to them．Others were given an emotionally neutral writing assignment. Then, some people in each wrote about the experience of eating a comfort food and others wrote about eating a new food．questions about their levels of loneliness．

Writing about a fight with a close person made people feel lonely．But people who were generally by writing about a comfort food．"We have found that comfort foods are consistently associated with those close to us．"says Troisi．"Thinking about or consuming these foods later then serves as a reminder of those close others．"In their essays on comfort food, many people wrote about the of eating food with family and friends. In another experchicken soup in the lab made people think more about relationships, but only if they considered chicken soup to be a comfort food．This was a question they had been asked long before the experiment, along with many other questions, so they wouldn’t remember it. Throughout everyone’s daily lives they experience stress, often associated with ．"Comfort food Can be an easy remedy for loneliness．

*第十一篇 Climate Change Poses Major Risks for Unprepared Cities

A new examination of urban policies has been recently by Patricia Romero Lankao．She is a sociologist specializing in climate change and ．She warns that many of the world’s fast-growing urban areas，especially in developing countries．will likely suffer from the impacts of changing climate．Her work also concludes that most cities are failing to emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse ．These gases are known to affect the atmosphere．”Climate change is a deeply local issue and poses profound threats to the growing cities of the world,” says Romero Lankao. ”But too few cities are developing effective strategies to their residents."

Cities are sources of greenhouse gases．And urban populations are likely to be among those most severely affected by future climate change. Lankao’s findings highlight ways in which city-residents are particularly vulnerable, and suggest policy interventions that could offer immediate and longer-term ．

The locations and dense construction patterns of cities often place their populations at greater risk for natural disasters. Potential associated with climate include storm surges and prolonged hot weather. Storm surges can flood coastal areas and prolonged hot weather can heat heavily paved cities more than surrounding areas．The impacts of such natural events can be more serious in an urban environment．For example，a prolonged heat wave can increase existing levels of air pollution，causing widespread health problems．Poorer neighborhoods that may basic facilities such as drinking water or a dependable network of roads，are especially vulnerable to natural disasters．Many residents in poorer countries live in substandard

housing access to reliable drinking water，roads and basic services.

Local governments, ,should take measures to protect their residents.”Unfortunately，they tend to move towards rhetoric than meaningful responses, Romero Lankao writes, ” They don’t impose construction standards that could reduce heating and air conditioning needs. They don't emphasize mass transit and reduce —off approach.” Thus, she urges them to change their policies and to take strong steps to prevent the harmful effects of climate change on cities.

第十二篇 Free Statins With Fast Food Could Neutralize Heart Risk

Fast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of so that customers can reduce the heart disease dangers of fatty food, researchers at Imperial College London suggest in a new

study．

Statins reduce the of unhealthy ”LDL” cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a person’s heart attack .

In a paper published in the American Journal of Cardiology，Dr Darrel Francis and colleagues calculate that the reduction in heart attack risk offered by a statin is a cheeseburger and drinking a milkshake．

Dr Francis，from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London，who is the senior author of the study, said:”Statins don’t cut out a11 of the unhealthy effects of cheeseburgers and French fries．It’s better to avoid fatty food altogether．But we’ve worked out that in terms of

your of having a heart attack. Taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or less the same as a fast food meal increases it.” “It’s ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthv condiments in fast food outlets as they , but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed. It makes sense to make risk-reducing statins available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge．It would cost less than 5 pence per 一not much different to a sachet of sugar.” Dr Francis said．

When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or smoking, they’re encouraged to take that lower their rchoosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal．

第十三篇 Solar Power without Solar Cells

1A dramatic and surprising magnetic effect of light discovered by University of Michigan researchers could lead to solar power without traditional

semiconductor-based solar cells.

The researchers found a way to make an "optical battery," said Stephen Rand, a professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Physics and Applied Physics.

Light has electric and magnetic components. Until now, scientists thought the What Rand and his colleagues found is that at the right intensity, when light is traveling through a material that does not conduct electricity, the light field can generate magnetic effects that are 100 million times stronger than expected. circumstances, the magnetic effects develop strength equivalent to a strong electric effect.

"This could lead to a new kind of solar cell without semiconductors and without absorption to produce charge separation," Rand said. "In solar cells, the eates heat. Here, we expect to have a very low heat load2. Instead of the light being absorbed, energy is stored in the magnetic moment3. Intense magnetization can be induced by intense light and then it is ultimately capable of providing a capacitive power ."What makes this possible is a previously undetected brand of "optical rectification4," says William Fisher, a doctoral student5 in applied physics. In 6traditional optical rectification, light's electric field causes a charge separation, or a pulling of the positive and negative charges in a material. This sets up a voltage, similar to in a battery.

Rand and Fisher found that under the right circumstances and in right types of materials, the light's magnetic field can also create optical rectification. 7The light must be shone through a material that does not conduct electricity, such as glass. And it must be focused to an intensity of 10 million watts per square centimeter8. Sunlight isn't this intense on its own, but new materials are being sought that would work at lower intensities, Fisher said.

"In our most recent paper, we show that incoherent light9 like sunlight is theoretically almost as. is," Fisher said.

This new could make solar power cheaper, the researchers say. They predict that with improved materials they could achieve 10 percent efficiency in -grade solar cells.

"To manufacture modern solar cells, you have to do extensive semiconductor processing," Fisher said. "All we would need are lenses to focus the light and a fiber to guide it. Glass works for 10, and it doesn't require as much processing. Transparent ceramics might be even better."

第十四篇 Sharks Perform a Service for Earth’s Waters（A级） 12

It is hard to get people to think of sharks as anything but a deadly enemy. They are thought to frequently. But these fishperform a 3

valuable service for earth's waters and for human beings. Yet business and sport fishing are threatening their existence Some sharks are at risk of disappearing from Warm weather may influence both fish and shark activity. Many fish swim near coastal areas the fish into the same areas, where people also swim. In fact, most sharks do not purposely charge at or bite humans. They are thought to mistake a person a sea animal, such as a seal or sea lion. That is why people should not swim in the ocean when the sun goes down or comes up. Those are the 4

A shark has an extremely good sense of smell. It can find small amounts of substances in water, such as blood, body liquids and chemicals produced by animals. These powerful

Medical researchers want to learn more about the shark’s body defense, and immune against disease. Researchers know that sharks quickly from injuries. They study the shark in hopes of finding a way to fight human disease.

Sharks are important for the world’sdiseased fish. Their hunting activities mean that the numbers of other fish in ocean waters do not become too . This protects the plants and other forms of life that exist in the oceans.

第十五篇 “Liquefaction” Key to Much of Japanese Earthquake Damage

The massive subduction zone1 earthquake in Japan caused a significant level of soil

"liquefaction"2 that has surprised researchers with its widespread severity, a new analysis shows.

"We've seen localized3 examples of soil liquefaction as extreme as this before, but the distance and of damage in Japan were unusually severe," said Scott Ashford, a professor of geotechnical engineering4 at Oregon State University5. "Entire structures were tilted and sinking into the sediments," Ashford said. "The shifts in soil destroyed water, drain and gas pipelines6, crippling the utilities and infrastructure these communities need to 7Some degree of soil liquefaction is common in almost any major earthquake. It's a phenomenon in which soils soaked with water, particularly recent sediments or sand, can lose much of their strength and flow during an earthquake. This can allow structures to shift or sink or collapse .

But most earthquakes are much shorter than the recent event in Japan, Ashford said. The length of the Japanese earthquake, as much as five 8minutes, may force researchers to reconsider the extent of liquefaction damage possibly occurring in situations such as this.

"With such a long-lasting earthquake, we saw how structures that might have been okay after 30 seconds just continued to sink and tilt as the shaking continued for several more minutes," he said. "And it was clear that younger sediments, and especially areas built on recently filled ground, are much more vulnerable."

The data provided by analyzing the Japanese earthquake, researchers said, should make it possible to improve the understanding of this soil phenomenon and better prepare for it in the future. Ashford said it was critical for the team to collect the information quickly, before damage was removed in the recovery efforts9.

"There's no doubt that we'll learn things from what happened in Japan10 that11 will help us to reduce risks in other similar Ashford said. "Future construction in some places may make more use of techniques known to reduce liquefaction, such as better compaction to make soils dense, or use of reinforcing stone columns."

Ashford pointed out that northern California have younger soils vulnerable to liquefaction ---on the coast, near river deposits or in areas with filled ground. The "young" sediments, in geologic terms, may be those deposited within the past 10,000 years or more. In Oregon, for instance, that describes much of downtown Portland, the Portland International Airport and other cities.

Anything 12, and the Oregon Department of Transportation has already concluded that 1,100 bridges in the state are at risk from an earthquake. Fewer than 15 percent of them have been reinforced to prevent collapse. Japan has suffered tremendous losses in the March 11 earthquake, but Japanese helped prevent many buildings from collapse ---even as they tilted and sank into the ground.

avalanche and its safety篇六：完形填空

★第一篇Captain Cook Arrow Legend

It was a great legend while it lasted，but DNA testing has (1) finally ended a two-century-old story of the Hawaiian arrow carved from the bone of British explorer Captain James Cook(2) who died in the Sandwich Islands’in 1779.

