2014年职称英语完形填空

2014年职称英语理工类考试教材完形填空文章及译文（5）2014年职称英语考试时间为3月29日。

小编为您整理职称英语理工类教材中完形填空部分的文章及译文，希望对您有所助益。

Singing Alarms Could Save the BlindIf you cannot see, you may not be able to1 find your way out of a burning building — and that could be fatal. A company in Leeds could change all that2____1____ directional sound alarms capable of guiding you to the exit.Sound Alert, a company____2____ 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____ produce a wide range of frequencies that enable the brain to determine where the____5____ is coining from.Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarms use most of the frequencies that can be____6____ by humans. “It is a burst of white noise____7____ 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 of3 a large____8____ room. It____9____ them nearly four minutes to find the door____10____ a sound alarm, but only 15 seconds with one.Withington studies how the brain____11____ sounds at the university. She says that the____12____ 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.词汇：directional adj.定向的exit n.出口install v.安装residential adj.居住的static n.静电噪声potential n.潜力thermal-imaging热效应成像pinpoint v.精确地确定concept n.概念，观念emergency n.紧急情况grant n.授予物，准许注释：1.在谓语动词中，不能并列使用两个情态动词，如may和can就不能并列使用。

完形填空Better Control of TB Seen If a Faster Cure Is Found The World Health Organization1 estimates that about one-third of all people are infected with bacteria that cause tuberculosis. Most times, the infection remains inactive. But each year about eight million people develop active cases of TB, usually in their 1 lungs .Two million people die 2 of it. The disease has 3 increased with the spread of AIDS and drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis.Current treatments take at least six months. Patients have to 4 take a combination of several antibiotic drugs daily. But many people stop 5 as soon as they feel better. Doing that can 6 lead to an infection that resists treatment. Public health experts agree that a faster-acting cure for tuberculosis would be more effective. Now a study estimates just how 7 effective it might be. A professor of international health at Harvard University2 led the study. Joshua Salomon says a shorter treatment program would likely mean not just more patients 8 cured.It would also mean 9 fewer infectious patients who can pass on their infection to others.The researchers developed a mathematical model to examine the effects of a two-month treatment plan. They10 tested the model with current TB conditions in Southeast Asia. The scientists found that a two-month treatment could prevent about twenty percent of new cases. And it might 11 prevent about twenty-five percent of TB deaths. The model shows that these 12 reductions would take place between two thousand twelve and two thousand thirty. That is, if a faster cure is developed and in wide use by two thousand twelve.The World Health Organization 13 developed the DOTS3 program in nineteen ninety. DOTS is Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course. Health workers watch tuberculosis patients take their daily pills to make 14 sure they continue treatment.Earlier this year, an international partnership of organizations announced a plan to expand the DOTS program. The ten-year plan also aims to finance research 15 into new TB drugs. The four most common drugs used now are more than forty years old. The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development4 says its long-term goal is a treatment that could work in as few as ten doses.A Biological ClockEvery living thing has what scientists call a biological clock that controls behavior. The biological clock tells __1plants __ when to form flowers and when the flowers should open. It tells __2 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 __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 of the number of hours of daylight. In the short __5days 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 __6 flight twice each year. Birds __7 prevented from 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 __9 parts 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 work. For example, most of us have great difficulty if we must often change to different work hours._14 It can take 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,：One Good Reason to Let Smallpox LiveIt’s now a fair bet that we will never see the total extinction of the smallpox virus. The idea was to cap the glorious achievement of 1980，when smallpox was eradicated in the wild, by destroying the killer virus in the last two labs that are supposed to have it — one in the US and one in Russia. If smallpox had truly gone from the planet, what point was there in keeping these reserves?1 In reality, of course, it was naive to_2 imagine that everyone would let_3 go of such a potent potential weapon.1 Undoubtedly several nations still have_4 a few vials._5 And the last “official”stocks of live virus bred mistrust of the US and Russia,2_6 for no obvious gain.Now American researchers have_7 found an animal model of the human disease, opening the__8 way for tests on new treatments and vaccines.So once again there’s a good reason to_9 keep the virus —just in_10 case the disease puts in a reappearance.How do we_11 deal with the mistrust of the US and Russia?