大家论坛2011年职称英语理工类阅读理解新增文章篇目.doc

*第三十四篇 Batteries Built by Viruses What do chicken pox，the common cold, the flu，and AIDS have in common? Theyre all disease caused by viruses，tiny microorganisms that can pass from person to personIts no wonder1 that when most people think about viruses, finding ways t0 steer clear of2 viruses is whats on peoples minds Not everyone runs from the tiny disease carders, though3In Cambridge, Massachusetts4, scientists have discovered that some viruses can be helpful in an unusual wayThey are putting viruses to work, teaching them to build some of the worlds smallest rechargeable batteries Viruses and batteries may seem like an unusual pair，but theyre not so strange for engineer Angela Belcher，who first came up with5 the ideaAt the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, she and her collaborators bring together different areas of science in new waysIn the case of the virus-built batteries, the scientists combine what they know about biology, technology and production techniques Belchers team includes Paula Hammond，who helps put together the tiny batteries, and Yet-Ming Chiang， an expert on how to store energy in the form of a battery“Were working on things we traditionally dont associate with nature” says Hammond Many batteries are already pretty smallYou can hold AC and D batteries6 in your handThe coinlike batteries that power watches are often smaller than a pennyHowever。every year，new electronic devices like personal music players or cell phones get smaller than the year beforeAs these devices shrink, ordinary batteries wont be small enough to fit inside The ideal battery will store a lot of energy in a small packageRight now，Belchers model battery，a metallic disk completely built by viruses，looks like a regular watch batteryBut inside，its components are very smallso tiny you can only see them with a powerful microscopeHow small are these battery parts? To get some idea of the size，pluck one hair from your headPlace your hair on a piece of white paper and try to see how wide your hair ispretty thin，right? Although the width of each persons hair is a bit different，you could probably fit about l o of these virusbuilt battery parts，side to side，across one hairThese microbatteries may change the way we look at viruses7词汇：chicken pox水痘microorganism n微生物metallic adj金属的collaborator n合作者，协作者pluck v拔，摘，采注释：1no wonder：不足为奇的，难怪2steer clear of：避开，绕开3though：意思为“然而，可是”。在句中使用时通常放在句末。4Cambridge，Massachusetts：马萨诸塞州的剑桥市。本文第三段提到的the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge即指坐落于剑桥市的麻省理工学院。麻省理工学院于1861年由著名自然科学家威廉巴罗吉杰斯创立。这是美国的一所私立研究型大学，培养高级科技人才和管理人才，是以理工科为主的、世界一流的综合性大学。5came up with：提出6A，C and D batteries：A、C、D均为电池型号。7These microbatteries may change the way we look at viruses：这些微型电池可能会改变我们看待病毒的方式。作者想表达的意思是：人们一直认为病毒有害无益，现在病毒可用来制作电池，人们对病毒的看法可能会因此而发生变化。练习： 1According to the first paragraph，people try to Akill microorganisms related to chicken pox，the flu，etc Bkeep themselves away from viruses because they are invisible Cstay away from viruses because they are causes of various diseases Dcure themselves of virusrelated diseases by taking medicines2What is Belchers team doing at present? AIt is finding ways to get rid of viruses BIt is massproducing microbatteries CIt is making batteries with viruses DIt is analyzing virus genes3What expression below is opposite in meaning to the word shrink appearing in paragraph 5？ ABroaden BSpread CExtend DExpand：4. Which of the following is true of Belchers battery mentioned in paragraph 6？ AIt is made of metal BIt is a kind of watch battery CIt can only be seen with a microscope DIt is a metallic disk with viruses inside it5. How tiny is one battery part? AIts width is one tenth of a hair BIt equals the width of a hair CIt is as thin as a piece of paper DIts width is too tiny to measure答案与题解：1C短文第一段的大致意思是，许多疾病都由病毒引起，诸如水痘、感冒和艾滋病，所以人们想尽办法躲避病毒。这是C所表达的意思。A不是正确选择，因为文章并没有说人们想方设法去杀死病毒。B的后半句的内容(病毒肉眼看不见)和D的内容(吃药治疗病毒引起的疾病)文中没有提到.2C短文的第二段明确提供了答案。3D 根据上下文，shrink在此的意思是“收缩”，即“缩小”。所以，它的反义词是expand(增大，扩张)。C不是正确选择，因为extend的意思是become longer，即“延伸”或“加长”。A的意思是“加宽”，也不是答案。B的意思是“伸展，展开”，在一定的上下文里也可以做shrink的反义词，但在第五段这个语境里，B不是最佳选择。4D第六段第二句中提到的metallic disk是指“金属圆盘”，它是微型电池的外形，其内部是由病毒构成的电池部件。微型电池不是由金属组成的，所以A不是答案。本段提到，这种电池looks like a regular watch battery，与手表里电池外形相似，但并不等同手表电池，所以B也不是正确选择。文章只是说电池的部件(但并没有说整个电池)小到只能用显微镜才能看到，所以C也不是正确的选择。D才是第六段所要表达的主要内容，因此是答案。5A 短文最后一段的第四句(“you could probably fit about lo of these virus-built battery parts，side to side，across one hair”)提供了本题的答案。病毒电池 理B水痘、普通感冒、流感和艾滋病有哪些相似之处呢？这些都是由病毒引起的疾病。病毒是能够在人与人之间传染的微生物。难怪大部分人一提到病毒，首先想到的是如何躲避病毒。然而， 并不是每个人都躲避这些病毒携带者。在马萨诸塞州剑桥市，科学家发现有些病毒能起到非同寻常的作用。他们使病毒开始工作，使病毒构成世界上最小的充电电池。病毒和电池的搭档似乎并不常见，但这对于工程师安吉拉贝尔彻来说却并不陌生。安吉拉贝尔彻最早产生了这一想法。在位于剑桥市的麻省理工学院，她和合作者一起用新方式融合了不同的科学领域。在由病毒构成的电池里，科学家融合了他们在生物、技术和生产工艺方面的知识。