“There is (3) no Cook in the Australian Museum，’’museum collection manager Jude Philip said not long ago in announcing the DNA evidence that the arrow was not made of Cook’S bone.But that will not stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in its(4) exhibition ，“Uncovered：Treasures of the Australian Museum,” which(5) does include a feather cape presented to Cook by Hawaiian King Kalani’opu’u in 1778.

Cook was one of Britain’s great explorers and is credited with(6) discovering the“Great South Land，"(7) now Australia, in 1 770.He was clubbed to death in the Sandwich Islands，now Hawaii。

The 1egend of Cook’s arrow began in 1824 (8) when Hawaiian King Kamehameha on his deathbed gave

the arrow to William Adams，a London surgeon and relative of Cook’s wife，saying it was made of Cook’s bone after the fatal(9) fight with islanders. In the 1890s the arrow was given to the Australian Museum and the legend continued (10) until it came face=to-face with science.

DNA testing by laboratories in Australia and New Zealand revealed the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone but was more (11) likely made of animal bone。said Philp.

However, Cook’s fans (12) refuse to give up hope that one Cook legend will prove true and that part of his remains will still be uncovered.as they say there is evidence not a11 of Cook’s body was (13) buried at sea in 1 779.“On this occasion technology has won"，”said Cliff Thornton，president of the Captain Cook Society, in a (14) statement from Britain.“But I am (15) sure that one of these days„one of the Cook legends will prove to be true and it will happen one day.’’

★第二篇Avalanche and Its Safety

An avalanche is a sudden and rapid flow of snow, often mixed with air and water, down a mountainside. Avalanches are (1) among the biggest dangers in the mountains for both life and property.

All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack, that is too massive and unstable for the slope (2) that supports it. Determining the critical load, the amount of

over-burden which is (3)likely to cause an avalanche, (4) is a complex task involving the evaluation of a number of factors.

Terrain slopes flatter than 25 degrees or steeper than 60 degrees typically have a low (5)risk of avalanche. Snow does not (6)gather significantly on steep slopes; also, snow does not (7)flow easily on flat slopes. Human-triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow's angle of rest is (8)between 35 and 45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which the human incidence of avalanches is greatest, is 38 degrees. The rule of thumb is: A slope that is (9) flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. Additionally, avalanche risk increases with (10) use ; that is, the more a slope is disturbed by skiers, the more likely it is that an avalanche will occur.

Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry is never 100% safe. Good avalanche safety is a continuous (11) process ,

including route selection and examination of the snowpack, weather (12) conditions , and human factors. Several well-known good habits can also(13) reduce the risk. If local authorities issue

avalanche risk reports, they should be considered and all warnings should be paid (14) attention to. Never follow in the tracks of others without your own evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and note obvious avalanche paths where plants are （（（（15））））missing or damaged. Avoid traveling below others who might trigger an avalanche.

★第三篇 Giant Structures

It is an impossible task to select the most amazing wonders of the modem world since every year more 1wonderful constructions appear. Here are three giant structures which are worthy of our 2admiration although they may have been surpassed by some more recent wonders.

The Petronas Twin Towers

The Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world when they were completed in 1999. With a 3height of 452 metres, the tall twin towers, like two thin pencils, dominate the city of Kuala Lumpur.

At the 41st floor, the towers are linked by a bridge, symbolizing a gateway to the city. The American 4architect Cesar Pelli designed the skyscrapers. Constructed of high-strength concrete, the building provides around 1，800 square metres of office space 5on every floor. And it has a shopping centre and a concert hall at the base. Other 6features of this impressive building include double-decker lifts, and glass and steel sunshades. The MiUau Bridge

The Millau Bridge was opened in 2004 in the Tam Valley，in southern France. 7At the time it was built，it was the world’s highest bridge, 8reaching over 340m at the highest point. The bridge is described as one of the most amazingly beautiful bridges in the worl D. It was built to 9releve Millau's congestion problems. The congestion was then caused by traffic passing from Paris to Barcelona in Spain. The bridge was built to withstand the 10most extreme seismic and climatic

conditions. Besides, it is guaranteed for 120 years! The Itaipu Dam The Itaipu hydroelectric power plant is one

of the largest constructions of its kind in the worl D. It consists of a series of dams across the River

Parana, 11which forms a natural border between

Brazil and Paraguay. Started in 1975 and taking 16

years to complete, the construction was carried out

as a joint project between the two 12countries _. The

dam is well-known for both its electricity output and

its size. In 1995 it produced 78% of Paraguay’s and

25% of Brazil’s 13energy needs. In its

construction, the 14amount of iron and steel used

was equivalent to over 300 Eiffel Towers. It is a

15truly amazing wonder of engineering.

★第四篇 Animal’s “Sixth Sense”

A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the

Indian Ocean in December, 2004. It killed tens of

thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. Wild

animals, （（（（1）however, seem to have escaped that

terrible tsunami. This phenomenon adds weight to

notions that I they possess a “sixth sense” for （2）

disasters, experts said.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the

giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the

Indian Ocean island’s coast clearly （（（（3）missed

wild beasts, with no dead animals found. “No elephants are dead, not （（（（4））））even dead rabbit. I think animals can （（（（5））））sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening.” H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Department, said about one month after the tsunami attack. The （（（（6）waves washed floodwaters up to 2 miles inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka’s biggest wildlife （（（（7））））reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. “There has been a lot of （（（（8）apparent evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating beforevolcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven,” said Matthew van Lierop an animal behavior（（（（9）specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.

“There have been no （（（（10）specific studies because you can’t really test it in a lab or field setting2,” he told Reuters. Other authorities concurred with this （11）assessment.

“Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain

（（（（12）phenomenon, especially birds„ there are

many reports of birds detecting impending

disasters,” said Clive Walker, who has written

several books on African wildlife. Animals （（（（13）certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such

as predators.

The notion of an animal “sixth sense”-or

（（（（14）some other mythical power-is an enduring

one3 which the evidence on Sri Lanka’s ravaged coast

is likely to add to.

The Romans saw owls （（（（15）as omens of impending

disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants

as sacred animals endowed with special powers or

attributes.

★ 第五篇 Singing Alarms Could Save the Blind

If you cannot see, you may not be able to find

your way out of a burning building ---- and that could

be fatal. A company in Leeds could change all that

（（（（1））））with directional sound alarms capable if

guiding you to the exit.

Sound Alert, a company （（（（2）run by the

University of Leeds, is installing the alarms in a

residential home for （（（（3）blind people in

Sommerset and a resource centre for the blind in

Cumbria.（（（（4））））The alarms produce a wide range

of frequencies that enable the brain to determine

where the （（（（5）sound is coming from..

Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the

alarms use most of the frequencies that can be （（（（6））））heard by humans. “It’s a burst of white noise （（（（7）that people say sounds like static on the radio,”she says. “Its life-saving potential is great.”

She conducted an experiment in which people were filmed by thermal—imaging cameras trying to find their way out of a large （（（（8）smoke-filled room. It （（（（9））））took them nearly four minutes to find the door （（（（10））））without a sound alarm, but only 15 seconds with one.

part 10 by the motor insurance industry. He says it would only take him a few minutes

to 11 teach a novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.

Modern cars are a far tougher proposition, as their engine management computer will not 12 allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key. In the UK,

technologies like this 13 have helped achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997. Withington studies how the brain （（（（11））））processes sounds at the university. She says that the （（（（12）source of a wide band of frequencies can be pinpointed more easily than the source of a narrow band. Alarms （（（（13）based on the same concept have already been installed on emergency vehicles.

The alarms will also include rising or falling frequencies to indicate whether people should go up （（（（14））））or down stairs. They were（（（（15））））developed with the aid of a large grant from British

Nuclear Fuels. ★第六篇 Car Thieves could Be Stopped Remotely Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in a nasty surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine 1 off , he will not be able to start it again. For now, such devices 2 are only available for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars, and 3 should be available to ordinary cars in the UK 4 in two months.

The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the carincorporates 5 a miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning receiver. 6 If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’sengine management system and prevent the engine 7 being restarted.

There are even plans for immobilizers 8 that shut down vehicles on the move, though there are

fears over the safety implications of such a system. In the UK. an array of technical fixes is already making 9 life harder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicles crime has changed,” says Martyn Randall of Thatcham, a security research

organization based in Berkshire that is funded in

But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken using the owner’s keys double the previous year’s figure.

Remote-controlled immobilization system would 14 put a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies

and security technology firms have developed

standards for a system that could goon the market sooner than the 15 customer expects. ★第七篇 An intelligent car

Driving needs sharp eyes, keen ears, quick brain, and coordination between hands and the brain. Many human drivers have all (1) these and can control a fast-moving car. But how does an intelligent car control itself?

There is a virtual driver in the smart car. This virtual driver has “eyes,”“brains”，“hands” and “feet”，too. The mini-cameras (2) on each side of the car are his “eyes,” which observe the road and conditions ahead of it. They watch the (3) traffic to the car’s left and right. There is also a highly (4) automatic driving system in the car. It is the built-in computer, which is the virtual driver’s “brain. ” His “brain” calculates the speeds of (5) other moving cars near it and analyzes their positions. Basing on this information, it chooses the right (6) path for the intelligent cars, and gives (7) instructions to the “hands”and “feets”to act accordingly. In this way, the

virtual driver controls his car.