_ 12 Simple Keep the virus_13 under international auspices in a well-guarded UN laboratory that’s open to all countries. The US will object, of course, just as it rejects a multilateral approach to just about everything. But it doesn’t14mea n the idea is wrong. If the virus__15 is useful, then let’s make it the servant of all humanity — not just a part of itDiet, Alcohol Linked to Nearly One Third of CancersDiet is second only to1 tobacco as a leading_1 cause of cancer and, along with alcohol, is responsible for nearly one third of cases of the disease_2 in developed countries, a leading researcher said on Tuesday.Dr. Tim Key, of the University of Oxford, told a cancer conference that scientists are still discovering how certain foods contribute to_3.cancer，but they know that diet, alcohol and obesity_4 play a major role.“Five percent of cancers could be avoided_5 if nobody was obese,”he said.While tobacco is linked to about 30_6 percent of cancer cases, diet is involved in an estimated 25 percent and alcohol_7in about six percent.Obesity raises the_8.risk of breast, womb, bowel and kidney cancer, while alcohol is known to cause cancers of the mouth, throat and liver. Its dangerous impact is_9 increased when combined with smoking.Key told the meeting of the charity Cancer Research UK_10 that other elements of diet linked to cancer are_11 still unknown but scientists are hoping that the EPIC study, which is comparing the diets of 500,000 people in 10 countries and their risk of cancer, will provide some_12 answers .Early results of the study have revealed that Norway, Sweden and Denmark have the the_13 lowest consumption of fruit and vegetables among European countries while lta1y and Spain have the highest. Eating at_14 least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day is recommended to reduce the risk of cancer.Key , principal scientist on EPIC study, said it is looking at dietary links to some of the most common cancers_15 including colorecta1, breast and prostate.Men Too May Suffer from Domestic ViolenceNearly three in 10 men have experienced violence at the hands of1 an intimate partner during their lifetimes, according to one of the few studies to look _1 at domestic violence and health among men.“Many men actually do experience domestic violence, although we don’t hear about it_2 often,”Dr. Robert J. Reid of the University of Washington in Seattle , one of the study's authors ，told Reuters Health. “They often don't tell_3 and we don't ask. We want to get the message out2 to men who_4 do experience domestic violence that they are not alone and there are resources available to_5 them.”The researchers asked study participants about physical abuse and non-physical_6 abuse, such as threats that made them_7 fear for3 their safety, controlling behavior (for example, being told who they could associate with and where they could go)，and constant name-calling.Among men 18 to 54 years old, 14.2 percent said they had experienced intimate partner_8 violence in the past five years, while 6.1 percent reported domestic violence in the previous year.Rates were lower for men 55 and_9older，with 5.3 percent reporting violence in the past five years and 2.4 percent having experienced it in the past 12 months.Overall, 30.5 percent of men younger than 55 and 26.5 percent of older men said they had been victims of_10 domestic violence at some point in their lives. About half of the violence the men_11 experienced was physical.However, the physical violence men reported wasn’t as harsh as_12 that suffered by women in a previous study；20 percent to 40 percent of the men rated it as severe, compared to 61 percent of_13 womenMen who reported experiencing domestic violence had more emotional and mental health problems_14 than those who had not, especially older men, the_15 researchers found.Onec-daily Pill Could Simplify HIV TreatmentBristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences have combined many HIV drugs into a single pill. Sometimes the best medicine is more than one kind of medicine. Malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/ ADDS2，for example, are all treated with_1 combinations of drugs. But that can mean a lot of pills to take. It would be_2 simpler if drug companies combined all the medicines into a single pill, taken just once a day.Now, two companies say they have done that for people just_3 starting treatment for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The companies are Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences. They have_4 developed a single pill that combines three drugs currently