2013年职称英语小抄

第四部分阅读理解
第十一篇When Our Eyes Serve Our Stomach Our senses aren’t just delivering a strict view of what’s going on in the world；they’re affected by what’s going on in our heads1. A new study finds that hungry people see food-related words more clearly t han people who’ve just eaten. Psychologists have known for decades that what’s going on inside our head affects our senses．For example, poorer children think coins are larger than they are, and hungry people think pictures of food are brighter．Rémi Radel of University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis2, France, wanted to investigate how this happens．Does it happen right away as the brain receives signals from the eyes or a little later as the brain’s high-1evel thinking processes get involved.
Radel recruited 42 students with a normal body mass
index3．On the day of his or her test, each student was told to arrive at the lab at noon after three or four hours of not eating. Then they were told there was a delay. Some were told to come back in 10 minutes; others were given an hour to get lunch first. So half the students were hungry when they did the experiment and the other half had just eaten.
For the experiment, the participant looked at a computer screen．One by one, 80 words flashed on the screen for about
l/300th of a second each. They flashed at so small a size that the students could only consciously perceive．A quarter of the words were food-related．After each word, each person was asked how bright the word was and asked to choose which of two words they’d seen-a food-related word like cake or a neutral word like boat. Each word appeared too briefly for the participant to really read it．
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Hungry people saw the food-related words as brighter and were better at identifying food- related words. Because the word appeared too quickly for them to be reliably seen, this means that the difference is in perception5, not in thinking processes, Radel says.
“This is something great to me．Humans can really’perceive what they need or what they strive for. From the experiment, I know that our brain can really be at the disposal of 6 our motives and needs. ”Radel says.
练习：
1．What does the new study mentioned in Paragraph l find? (C) Hungry people are more sensitive to food—related words than stomach—full people．
2．Why was there a delay on the day of the experiment?
(B)Because Radel wanted to create two groups of testers, hungry and non—hungry．
3. What does the writer want to tell us?
(C)Humail brains carl really be at the disposal of our motives and needs.
4．What did the results of the experiment indicate?
(A) 80 words flashed on the screen too fast for the participant to intentionally perceive.
5. What carl we infer from the passage?
(D) Humans call perceive what they need without involving high—level thinking processes
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第十九篇Musical Robot Companion Enhances Listener
Experience
Shimi, a musical companion developed by Georgia Tech, s Center for Music Technology, recommends songs, dances to the beat and keeps the music pumpin92basedonlistener feedback. The smartphone-enabled, 0ne-foot-tall robot is billed as all interactive“musical friend”.
Shimi is designed to change the way that people enjoy and think about theft music, ”said Professor Gil Weinberg. the robot’s creator．He will unveil the robot at the June 27th Google I/O conference in San Francisco. A band of three Shimi robots will perform for guests, dancing in sync with music created in the lab and composed according to its movements.
Shimi is essentially a docking station w ith a“brain”powered by an Android phone．Once docked, the robot gains the sensing and musical generation capabilities8 0f the user’s mobile device．In other words, if there’s an“app”for that, Shimi is ready．For instance, by using the phone’s camera and face-detecting software, Shimi can follow a listener around the room and position its“ears”. Or speakers. for optimal sound．Another recognition feature is based on rhythm and tempo. If the user taps a beat, Shimi analyzes it, scans the phone’s musical library and immediately plays the song that best matches the suggestion. Once the music starts, Shimi dances to the rhythm,
“Many people think that robots are limited by their programming instructions, ”said Music Technology Ph．D. candidate Mason Breran. “Shimi s hows us that robots can be creative and interactive. ”Future apps in the works“will allow the user to shake their head in disagreement or wave a hand in the air to alert Shimi to skip to the next song or increase/decrease the volume．
3 The robot will also have the capability to recommend new music based on the user’s song choices and provide feedback on the music play list.
Weinberg hopes other developers will be inspired to create more apps to expand Shimi’S creative and interactive capabilities. “I believe that our center is ahead of a revolution that will see more robots in homes．”Weinberg said．
Weinberg is in the process of commercializing Shimi through an exclusive licensing agreement with Georgia Tech. Weinberg hopes to make the robot available to consumers by the 2013 holiday season. “If robots are going to arrive in homes. we think that they will be this kind of machines-small, entertaining and fun, ”Weinberg said. “They will enhance your life and pave the way for more intelligent service robots“in our"lives．”
练习
1. Which of the following is NOT true according to the first three paragraphs?
(B) Shimi is the creator of the musical companion. 2．What does Shimi do if the user taps a beat?
(D) It selects a perfectly-matched song and plays it in sync with that beat.
3. Which of the following about Shimi is true?
(D) Shimi call be creative and interactive.
4. What does the author want to tell us?
(A) The research center is developing a sponger and more versatile Shimi.
5. Which of the follow ing is Weinberg’s assertion?
(B) human lives will be filled with more fun if Shimi is going to arrive in homes．
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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( administration) 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 in1999. With a 3 (height)of 452 metres, the tall twin towers, like two thin pencils, dominate the city of Kuala Lumpur．At the 41 floor, the towels are linked by a bridge, symbolizing a gateway to the city. The American
4(architect)Cesar Pelli designed the skyscrapers．Constructed of igh—strength concrete, the building provides around l, 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
The Millau 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 ) 0ver 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 l20 years!
The Italpu Dam
The Itaipu hydroelectric power plant is one of the largest constructions of its kind in the world It consists of a series of darns across the River Parana, ll (which)forms a natural border between Brazil6 and Paraguay7. Started in l975 and
takin9 16 years to complete, the construction was carried out as a joint project between the two12 (countries ) ．The dam is
well-known for both its electricity output and its size. In l995 it produced 78％of Paraguay’s and 25％of Brazil’s l3(energy ) needs In its construction, thel 4（amount）0f iron and steel used was equivalent to over 300 Eiffel Towers8 It is al 5（truly）amazing wonder of engineering．
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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．
While4their 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 may9 (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 the10 (future) ．
The need for action is ll(urgent) , so an emergency project has been launched to12 (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 l3(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 percent. All thre e species are now listed as“critically endangered”. As most vulture lay only single eggs and l5 (take) about five years to reach maturity, reversing their population decline will be a long and difficult exercise.
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