What is the virtual driver’s best advantage? He reacts (8) quickly. The mini-cameras are (9) sending images continuously to the “brain”. It (10) completes the processing of the images within 100 milliseconds. However, the world’s best drier (11)

at least needs one second to react. (12) Besides, when he takes action, he needs one more second.

The virtual driver is really wonderful. He can reduce the accident (13) rate considerably on expressway. In this case. Can we let him have the wheel at any time and in any place? Experts (14) warn that we cannot do that just yet. His ability to recognize things is still (15) limited. He can now only drive an intelligent car on expressways. ★第八篇 Why India Needs Its Dying Vultures The vultures in question may look ugly and threatening, but the sudden sharp 1decline in three species of India’s vultures is producing alarm rather than celebration, and it presents the world with a new kind of environmental __2problem The dramatic decline in vulture numbers is causing widespread disruption to people living in the same areas as the 3 birds . It is also causing serious public health problems 4 across the Indian sub-continent.

While their reputation and appearance may be unpleasant to many Indians，vultures have

_5long played a very important role in keeping towns and villages all over India clean. It is _6 because _they feed on dead cows. In India, cows are sacred animals and are 7traditionally _ left in the open when they die in their thousands upon thousands every year.

The disappearance of the vultures has _8led to an explosion in the numbers of wild dogs feeding on the remains of these dead animals. There are fears that rabies may _9increase as a result. And this terrifying disease may ultimately affect humans in the region, since wild dogs are its main carriers. Rabies could also spread to other animal species, causing an even greater problem in the _10future . The need for action is _11urgent _, so an emergency project has been launched to 12find _ a solution to this serious vulture problem. Scientists are trying to identify the disease causing the birds，deaths and, if possible, develop a cure.

Large-scale vulture 13deaths _ were first noticed at the end of the 1980s in India. A population survey at that time showed that the three species of vultures had declined _14by over 90 per cent. All three species are now listed as “critically endangered”. As most vultures lay only single eggs and 15take about five years to reach maturity,

reversing their population decline will be a long and difficult exercise.

★ 第九篇Wonder Webs

Spider webs are more than homes, and they are ingenious traps. And the world’s best web spinner may be the Golden Orb Weaver spider. The female Orb Weaver spins a web of fibers thin enough to be invisible to insect prey, yet (1)tough enough to snare a flying bird without breaking.

The secret of the web’s strength? A type of super-resilient (2)silk called dragline. When the female spider is ready to (3)weave the web’s spokes and frame, she uses her legs to draw the airy thread out through a hollow nozzle in her belly. Dragline is not sticky, so the spider can race back and forth along (4)it to spin the web’s trademark spiral.

Unlike some spiders that weave a new web every day, a Golden Orb Weaver (5)reuses her handiwork until it falls apart, sometimes not for two years. The silky thread is five times stronger than steel by weight and absorbs the force of an impact three times better than Kevlar, a high-strength human-made (6)material used in bullet-proof vests. And thanks to its high tensile strength, or the ability to resist breaking under the pulling force called tension, a single strand can stretch up to 40 percent longer than its original (7)length and snap back as well as new. No human-made fiber even comes (8)close .

It is no (9)wonder manufacturers are clamoring for spider silk. In the consumer pipeline: High-performance fabrics for athletes and stockings that never run. Think parachute cords and suspension bridge cables. A steady (10)supply of spider silk would be worth billions of dollars – but how to produce it? Harvesting silk on spider farms does not (11)work because the territorial arthropods have a tendency to devour their neighbors.

Now, scientists at the biotechnology company Nexia are spinning artificial silk modeled after Golden Orb dragline. The (12)first step: extract silk-making genes from the spiders. Next, implant the genes into goat egg cells. The nanny goats that grow from the eggs secrete dragline silk proteins in their (13)milk . “The young goats pass on the silk-making gene without (14)any help from us,” says Nexia president Jeffrey Turner. Nexia is still perfecting the spinning process, but they hope artificial spider silk will soon be snagging

customers (15)as fast as the real thing snags bugs.

★ 第十篇 Chicken Soup for the Soul：Comfort Food Fights Loneliness

Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, may be bad for your arteries．1 but according to a study in Psychological Science, they’re good for your heart and 2emotions．The study focuses on

for Unprepared Cities

A new examination of urban policies has been 1carried out recently byPatricia Romero Lankao．She is a sociologist specializing in climate change and 2 urban development．She warns that many of the world’s fast-growing urban areas，especially in developing

“comfort food” and how it makes people feel． countries．will likely suffer from the impacts of

"For me 3 personally ,food has always played a big role in my family,” says Jordan Troisi, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo, and lead author on the study．The study came out of the research program of his co—author Shira Gabriel．It has 4looked at non-human things that may affect human emotions．Some people reduce loneliness by bonding with their 5favorite TV show, building virtual relationships with a pop song singer or looking at pictures of loved ones．Troisi and Gabriel wondered if comfort food could have the same effect 6 by making people think of their nearest and dearest.

In one experiment, in order to make 7

participants feel lonely, the researchers had them write for six minutes about a fight with someone close to them．Others were given an emotionally neutral writing assignment. Then, some people in each 8group wrote about the experience of eating a comfort food and others wrote about eating a new food．9 Finally ,the researchers had participants 10 complete questions about their levels of loneliness．

Writing about a fight with a close person made people feel lonely．But people who were generally 11secure in their relationships would feel less lonely by writing about a comfort food．"We have found that comfort foods are consistently associated with those close to us．"says Troisi．"Thinking about or consuming these foods later then serves as a reminder of those close others．"In 12their essays on comfort food, many people wrote about the 13 experience of eating food with family and friends.

In another experiment, 14eating chicken soup in the lab made people think more about relationships, but only if they considered chicken soup to be a comfort food．This was a question they had been asked long before the experiment, along with many other questions, so they wouldn’t remember it.

Throughout everyone’s daily lives they experience stress, often associated with our

15connections with others," Troisi says．"Comfort food Can be an easy remedy for loneliness．

★ * 第十一篇 Climate Change Poses Major Risks

changing climate．Her work also concludes that most cities are failing to 3reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse 4 gases ．These gases are known to affect the atmosphere．”Climate change is a deeply local issue and poses profound threats to the growing cities of the world,” says Romero Lankao. ”But too few cities are developing effective strategies to 5protect their residents." Cities are 6 major sources of greenhouse gases．And urban populations are likely to be among those most severely affected by future climate change. Lankao’s findings highlight ways in which city-residents are particularly vulnerable, and suggest policy interventions that could offer immediate and longer-term 7 benefits ．

The locations and dense construction patterns of cities often place their populations at greater risk for natural disasters. Potential 8threats associated with climate include storm surges and prolonged hot weather. Storm surges can flood coastal areas and prolonged hot weather can heat 9 heavily paved cities more than surrounding areas．The impacts of such natural events can be more serious in an urban environment．For example，a prolonged heat wave can increase existing levels of air pollution，causing widespread health

problems．Poorer neighborhoods that may 10lack basic facilities such as drinking water or a dependable network of roads，are especially

vulnerable to natural disasters．Many residents in poorer countries live in substandard housing 11 without access to reliable drinking water，roads and basic services.

Local governments, 12therefore,should take measures to protect their residents.”

Unfortunately，they tend to move towards rhetoric 13rather than meaningful responses, Romero Lankao writes, ” They don’t impose construction standards that could reduce heating and air conditioning needs. They don't emphasize mass transit and reduce

14automobile use. In fact, many local governments are taking a hands—off approach.” Thus, she urges them to change their 15 idle policies and to

avalanche and its safety篇七：2012理工完形填空电子版

第1篇 Captain Cook Arrow Legend

It was a great legend while it lasted，but DNA testing finally London surgeon and relative of Cook’s wife，saying it was made of ended a two-century-old story of the Hawaiian arrow carved from the bone of British explorer Captain James Cook_whodied in the Sandwich Islands1 in 1779.

“There noCook2 in the Australian Museum,” museum collection manager Jude Philip said not long ago in announcing the DNA evidence that the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone. But that will not stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in its_exhibition_.“Uncovered：Treasures of the Australian Museum，”which_doesinclude a feather cape presented to Cook by Hawaiian King Kalani’opu’u in 1778.

Cook was one of Britain’s great explorers and is credited witdiscoveringthe“Great South Land,”now，in 1770.He was clubbed to death in the Sandwich Islands，now Hawaii.

The legend of Cook’s arrow Kamehameha on his deathbed gave the arrow to William Adams，a

Cook’s bone after the with islanders.

In the 1890s the arrow was given to the Australian Museum and the legend it came face-to-face with science.

DNA testing by laboratories in Australia and New Zealand revealed the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone but was likelymade of animal bone，said Philp.

However，Cook’s fans to give up hope that one Cook legend will prove true and that part of his remains will still be uncovered，as they say there is evidence not all of Cook’s body was buriedat sea in 1779.“On this occasion technology has won，”said Cliff Thornton，president of the Captain Cook Society，in a__ statementfrom Britain. “But I am_sureof the Cook legends will prove to be true and it will happen one day.