on the market. Bristol-MyersSquibb sells one of them_5 under the name of Sustiva3. Gilead combined the_6 others Emtriva and Viread, into a single pill in two thousand four.Combining drugs involves more than_7 technical issues. It also involves issues of competition_8 if the drugs are made by different companies. The new once-daily pill is the result of_9 what is described as the first joint venture agreement of its kind in the treatment of HIV.In January the New England Journal of Medicine4 published a study of the new pill. Researchers compared its_10 effectiveness to5 that of the widely used combination of Sustiva and Combivir. Combivir_11 contains two drugs, AZT6 and 3TC7. The researchers say that after one year of treatment, the new pill suppressed HIV levels in more patients and with_12 fewer side effects8. Gilead paid for the study. Professor Joel Gallant at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, led the research. He is a paid adviser to Gilead and Bristol-Meyers Squibb as well as the maker of Combivir, Glaxo Smith Kline.Glaxo Smith Kline reacted_13. to the findings by saying that a single study is of limited value. It says the effectiveness of Combivir has been shown in each of more than fifty studies.The price of the new once-daily pill has not been announced. But Gilead and Bristol-Myers Squibb say they will provide it at reduced cost to developing countries. They plan in the next few months to ask the United States Food and Drug Administration9 to_14 approve the new pill.There are limits to who could take it because of the different drugs it contains. For example, 15 pregnant women are told not to take Sustiva because of the risk of birth disorders10. Experts say more than forty million people around the world are living with HIV.ExerciseWhether or not exercise adds_1 to the length of life, it is common experience that a certain_2 amount of regular exercise improves the health and contributes a feeling of well-being. Furthermore, exercise_3which involves play and recreation, and relieves nervous tension and mental fatigue in so doing, is not only pleasant but beneficial.How much and what kind of exercise one should _4 take merits careful consideration. The growing child and the normal young man and young woman thrill with the exhilaration of strenuous sports.1 They fatigue to the_5 point of exhaustion but recover promptly with a period of rest. But not so with__6 those of middle age and beyond. For them moderation is_7 of vital importance. Just how much exercise a person of a given age can safely take is a question_8 hard _to answer. Individual variability is_9 too great to permit of generalization. A game of tennis may be perfectly safe for one person of forty but folly for another. The safe limit for exercise_10 depends on the condition of the heart, the condition of the muscles, the type of exercise, and the regularity with which it is taken. Two general suggestions, however, will_11 serve as sound advice for anyone. The first is that the condition of this heart and general health should be_12 determined periodically by careful, thorough physical examinations. The_13 other is that exercise should be kept below the point of physical exhaustion.What type of exercise one should_14 choose depends upon one’s physical condition. Young people can safely enjoy vigorous competitive sports, but most older persons do better to limit themselves to less strenuous activities.2 Walking, swimming, skating are among the sports that one can enjoy and safely participate_15 in throughout life. Regularity is important if one is to get the most enjoyment and benefit out of exercise.3练习：Old And ActiveIt is well-known that life expectancy is longer in Japan than in most other countries. A_1 recent report also shows that Japan has the longest health expectancy in the world. A healthy long life is the result of the_2 improvement in social environment1.Scientists are trying to work_3 out exactly what keeps elderly Japanese people so healthy, and whether there is a lesson to be_4 learnt from their lifestyles for the rest of us. Should we_5 make any changes to our eating habits, for instance, or go jogging each day before breakfast? Is there some secret_6ingredient in the Japanese diet that is particularly_7 beneficia l to the human body?Another factor_8 contributing to the rapid population aging in Japan is a decline in birthrate. Although longer life should be celebrated, it is__9 actually considered a social problem. The number of older people had_10 double d in the last half century and that has increased pension and medical costs. The country could soon be_11 facing an economic problem, if there are so many old people to be looked_12 after,and relatively few younger people working and paying taxes to support them.13 Raising the retirement age from 65 to 70 could be one solution to the problem2. Work can give the elderly a_14 sense of responsibility and mission in life. It’s important that the elderly play active15 roles in the society and live in harmony with all generations.The Case of the Disappearing FingerprintsOne useful anti-cancer drug can effectively erase the whorls and other characteristic marks that give people their distinctive fingerprints. Losing _1 them could become troublesome. A case released online in a letter by Annals of Oncology indicates how big a __2 problem of losing fingerprints is.Eng-Huat Tan, a Singapore-based medical doctor describes a 62-year old man who has used capecitabine to 3 treat his nasopharyngeal cancer. After three years on the _4 drug.