贝尔彻的团队包括帮助组装微型电池的宝拉哈蒙德和以电池形式存储能量的专家蒋业明。哈蒙德说，“我们现在从事的行业是传统中不会想到的。”许多电池已经很小了。A型、C型和D型电池都可以握在手里。硬币形状的手表电池通常比分币还小。然而，个人音乐播放器和手机等新型电子设备变得越来越小。这些设备变小了，普通电池就无法安装进去了。理想的电池应当体积小、储能多。 ，贝尔彻的电池模型是完全由病毒构成的金属圆盘，看起来就像普通手表电池。但里面的部件却非常小小到用高倍望远镜才能看到。这些电池部件到底有多小呢？从头上拔一根头发，把它放到白纸上，看看头发的宽度是不是很细呢？尽管每个人的头发宽度不同，每个头发上可以并列排放大约10个病毒电池部件。这些为电池能会改变我们对病毒的看法。*第三十八篇Longer Lives for Wild Elephants Most people think of zoos as safe places for animals，where struggles such as difficulty finding food and avoiding predators dont exist. Without such problems, animals in zoos should live to a ripe old agel But mat may not be true for2 the largest land animals on Earth. Scientists have known that elephants in zoos often suffer from poor healthThey develop diseases，joint problems and behavior changesSometimesthey even become infertileor unable to have babies To learn more about how captivity affects elephants, a team of international scientists compared the life spans of female elephants born in zoos with female elephants living outdoors in their native landsZoos keep detailed records of all the animals in their care，documenting factors such as birth dates，illnesses，weight and deathThese records made it possible for the researchers to analyze 40years of data on 800 African and Asian elephants in zoos across EuropeThe scientists compared the life spans of the zooborn elephants with the life spans of thousands of female wild elephants in Africa and Asian elephants that work in logging camps3，over approximately the same time period The team found that female African elephants born in zoos lived an average of l 6.9 yearsTheir wild counterparts who died of natural causes lived an average of 56 yearsmore than three times as longFemale Asian elephants followed a similar patternIn zoos, they lived l 89 s years, while those in the logging camps lived 41.7 years Scientists dont yet know why wild elephants seem to fare so much better than their zoo-raised counterpartsGeorgia Mason，a biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada who led the study, thinks stress and obesity may be to blame4Zoo elephants dont get the same kind of exercise they would in the wild，and most are very fatElephant social lives are also much different in zoos than in the wild，where they live in large herds and family groups Another finding from the study showed that Asian elephants born in zoos were more likely to die early than Asian elephants captured in the wild and brought to zoosMason suggests stress in the mothers in zoos might cause them to have babies that are less likely to surviveThe study raises some questions about acquiring more elephants to keep in zoosWhile some threatened and endangered species living in zoos reproduce successfully and maintain healthy populations，that doesnt appear to be the case with elephantsCurrently，zoos al e net consumers of elephants，not net producers， Mason says词汇：Predator n食肉动物Ripe adj成熟的Infertile adj不生育的Captivity n监禁；束缚Fare v过活，生活Obesity adj过度肥胖；肥胖症注释：11ive to a ripe old age：这是一种固定用法，意思是live to an age that is considered to be very old(长寿，高寿)。2be true for：或者be true of：对适用。短文中第二段第一句：But that may not be true for the largest land animals on Earth这里，作为主语的that指的是第一段所陈述的内容。这个句子要传达的意思是：动物园对其他动物来说是一个安栖之地，而对大象来说却不然。3logging camps：伐木场。Loggin9作为名词，意思是：伐木业。4stress and obesity may be to blame：压力和肥胖是问题的根源。be to blame：该受责备，应承担责任。 练习：1According to the first two paragraphs，unlike other zoo animals，zoo elephants Ahave difficulty eating food B1ive to a ripe old age C：are not afraid of predators Ddevelop health problems2Which of the following about the international scientists research on the life spans of elephants is NOT true? (See paragraph 3)? AThey compared zoo elephants with wild elephants BThey kept detailed records of all the elephants in their care CThey analyzed the records of the elephants kept in zoos DThe zoo-born elephants they studied are kept in European zoos3What do the scientists find in their research? AFemale elephants live longer than male elephants BFemale zoo elephants live longer than their wild counterparts CFemale zoo elephants die much earlier than their wild counterparts DElephants in zoos and those in the wild enjoy the same long life spans4What are the possible causes of stress and obesity zooraised elephants generally suffer from? AThey do not like living in herds BThey do not get enough exercise CThey do not live with their families DBoth B and C5Which of the following does the author suggest in the last paragraph? AIt may not be a wise policy to keep elephants in the zoo BElephants are no longer an endangered species CZoo-born elephants should be looked after more carefully DZoos should keep more animals except elephants答案与题解：1D短文的第一段告诉我们，人们通常认为动物园内的动物没有猎食的困难，也不受其他 猎食动物的威胁，所以一般寿命较长。但第一段并没有提及大象。第二段则说，动物园内的大象却不然，它们面临很多健康问题。所以，除了D以外，其他选项均不