第2篇 Avalanche and Its Safety

An avalanche is a sudden and regardless of the angle. Additionally3, rapid flow of snow, often mixed with avalanche risk increases use; air and water, down a mountainside. that is ,the more a slope is disturbed Avalanches the biggest by skiers, the more likely it is that an dangers in the mountains for both avalanche will occur. life and property. Due to the complexity of the subject,

All avalanches are caused by winter traveling in the backcountry4 is an over-burden of material, typically never 100%safe. Good avalanche snowpack, that is too massive and safety is process, unstable for the slope including route selection and it . Determining the critical load, the examination of the snowpack, amount of over-burden which is ，and human likely to cause an factors. Several well-known good complex task involving the habits can reducerisk. If evaluation of a number of factors. local authorities issue avalanche risk

Terrain slopes flatter than 25 reports, they should be considered degrees or steeper than 60 degrees and all warnings should be paid typically have a of attentionto. Never follow in the avalanche. Snow does not tracks of others without your own gatheron steep slopes; evaluations; snow conditions are flowalmost certain to have changed since slopes. Human-triggered they were made. Observe the terrain avalanche have the greatest and note obvious avalanche paths incidence when the snow’s angle where plants or of rest1 between35 and 45 damaged. Avoid traveling below degrees. The rule of thumb2 is: A others who might trigger an slope that flatenough to hold avalanche. snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche,

第3篇 Germs on Banknotes

People in different countries use different types of yuan in China, pesos in Mexico, pounds in the United Kingdom, dollars in the United States, Australia and New

Zealand. They may currencies, but these countries, and probably all countries, still have one thing in common1: Germs on the banknotes.

Scientists have been studying the germs on money for well over2 100 years. At the turn of the 20th , some researchers began to suspect that germs living on money could spread disease.

Most studies of germy money have looked at the germs on the country. In a new study, Frank Vriesekoop3 and other researchers compared the germ populations found on bills of countriesVriesekoop3 is a microbiologist at the University of Ballarat in Australia4. He led the study, which compared the germ populations found on money gathered from 10 nations. The scientists studied 1,280 banknotes in total; all came from places where people buy food, like supermarkets street vendors and cafes, becausebusinesses often rely on cash.

Overall, the Australian dollars hosted the fewest live bacteria ---- no more than 10 per square centimeter. Chinese yuan had the most—about 100 per square centimeter. Most of the germs on money probably would not cause harm.

What we call “paper” money usually isn't made from paper. The U.

S. dollar, for example, is printed on fabric that is mostly cottoncountries may use materialsprint their money. Some of the currencies studied by Vriesekoop and his 10 team such as the American dollar were made from cotton. Others were made from polymers.

The three lowest numbers of bacteria were all printed on polymers. They included the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar and some Mexican pesos.

The other currencies were printed on fabric mostlycotton. Fewer germs lived on the polymer notes. This connection suggests germshave a harder time on polymer surfaces. Scientists need to do more studies to understand how germs live on money-----and whether or not we need to be concerned. Vnesekoop is now starting a study that will the amounts of time bacteria stay alive on different types of bills.

Whatever Vriesekoop finds, the fact remains: Paper money harbors germs We should wash after touching it; after all5, you never know where your money 's been. Or what's living on it

第4篇 Animal’s“Sixth Sense”

A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean in December,2004.It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa.Wild animals，seem to have escaped that terrible tsunami.This phenomenon adds weight to notions that1 they possess a“sixth sense”for，experts said.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24，000 people along the Indian Ocean island’s coast clearly missedwild beasts,with no dead animals found.

“No elephants are dead，notevendead rabbit.I think animals senseer. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening，”H.D.Ratnayake，deputy director of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Department,said about one month after the tsunami attack.The_avesup to 2 miles inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast，Sri Lanka’s biggest wildlifehome to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards.

“There has been a lot ofpparentevidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes.But it has not been proven，”said Matthew van Lierop，an animal behavior

“There have been no

studies because you can’t really test it in a 1ab or field setting2,”he told Reuters.Other authorities concurred “Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain ，especially birds…there are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters，”said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.

on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.

The notion of an animal“sixth sense”－other mythical power–is an enduring one3 which the evidence on Sri Lanka’s ravaged coast is likely to add to.

The Romans saw as omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes

第5篇 Singing Alarms Could Save the Blind

If you cannot see，you may not be able to find your way out of a burning building—and that could be fatal.A company in Leeds could change all sound alarms capable of guiding you to the exit.

Sound Alert，a company

run by，is installing the alarms in a

residential home forblind people in Sommerset and a resource The alarmsproduce a wide range of frequencies that enable the brain to determine where coming from.

Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarms use most of the frequencies that can heardby humans.“It is a burst of white

people say sounds like static on the radio,“she says.”Its life-saving potential is great.”

She conducted an experiment in which people were filmed by thermal-imaging cameras trying to find their way out of a large_smoke-filledroom. them nearly four minutes to find the ，but only 15 seconds with one.

Withington studies how the brain. processessounds at the university.She says that source

of a wide band of frequencies can be pinpointed more easily than the source of a narrow band.Alarms based onsame concept have already been installed on emergency vehicles.

The alarms will also include rising or falling frequencies to indicate whether people should go ordown stairs.They were with the aid of a large grant from British Nuclear Fuels.

第6篇 Car Thieves Could Be Stopped Remotely

Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch.But he is in a nasty surprise.The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief ，he will not be able to start it again.

For now，such areavailable for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars，and should be available to ordinary Cars in the UK intwo months.

The idea goes like this.A control box aminiature cellphone，a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning Ifthe car is stolen，a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine restarted.

There are even plans for thatdown vehicles on the move，though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system.

In the UK，an array of technical fixes is already lifecar thieves.“The pattern of vehicles crime has changed，”says Martyn Randall of Thatcham，a security research organization based in Berkshire that is funded in part by.the motor insurance industry.

He says it would only take him a few minutes teacha novice how to steal a car，using a bare minimum of tools.But only if the car is more than 10 years o1d.

Modern cars are a far tougher proposition,as their engine management computer will not allowto start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key.In the UK， achieve a 31 percent drop in

avalanche and its safety篇八：理工B完型填空字典版

第一篇 Captain Cook Arrow Legend 库克船长箭传说

It was a great legend while it lasted，but DNA testing has (1) finally ended a two-century-old story of the Hawaiian arrow carved from the bone of British explorer Captain James Cook(2) died in the Sandwich Islands’in 1779.

“There is Cook in the Australian Museum，’’museum collection manager Jude Philip said not long ago in announcing the DNA evidence that the arrow was not made of Cook’S bone.But that will not stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in its ，“Uncovered：Treasures of the Australian Museum,” which include a feather cape presented to Cook by Hawaiian King Kalani’opu’u in 1778.

Cook was one of Britain’s great explorers and is credited with(6) discovering the“Great South Land，"(7) now Australia, in 1 770.He was clubbed to death in the Sandwich Islands，now HawaiiThe 1egend of Cook’s arrow began in 1824 Hawaiian King Kamehameha on his deathbed gave the arrow to William Adams，a London surgeon and relative of Cook’s wife，saying it was made of Cook’s bone after the fatalwith islanders.

In the 1890s the arrow was given to the Australian Museum and the legend continued it came face=to-face with science.

DNA testing by laboratories in Australia and New Zealand revealed the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone but was more (11) likely made of animal bone。said Philp.

However, Cook’s fans to give up hope that one Cook legend will prove true and that part of his remains will still be uncovered.as they say there is evidence not a11 of Cook’s body was at sea in 1 779.“On this occasion technology has won"，”said Cliff Thornton，president of the Captain Cook Society, in a from Britain.“But I am that one of these days…one of the Cook legends will prove to be true and it will happen one day.’’

第二篇 Avalanche and Its Safety雪崩和它的安全

An avalanche is a sudden and rapid flow of snow, often mixed with air and water, down a mountainside. Avalanches are (1) among the biggest dangers in the mountains for both life and property.

All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack, that is too massive and unstable for the slope (2) that supports it. Determining the critical load, the over-burden which is (3)to cause an avalanche, (4) is a complex task involving the evaluation of a number of factors.

Terrain slopes flatter than 25 degrees or steeper than 60 degrees typically have a low (5)risk of avalanche. Snow does not (6)gather significantly on steep slopes; also, snow does not (7)flow easily on flat slopes. Human-triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow's angle of rest is 35 and 45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which the human incidence of avalanches is greatest, is 38 degrees. The rule of thumb is: A slope that is (9) flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. Additionally, avalanche risk increases with (10) ; that is, the more a slope is disturbed by skiers, the more likely it is that an avalanche will occur.

Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry is never 100% safe. Good avalanche safety is a continuous (11) , including route selection and examination of the snowpack, weather (12) conditions , and human factors. Several well-known good habits can also(13) reduce the risk. If local authorities issue avalanche risk reports, they should be considered and all warnings should be paid (14) attention to. Never follow in the tracks of others without your own evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and note obvious avalanche paths where plants are （15）missing or damaged. Avoid traveling below others who might trigger an avalanche.

★第三篇What Is the Coolest Gas in the Universe? 宇宙中最凉爽的瓦斯是什么

What is the coldest air temperature ever recorded on the Earth? Where was this low temperature recorded? The coldest recorded temperature on Earth was -91℃ which (1)occurred in Antarctica in 1983．

We encounter an interesting situation when we discuss temperatures in(2)space. Temperatures in Earth orbit actually range from about +120℃ to -120℃．The temperature depends upon (3)whether you are in direct sunlight or shade．Obviously, -l20℃ is colder than our body can safely endure．Thank NASA science for well-designed space (4)suits that protect astronauts from these temperature extremes．

The space temperatures just discussed affect only

Our areal

of the solar (5)system．0bviously，it is hotter closer to the Sun and colder as we travel away from the Sun．Astronomers estimate temperatures at Pluto are about -210℃．How cold is the lowest estimated temperature in the entire universe? Again，it depends upon your (6)location．We are taught it is supposedly (7)impossible to have a temperature below absolute zero，which is-273℃，at which atoms do not move．Two scientists，whose names are Cornell and Wieman，have successfully cooled down a gas temperature barely (8)above absolute zero．They won a Nobel Prize in Physics

in 2001 for their work—not a discovery，in this case2

． Why is the two scientists' work so important to science?

In the l920s，Satyendra Nath Bose was studying an interesting (9)theory about

particles we now call photons．Bose had trouble (10) convincing other scientists to believe his theory, (11)so he contacted Albert Einstein．Einstein's calculations helped him theorize that atoms (12)occurred behave as Bose thought—but only at very cold temperatures．

Scientists have also discovered that (13) ultra-cold atoms can help them make the world's atomic clocks even more accurate．These clocks are so accurate today they

would only lose3

one second (14) every six million years! Such accuracy will help us travel in space because

distance is velocity times time4 (d=v×t)．With5

the long distances involved in space (15) travel ,we need to know time as accurately as possible to get accurate distance．

第四篇 Animal’s “Sixth Sense” 动物的 " 第六个感觉 "

A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean in December, 2004. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. Wild animals, （1）however, seem to have escaped that terrible tsunami. This phenomenon adds weight to notions that I they possess a “sixth sense” for （2）disasters, experts said.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island’s coast clearly （3）missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found. “No elephants are dead, not （4）even dead rabbit. I think animals can （5）know when things are happening.” H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Department, said about one month after the tsunami attack. The （6） washed

1

floodwaters up to 2 miles inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka’s biggest wildlife （7 and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. “There has been a lot of （8）apparent evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven,” said Matthew van Lierop an animal behavior（9） “There have been no （10）specific studies because you can’t really test it in a lab or field setting2,” he told Reuters. Other authorities concurred with this （11）assessment.

“Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain （12）detecting impending disasters,” said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.

Animals （13）certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.

The notion of an animal “sixth sense”-or （14）some other mythical power-is an enduring one3 which the evidence on Sri Lanka’s ravaged coast is likely to add to. The Romans saw owls （15）as omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes.

第五篇 Singing Alarms Could Save the Blind歌唱警报可以解救盲人

If you cannot see, you may not be able to find your way out of a burning building ---- and that could be fatal. A company in Leeds could change all that （1）with directional sound alarms capable if guiding you to the exit.

Sound Alert, a company （2）run by the University of Leeds, is installing the alarms in a residential home for （3） people in Sommerset and a resource centre for the blind in Cumbria.（4）The alarms produce a wide range of frequencies that enable the brain to determine where the （5）sound is coming from.

Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarms use most of the frequencies that can be （6）heard by humans. “It’s a burst of white noise （7radio,”she says. “Its life-saving potential is great.”

She conducted an experiment in which people were filmed by thermal—imaging cameras trying to find their way out of a large （8）smoke-filled room. It （9）took them nearly four minutes to find the door （10）a sound alarm, but only 15 seconds with one.

Withington studies how the brain （11）processes sounds at the university. She says that the （12）source of a wide band of frequencies can be pinpointed more easily than the source of a narrow band. Alarms （13）the same concept have already been installed on emergency vehicles.

The alarms will also include rising or falling frequencies to indicate whether people should go up （14） down stairs. They were（15） with the aid of a large grant from British Nuclear Fuels.

第六篇 Car Thieves could Be Stopped Remotely汽车小偷可能很远地被停止

Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in a nasty surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine 1 off , he will not be able to start it again. For now, such devices 2 are only available for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars, and 3 should be available to ordinary cars in the UK 4 in two months.

The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the carincorporates 5 a miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning receiver. 6 If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine 7 being restarted.

There are even plans for immobilizers 8 that shut down vehicles on the move, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system.

In the UK. an array of technical fixes is already making 9 life harder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicles crime has changed,” says Martyn Randall of Thatcham, a security research organization based in Berkshire that is funded in part 10 by the motor insurance industry.

He says it would only take him a few minutes to 11 teach a novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old. Modern cars are a far tougher proposition, as their engine management computer will not 12 allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this 13 have helped achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997.

But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken using the owner’s keys double the previous year’s figure.

Remote-controlled immobilization system would 14 put a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could goon the market sooner than the 15 customer expects.

第七篇 An intelligent car一辆聪明的汽车

Driving needs sharp eyes, keen ears, quick brain, and coordination between hands and the brain. Many human drivers have all (1) these and can control a fast-moving car. But how does an intelligent car control itself?

There is a virtual driver in the smart car. This virtual driver has “eyes,”“brains”，“hands” and “feet”，too. The mini-cameras (2) each side of the car are his “eyes,” which observe the road and conditions ahead of it. They watch the car’s left and right. There is also a highly (4) automatic driving system in the car. It is the built-in computer, which is the virtual driver’s “brain. ” His “brain” calculates the speeds of (5) other moving cars near it and analyzes their positions. Basing on this information, it chooses the right (6) path for the intelligent cars, and gives (7) instructions to the “hands”and “feets”to act accordingly. In this way, the virtual driver controls his car.

What is the virtual driver’s best advantage? He reacts (8) (9)to the “brain”. It (10)within 100 milliseconds. However, the world’s best drier (11) at least needs one second to react. (12) Besides, when he takes action, he needs one more second.

The virtual driver is really wonderful. He can reduce the accident (13)considerably on expressway. In this case. Can we let him have the wheel at any time and in any place? Experts (14) warn that we cannot do that just yet. His ability to recognize things is still car on expressways.

2

第八篇 A Biological Clock一个生物时钟

Every living thing has what scientists call a biological clock that controls behavior. The biological clock tells when to form flowers and when the flowers should open1. It tells (2) 茧 and fly away, and it tells animals and human beings when to eat, sleep and wake. Events outside the plant and animal (3) affect the actions of some biological clocks. Scientists recently found, for example, that a tiny animal changes the color of its fur (4) because the number of hours of daylight. In the short of winter, its fur becomes white. The fur becomes gray brown in color in the longer hours of daylight summer.

Inner signals control other biological clocks. German scientists found that some kind of internal clock seems to order birds to begin their long migration twice each year. Birds (7) flying become restless when it is time for the trip, (8) but they become calm again when the time of the flight has ended.

Scientists say they are beginning to learn which of the brain contain biological clocks. An American researcher, Martin Moorhead, said a small group of cells near the front of the brain (10) seems to control the timing of some of our actions. These (11) cells tell a person when to (12) awaken, when to sleep and when to seek food. Scientists say there probably are other biological clock cells that control other body activities.

Dr. Moorhead is studying (13) how our biological clocks affect the way we do our work2. For example, most of us have great difficulty if we must often change to different work hours. can take3 many days for a human body to accept the major change in work hours. Dr. Moorhead said industrial officials should have a better understanding of biological clocks and how they affect workers. He said (15) such understanding could cut sickness and accidents at work and would help increase a factory’s production.

第九篇Wonder Webs惊奇网络

Spider webs are more than homes, and they are ingenious traps. And the world’s best web spinner may be the Golden Orb Weaver spider. The female Orb Weaver spins a web of fibers thin enough to be invisible to insect prey, yet enough to snare a flying bird without breaking.

The secret of the web’s strength? A type of super-resilient called dragline. When the female spider is ready to the web’s spokes and frame, she uses her legs to draw the airy thread out through a hollow nozzle in her belly. Dragline is not sticky, so the spider can race back and forth along (4)it to spin the web’s trademark spiral.恒星英语论坛

Unlike some spiders that weave a new web every day, a Golden Orb Weaver (5)reuses her handiwork until it falls apart, sometimes not for two years. The silky thread is five times stronger than steel by weight and absorbs the force of an impact three times better than Kevlar, a high-strength human-made (6)material used in bullet-proof vests. And thanks to its high tensile strength, or the ability to resist breaking under the pulling force called tension, a single strand can stretch up to 40 percent longer than its original and snap back as well as new. No human-made fiber even comes (8)close .

It is no (9)wonder manufacturers are clamoring for spider silk. In the consumer pipeline: High-performance fabrics for athletes and stockings that never run. Think parachute cords and suspension bridge cables. A steady ( of spider silk would be worth billions of dollars – but how to produce it? Harvesting silk on spider farms does not (11)work because the territorial arthropods have a tendency to devour their neighbors. Now, scientists at the biotechnology company Nexia are spinning artificial silk modeled after Golden Orb dragline. The (12)first step: extract silk-making genes from the spiders. Next, implant the genes into goat egg cells. The nanny goats that grow from the eggs secrete dragline silk proteins in their (13). “The young goats pass on the silk-making gene without help from us,” says Nexia president Jeffrey Turner. Nexia is still

perfecting the spinning process, but they hope artificial spider silk will soon be snagging customers (15)as fast as the real thing snags bugs.

第十篇 Less Is More比较少量是更多

It sounds all wrong—drilling holes in a piece of wood to make it more resistant to knocks. But it works because the energy from the blow gets distributed throughout the wood rather than focusing on one weak spot. The discovery should lead to more effective and ligher packaging materials.

Carpenters have known (that some woods are tougher than others. Hickory, for example, was turned into axe handles and cartwheel spokes because it can absorb shocks without breaking. White oak, for example, is much more easily damaged, it is almost as dense.1 Julian Vincent at Bathe University and his team were convinced the wood’s internal structure could explain the differences.

Many trees have tubular vessels that run (3)the trunk and carry water to the leaves. In oak they are large, and arranged in narrow bands, but in hickory they are smaller, and more evenly distributed. The researchers this layout might distribute a blow’s energy throughout the wood, soaking up a bigger hit. To test the idea, they drilled holes 0.65 millimetres across into a block of spruce, a wood with (5) vessels, and found that(6)) withstood a harder knock. when there more than about 30 holes per square centimeter did the wood’s performance drop off.

A uniform substance doesn’t cope well with knocks because only a small proportion of the material is actually . All the energy from the blow goes towards breaking the material in one or two places, but often the pieces left (9) behind are pristine.

But instead of the energy being concentrated in one place, the holes provide many weak spots that all absorb energy as they break, says Vincent. “You are controlling the places the wood breaks, and it can then absorb more (11) energy, more safely.”

The researchers believe the principle could be applied to any material example, to manufacture lighter and more protective packaging. It could be used in car bumpers, crash barriers and armour for military vehicles, says Ulrike Wegst, (14)at the Max Plank Institute for Mental Research in Stuttgart. But she emphasizes that you’d (15) need to to design the substance with the direction of force in mind. “The direction of loading is crucial,” she says.

* 第十一篇 China to help Europe Develop GPS Rival中国帮助欧洲发展全球定位测量宇宙站对手

China is to contri bute to a new global satellite navigation system being developed by European nations. The Galileo satellite system （1） will offer a more accurate civilian alternative to the Global Positioning System(GPS), operated by the US military. China will provide 230m Euros (USD 259m) in (2) funding and will cooperate with technical, manufacturing and market development. “China will help Galileo to （3） become the major world infrastructure for the growing market for location services,” said Loyola de Palacio, EU transport commissioner.

A new center that will coordinate co-operation was also announced（4） by the European Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology not long（5）ago .The China-Europe Global Navigation Satellite System Technical Training and Cooperation Center will be （6） located at Beijing University. China has a substantial satellite launch industry and could potentially help the Galileo

3

satellites. The US has claimed that Galileo could interfere （7） with the US ability to downgrade the GPS service during military conflicts. European officials say this is unfounded and counter that US opposition （8） is due to the commercial challenge Galileo would present to GPS. Galileo will be precise to within a meter, while civilian GPS service is accurate to around 10 meters.来源：

The Galileo satellite constellation will（9） consist of 27 operational and three reserve satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 23, 600 km. The satellites will be strung along three medium-Earth orbits at 56 degrees inclination to the equator and will provide global coverage. The system should be operational by 2008 and the entire project is expected to （10） cost around 3.2 billion Euros(USD 3.6 billion). The European Commission has said Galileo will primarily be used for transportation technology, scientific research, land management and disaster monitoring.

Galileo will provide two signals; a standard civilian one and an encrypted, wide-band signal （11） called the Public Regulated Service (PRS). This second signal is designed to withstand localized jamming and will be used by police and military services in Europe. European Commission （12）officials have said China will not be given access to the PRS.

The first Galileo satellite is scheduled to launch late in 2004, Clocks on board the （13）satellite Will be synchronized through 20 ground sensors stations, two command centers and 15 uplink stations.

Receivers on the ground will use time signals from the satellites to precisely calculate their （14）location . A “search and rescue” function will also （15） let distress signals be relayed through the constellation of satellites.

★*第十二篇 Smoking Can Increase Depressive Symptoms in Teens抽烟能在青少年增加压抑的症状

While some teenagers may puff on cigarettes to "self-medicate" against the blues，scientists at the

University of Toronto1 and the University of Montreal2

have found that smoking may actually (1)increase depressive symptoms in some teens.

“This observational study is one of the few to examine the perceived (2)emotional benefits of smoking among teens,” says lead researcher Michael Chaiton，

a research associate3

at the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit of the University of Toronto．“(3)Although cigarettes may appear to have self-medicating

(4)effects or to improve mood，in the long term4

we found

that teens who started to smoke reported5

higher depressive symptoms.” As part of the study，some 662 high school teenagers completed up to 20 questionnaires (5)about their use of cigarettes to affect mood．Secondary schools were selected to provide a mix of French and English participants，urban and rural schools，and schools (6)located in high, moderate and low socioeconomic

neighbourhoods6

．

Participants were divided into three (7)groups: never smokers；smokers who did not use cigarettes to

self-medicate，improve mood or physical (8)state；smokers who used cigarettes to self-medicate．Depressive symptoms were measured using a scale that asked how felt too fired to do things：had (9)trouble going to sleep or staying (10)asleep；felt unhappy，sad，or depressed；felt hopeless about the future；felt vexed，antsy or tense；and worried too much about things．

"Smokers who used cigarettes as mood (11)improvers had higher risks of elevated depressive symptoms than teens who had never smoked," says co-researcher Jennifer 0’Loughlin，a professor at the University of Montreal

Department of Social and Preventive Medicine7

．"0ur study found that teen smokers who reported emotional benefits from smoking are at higher risk of (12)developing depressive symptoms."

The (13)association between depression and smoking exists (14)principally among teens that use cigarettes to feel better．"It’s (15)important to emphasize that depressive symptom scores8 were higher among teenagers who reported emotional benefits from smoking after they began to smoke," says Dr．Chaiton．

4

avalanche and its safety篇九：2013年职称考试C级完形填空

六、完形填空

第一篇Captain Cook Arrow Legend 库克船长箭传说

It was a great legend while it lasted，but DNA testing has (1)finally ended a two-century-old story of the Hawaiian arrow carved from the bone of British explorer Captain James Cook(2)who died in the Sandwich Islands’in 1779.

“There is (3)no Cook in the Australian Museum，’’museum collection manager Jude Philip said not long ago in announcing the DNA evidence that the arrow was not made of Cook’S bone.But that will not stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in its(4)exhibition，“Uncovered：Treasures of the Australian Museum,” which(5)does include a feather cape presented to Cook by Hawaiian King Kalani’opu’u in 1778. Cook was one of Britain’s great explorers and is credited with(6)discovering the“Great South Land，"(7)now Australia, in 1 770.He was clubbed to death in the Sandwich Islands，now HawaiiThe 1egend of Cook’s arrow began in 1824 (8)when Hawaiian King Kamehameha on his deathbed gave the arrow to William Adams，a London surgeon and relative of Cook’s wife，saying it was made of Cook’s bone after the fatal(9)fight with islanders.

In the 1890s the arrow was given to the Australian Museum and the legend continued (10)until it came face=to-face with science.

DNA testing by laboratories in Australia and New Zealand revealed the

arrow was not made of Cook’s bone but was more (11)likely made of animal bone。said Philp.

However, Cook’s fans(12)refuse to give up hope that one Cook legend will prove true and that part of his remains will still be uncovered.as they say there is evidence not a11 of Cook’s body was(13)buried at sea in 1 779.“On this occasion technology has won"，”said Cliff Thornton，president of the Captain Cook Society, in a (14)statement from Britain.“But I am (15)sure that one of these days…one of the Cook legends will prove to be true and it will happen one day."

第二篇 Avalanche and Its Safety雪崩和安全问题

An avalanche is a sudden and rapid flow of snow, often mixed with air and water, down a mountainside. Avalanches are (1)among the biggest dangers in the mountains for both life and property.

All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack, that is too massive and unstable for the slope (2)that supports it. Determining the critical load, the amount of over-burden which is

(3)likely to cause an avalanche, (4)is a complex task involving the evaluation of a number of factors.

Terrain slopes flatter than 25 degrees or steeper than 60 degrees typically have a low (5)risk of avalanche. Snow does not (6)gather significantly on steep slopes; also, snow does not (7)flow easily on flat slopes.

Human-triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow's angle of rest is (8)between 35 and 45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which the human incidence of avalanches is greatest, is 38 degrees. The rule of thumb is: A slope that is (9) flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. Additionally, avalanche risk increases with (10) use ; that is, the more a slope is disturbed by skiers, the more likely it is that an avalanche will occur.

Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry is never 100% safe. Good avalanche safety is a continuous (11) process , including route selection and examination of the snowpack, weather (12) conditions , and human factors. Several well-known good habits can also(13) reduce the risk. If local authorities issue avalanche risk reports, they should be considered and all warnings should be paid (14) attention to. Never follow in the tracks of others without your own evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and note obvious avalanche paths where plants are

（15）missing or damaged. Avoid traveling below others who might trigger an avalanche.

第 三篇 Giant Structures

It is an impossible task to select the most amazing wonders of the modem world since every year more __1__ constructions appear. Here are three giant structures which are worthy of our __2__ although they may have been surpassed by some more recent wonders.

The Petronas Twin Towers

The Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world when they were completed in 1999. With a __3__ of 452 metres, the tall twin towers, like two thin pencils, dominate the city of Kuala Lumpur. At the 41st floor, the towers are linked by a bridge, symbolizing a gateway to the city. The American __4__ Cesar Pelli designed the skyscrapers.

Constructed of high-strength concrete, the building provides around 1，800 square metres of office space __5__ every floor. And it has a shopping centre and a concert hall at the base. Other __6__ of this impressive building include double-decker lifts, and glass and steel sunshades. The MiUau Bridge

The Millau Bridge was opened in 2004 in the Tam Valley，in southern France. __7__ the time it was built，it was the world’s highest bridge, __8__ over 340m at the highest point. The bridge is described as one of the most amazingly beautiful bridges in the world. It was built to __9__ Millau's congestion problems. The congestion was then caused by traffic passing

from Paris to Barcelona in Spain. The bridge was built to withstand the __10__ extreme seismic and climatic conditions. Besides, it is guaranteed for 120 years!

The Itaipu Dam

The Itaipu hydroelectric power plant is one of the largest constructions of its kind in the world. It consists of a series of dams across the River Parana, __11__ forms a natural border between Brazil and Paraguay. Started in 1975 and taking 16 years to complete, the construction was carried out as a joint project between the two __12__. The dam is well-known for both its electricity output and its size. In 1995 it produced 78% of Paraguay’s and 25% of Brazil’s __13__ needs. In its construction, the __14__ of iron and steel used was equivalent to over 300 Eiffel Towers. It is a __15__ amazing wonder of engineering.

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A. delightful B. useful C. wonderful D. careful

A. admiration B. passion C. expression D. detection

A. length B. width C. height D. volume

A. inventor B. architect C. scientist D. merchant

A. below B. in C. above D. on

avalanche and its safety篇十：2013理工B完型填空字典版

*第十二篇 Free Statins With Fast Food Could Neutralize Heart An avalanche is a sudden and rapid flow of snow, often

are (1) Risk快餐加免费降胆固醇药物可以降低罹患心脏病的风险 mixed with air and water, down a mountainside. Avalanches

Fast food outlets could provide statin drugs free that customers can reduce the heart disease dangers of fatty food,

．

Statins reduce the 3amount of unhealthy ‖LDL‖

cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be

highly effective at lowering a person’s heart attack 4risk .

In a paper published in the American Journal of

Cardiology，Dr Darrel Francis and colleagues calculate that the

reduction in heart attack risk offered by a statin is 5enough to offset the

a milkshake．

Dr Francis，from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London，who is the senior author of the study, said:‖Statins don’t cut out a11 of the 7unhealthy effects of cheeseburgers and French fries．It’s better to avoid fatty food altogether．But we’ve worked out that in terms of your 8possobility of

having a heart attack. Taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or

as a fast food meal increases it.‖

―It’s ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthv

condiments in fast food outlets but statins, which are

beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed. It makes sense to make

risk-reducing statins available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments

that are 11provided free of charge．It would cost less than 5 pence

not much different to a sachet of sugar.‖ Dr Francis

said．

When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or

smoking, they’re encouraged to take 13measures that lower their risk,

1ike 14wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a

some of the risks of eating a fatty

meal．

Writing about a fight with a close person made people feel

lonely．But people who were generally 11secure in their relationships

would feel less lonely by writing about a comfort food．"We have found

that comfort foods are consistently associated with those close to

us．"says Troisi．"Thinking about or consuming these foods later then

serves as a reminder of those close others．food, many people wrote about the 13 experience of eating food with family and friends. In another experiment, 14eating chicken soup in the lab made people think more about relationships, but only if they considered chicken soup to be a comfort food．This was a question they had been asked long before the experiment, along with many other questions, so they wouldn’t remember it. Throughout everyone’s daily lives they experience stress, often associated with our 15connections with others," Troisi says．"Comfort food Can be an easy remedy for loneliness． 第一篇 Captain Cook Arrow Legend 库克船长箭传说 It was a great legend while it lasted，but DNA testing has (1) finally ended a two-century-old story of the Hawaiian arrow carved

from the bone of British explorer Captain James died in

the Sandwich Islands’in 1779.

―There is Cook in the Australian Museum，’’museum

collection manager Jude Philip said not long ago in announcing the DNA

evidence that the arrow was not made of Cook’S bone.But that will not

stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in its(4)

exhibition ，―Uncovered：Treasures of the Australian Museum,‖ which(5)

include a feather cape presented to Cook by Hawaiian King

Kalani’opu’u in 1778.

Cook was one of Britain’s great explorers and is credited with(6)

discovering the―Great South Land，"(7) now Australia, in 1 770.He was

clubbed to death in the Sandwich Islands，now Hawaii。

The 1egend of Cook’s arrow began in 1824 (8) when Hawaiian King Kamehameha on his deathbed gave the arrow to William Adams，a London surgeon and relative of Cook’s wife，saying it was made of Cook’s bone after the fatal(9) fight with islanders. In the 1890s the arrow was given to the Australian Museum and the legend continued (10) until it came face=to-face with science. DNA testing by laboratories in Australia and New Zealand revealed the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone but was more (11) likely made

of animal bone。said Philp. However, Cook’s fans to give up hope that one Cook legend will prove true and that part of his remains will still be

uncovered.as they say there is evidence not a11 of Cook’s body was (13) buried at sea in 1 779.―On this occasion technology has won"，‖said Cliff

Thornton，president of the Captain Cook Society, in a from Britain.―But I am (15) sure that one of these days…one of the Cook

legends will prove to be true and it will happen one day.’’

第二篇 Avalanche and Its Safety雪崩和它的安全

among the biggest dangers in the mountains for both life and property. All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack, that is too massive and unstable for the slope (2) it. Determining the critical load, the amount of over-burden which is (3)likely to cause an avalanche, (4) is a complex task involving the evaluation of a number of factors. Terrain slopes flatter than 25 degrees or steeper than 60 degrees typically have a low avalanche. Snow does not significantly on steep slopes; also, snow does not (7)flow easily on flat

slopes. Human-triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when

the snow's angle of rest is (8)between 35 and 45 degrees; the critical

angle, the angle at which the human incidence of avalanches is greatest,

is 38 degrees. The rule of thumb is: A slope that is (9) flat enough to hold

snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. Additionally, avalanche risk increases with (10) that an avalanche will occur. Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry is never 100% safe. Good avalanche safety is a continuous weather (12) conditions , and human factors. Several well-known good habits can also(13) the risk. If local authorities issue avalanche risk reports, they should be considered and all warnings should be paid evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and note obvious avalanche paths where plants are （15）missing or damaged. Avoid traveling below others who might trigger an avalanche. ★第三篇 Giant Structures It is an impossible task to select the most amazing wonders of the modem world since every year more 1 wonderful constructions appear. Here are three giant structures which are worthy of our 2 admiration although they may have been surpassed by some more recent wonders. The Petronas Twin Towers

The Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world when

they were completed in 1999. With a 3 height of 452 metres, the tall twin

towers, like two thin pencils, dominate the city of Kuala Lumpur. At the 41st floor, the towers are linked by a bridge, symbolizing a gateway to the city. The American 4 architect Cesar Pelli designed the skyscrapers.

Constructed of high-strength concrete, the building provides

around 1，800 square metres of office space 5 on every floor. And it has a shopping centre and a concert hall at the base. Other 6 features of this impressive building include double-decker lifts, and glass and steel sunshades.

The MiUau Bridge

The Millau Bridge was opened in 2004 in the Tam Valley，in southern France. 7 At the time it was built，it was the world’s highest

bridge, 8 reaching over 340m at the highest point. The bridge is described as one of the most amazingly beautiful bridges in the world. It

was built to 9 relieve Millau's congestion problems. The congestion was then caused by traffic passing from Paris to Barcelona in Spain. The bridge was built to withstand the _10 most extreme seismic and climatic conditions. Besides, it is guaranteed for 120 years! The Itaipu Dam The Itaipu hydroelectric power plant is one of the largest constructions of its kind in the world. It consists of a series of dams across the River Parana, 11 which forms a natural border between Brazil and Paraguay. Started in 1975 and taking 16 years to complete, the construction was carried out as a joint project between the two 12 countries . The dam is well-known for both its electricity output and its size. In 1995 it produced 78% of Paraguay’s and 25% of Brazil’s 13 energy needs. In its construction, the 14 amount of iron and steel used

was equivalent to over 300 Eiffel Towers. It is a 15 truly amazing wonder

of engineering.

第四篇 Animal’s ―Sixth Sense‖ 动物的 " 第六个感 " A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean in December, 2004. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. Wild animals, （1）terrible tsunami. This phenomenon adds weight to notions that I they

possess a ―sixth sense‖ for （2）disasters, experts said. Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island’s coast clearly

（3）missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found. ―No elephants are dead, not （4）even dead rabbit. I think

animals can （5）sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when

things are happening.‖ H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Department, said about one month after the tsunami attack. The （6

Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka’s biggest wildlife （7）reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards.

―There has been a lot of （8）apparent evidence about dogs

barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven,‖ said Matthew van Lierop an animal behavior（9）specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.

―There have been no （10）specific studies because you can’t

really test it in a lab or field setting2,‖ he told Reuters. Other authorities concurred with this （11）assessment.

―Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain （12）

especially birds… there are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters,‖ said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.

Animals （13）certainly rely on the known senses such as

smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.

The notion of an animal ―sixth sense‖-or （14）some other

mythical power-is an enduring one3 which the evidence on Sri Lanka’s ravaged coast is likely to add to.

The Romans saw owls （15）as omens of impending disaster and

many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes.

第五篇 Singing Alarms Could Save the Blind警报器救盲人

If you cannot see, you may not be able to find your way out of a

burning building ---- and that could be fatal. A company in Leeds could change all that （1to the exit.

Sound Alert, a company （2）installing the alarms in a residential home for （3）people in Sommerset and a resource centre for the blind in Cumbria.（4）The alarms produce a wide range of frequencies that enable the brain to determine where the （5）sound is coming from.

Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarms use most

of the frequencies that can be （6）by humans. ―It’s a burst of white noise （7）that people say sounds like static on the radio,‖she says. ―Its life-saving potential is great.‖

She conducted an experiment in which people were filmed by

thermal—imaging cameras trying to find their way out of a large （8）（9（10）without a sound alarm, but only 15 seconds with one.

Withington studies how the brain （11）processes sounds at the

university. She says that the （12）source of a wide band of frequencies can be pinpointed more easily than the source of a narrow band. Alarms （13）based on the same concept have already been installed on emergency vehicles.

The alarms will also include rising or falling frequencies to

indicate whether people should go up （14）（15）developed with the aid of a large grant from British Nuclear Fuels.

第六篇 Car Thieves could Be Stopped Remotely汽车小偷可能很

远地被停止

Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in a nasty surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer and a radio signal from a control center miles away will start it again.

specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars, and 3 should be available to ordinary cars in the UK 4 in two months.

5 a miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning receiver. 6 If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine 7 being restarted.

There are even plans for immobilizers 8 that shut down vehicles on the move, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system.

In the UK. an array of technical fixes is already making 9 life harder for car thieves. ―The pattern of vehicles crime has changed,‖ says Martyn Randall of Thatcham, a security research organization based in He says it would only take him a few minutes to 11 teach a novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.

Modern cars are a far tougher proposition, as their engine management computer will not 12 allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this 13 have helped achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997.

But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to

steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken using the owner’s keys double the previous year’s figure.

Remote-controlled immobilization system would 14 a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that

第七篇 An intelligent car一辆聪明的汽车

Driving needs sharp eyes, keen ears, quick brain, and

coordination between hands and the brain. Many human drivers have all (1) these and can control a fast-moving car. But how does an intelligent car control itself?

There is a virtual driver in the smart car. This virtual driver has

―eyes,‖―brains‖，―hands‖ and ―feet‖，too. The mini-cameras (2) on each side of the car are his ―eyes,‖ which observe the road and conditions ahead of it. They watch the (3) traffic to the car’s left and right. There is also a highly (4) driving system in the car. It is the built-in computer, which is the virtual driver’s ―brain. ‖ His ―brain‖ calculates moving cars near it and analyzes their positions. Basing on this information, it chooses the right (6) path for the intelligent cars, and gives to the ―hands‖and ―feets‖to act accordingly. In this way, the virtual driver controls his car.

What is the virtual driver’s best advantage? He reacts The mini-cameras are (9) sending images continuously to the ―brain‖. It the processing of the images within 100 milliseconds. However, the world’s best drier (11) at least needs one second to react. (12) Besides, when he takes action, he needs one more second.

The virtual driver is really wonderful. He can reduce the accident

the wheel at any time and in any place? Experts (14) warn that we cannot do that just yet. His ability to recognize things is still (15) limited. He can now only drive an intelligent car on expressways.

★第八篇 Why India Needs Its Dying Vultures

The vultures in question may look ugly and threatening, but the

sudden sharp 1 decline in three species of India’s vultures is producing alarm rather than celebration, and it presents the world with a new kind of environmental 2 problem. The dramatic decline in vulture numbers is causing widespread disruption to people living in the same areas as the 3 birds . It is also causing serious public health problems 4 across the Indian sub-continent.

While their reputation and appearance may be unpleasant to

many Indians，vultures have

5 long played a very important role in keeping towns and villages

all over India clean. It is 6 because they feed on dead cows. In India, cows are sacred animals and are 7 traditionally left in the open when they die in their thousands upon thousands every year.

The disappearance of the vultures has 8 led to an explosion in the

numbers of wild dogs feeding on the remains of these dead animals. There are fears that rabies may 9 increase as a result. And this terrifying disease may ultimately affect humans in the region, since wild dogs are its main carriers. Rabies could also spread to other animal species, causing an even greater problem in the 10 future.

The need for action is 11 urgent , so an emergency project has

been launched to 12 find a solution to this serious vulture problem. Scientists are trying to identify the disease causing the birds，deaths and, if possible, develop a cure.

Large-scale vulture 13 deaths were first noticed at the end of the

1980s in India. A population survey at that time showed that the three species of vultures had declined 14 by over 90 per cent. All three species are now listed as ―critically endangered‖. As most vultures lay only single eggs and 15 take about five years to reach maturity, reversing their population decline will be a long and difficult exercise.

第九篇Wonder Webs惊奇网络

Spider webs are more than homes, and they are ingenious traps. And the world’s best web spinner may be the Golden Orb Weaver spider. The female Orb Weaver spins a web of fibers thin enough to be invisible to insect prey, yet (1)tough enough to snare a flying bird without breaking.

The secret of the web’s strength? A type of super-resilient (2)silk called dragline. When the female spider is ready to the web’s spokes and frame, she uses her legs to draw the airy thread out through a hollow nozzle in her belly. Dragline is not sticky, so the spider can race back and forth along (4)it to spin the web’s trademark spiral.恒星英语论坛

Unlike some spiders that weave a new web every day, a Golden Orb Weaver (5)reuses her handiwork until it falls apart, sometimes not for two years. The silky thread is five times stronger than steel by weight and absorbs the force of an impact three times better than Kevlar, a high-strength human-made in bullet-proof vests. And

thanks to its high tensile strength, or the ability to resist breaking under the pulling force called tension, a single strand can stretch up to 40 percent longer than its original (7)length and snap back as well as new. It is no (9)wonder manufacturers are clamoring for spider silk. In the consumer pipeline: High-performance fabrics for athletes and stockings that never run. Think parachute cords and suspension bridge cables. A steady spider silk would be worth billions of dollars – but how to produce it? Harvesting silk on spider farms does not because the territorial arthropods have a tendency to devour their neighbors.

Now, scientists at the biotechnology company Nexia are spinning artificial silk modeled after Golden Orb dragline. The (12)first step: extract silk-making genes from the spiders. Next, implant the genes into goat egg cells. The nanny goats that grow from the eggs secrete dragline . ―The young goats pass on the silk-making gene without (14)any help from us,‖ says Nexia president Jeffrey Turner. Nexia is still perfecting the spinning process, but they hope artificial spider silk will soon be snagging customers (15)as fast as the real thing snags bugs.

★ 第十篇 Chicken Soup for the Soul：Comfort Food Fights Loneliness心灵鸡汤：爽心食品排解孤独感

Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, may be bad for

your arteries．according to a study in Psychological Science, they’re good for your heart and 2emotions．The study focuses on ―comfort food‖ and how it makes people feel．

my family,‖ says Jordan Troisi, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo, and lead author on the study．The study came out of the research program of his co—author Shira Gabriel．It has 4looked at non-human things that may affect human emotions．Some people reduce loneliness by bonding with show, building virtual relationships with a pop song singer or looking at pictures of loved ones．Troisi and Gabriel wondered if comfort food could have the same effect 6 by making people think of their nearest and dearest.

researchers had them write for six minutes about a fight with someone close to them．Others were given an emotionally neutral writing assignment. Then, some people in wrote about the experience of eating a comfort food and others wrote about eating a new food．9 Finally ,the researchers had participants 10 complete questions about their levels of loneliness．

Writing about a fight with a close person made people feel

lonely．But people who were generally 11secure in their relationships would feel less lonely by writing about a comfort food．"We have found that comfort foods are consistently associated with those close to us．"says Troisi．"Thinking about or consuming these foods later then serves as a reminder of those close others．"In 12their essays on comfort food, many people wrote about the of eating food with family and friends.

In another chicken soup in the lab made

people think more about relationships, but only if they considered chicken soup to be a comfort food．This was a question they had been asked long before the experiment, along with many other questions, so they wouldn’t remember it.

Throughout everyone’s daily lives they experience stress, often

associated with our 15connections with others," Troisi says．"Comfort food Can be an easy remedy for loneliness．

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