，the patient decided to visit U. S. relatives last December. But he was stopped by U. S. customs officials _5 for.4 hours after entering the country when those officials couldn't get fingerprints from the man. There were no distinctive swirly _6 marks appearing from his index finger.U. S. customs has been fingerprinting incoming foreign visitors for years, Tan says. Their index fingers are _7 printed and screened against digital files of the fingerprints of bad guys—terrorists and potential criminals that our federal guardians have been tasked with keeping out of the country. Unfortunately, for the Singaporean traveler，one potential _8 side effect of his drug treatment is a smoothing of the tissue on the finger pads. 9 Hence，no fingerprints.“It is uncertain when fingerprint loss will _10 begin to take place in patients who are taking capecitabine，”Tan points out. So he cautions any physicians who _11 prescribe the drug to provide their patients with .a doctor’s note pointing out that their medicine may cause fingerprints to disappear.Eventually, the Singapore traveler made it into the United States. I guess the name on his passport didn’t raise any red flags. But he，s also now got the explanatory doctor’s note —and won’t leave home _12 without. it.By the way, maybe the Food and Drug Administration, _13 which approved use of the drug11 years ago, should consider _14 updating its list of side effects associated with this medicine. The current list does note that patients may experience vomiting, stomach pain and some other side effects. But no where _15 does it mention the potential for loss of fingerprints.Hospital MistreatmentIn the past twenty years, there has been an increasing tendency for workers to move from one country to another. __1 While |some newly independent countries have understandably restricted most jobs to local people, others have attracted and welcomed migrant workers. This is particularly the case in the Middle East1, _2 where |increased oil incomes have enabled many countries to_3 call in |outsiders to improve local facilities. 4 Thus|the Middle East has attracted oil-workers from the USA and Europe. It has brought in construction workers and technicians from many countries, _5 including South Korea and Japan.In view of the difficult living and working conditions in the Middle East,2_6 surprising|it is not 6 that the pay is high to attract suitable workers. Many engineers and technicians can earn at least_7 twice as much |money in the Middle East as they can in their own country, and this is a major attraction. An allied benefit is the low taxation or complete lack of it.3 This increases the net amount of pay received by visiting workers and is very popular with them.Sometimes a disadvantage has a compensating advantage. _8For example the difficult living conditions often lead to increased friendship when workers have to depend on each other_9 for safety and comfort. 10 In a similar way, many migrant workers can save large sums of money partly _11 because of the lack of entertainment facilities. The work is often complex and full of problems but this merely presents greater challenge engineers who prefer to find sollutions _12 to problems rather than do routine work in their home country.One major problem which_13affects migrant workers in the Middle East is that their jobs are temporary ones. They are nearly always on contract, so it is not easy for them to plan ahead with great confidence. This is to be expected since no country welcomes a large number of foreign workers as permanent residents._14In any case, migrant workers accept this disadvantage, along with others, because of the_15 considerable financial benefits which they receive.。

2014年职称英语考试真题(综合类C级)第一部分：词汇选项(第1～15题，每题1分，共15分)下面共有15个句子，每个句子中均有1个词或短语划有底横线，请从每个句子后面所给的4个选项中选择1个与划线部分意义最相近的词或短语。

1.The AIDS convention will be held in Glasgow.A.partyB.celebrationC.unionD.conference2.He made a number of rude remarks about the food.mentsB.signsC.mannersD.noises3.The new service helped boost pre-tax profits by10%.A.returnB.realizeC.increaseD.doubleck of space forbids further treatment of the topic here.A.receivesB.preventsC.deservesD.accepts5.Take some spare clothes in case you get wet,A.extraB.fineC.winterD.outdoor6.The book raised a storm of controversy.A.damageB.voiceC.argumentD.doubt7.His heart gave a sudden leap when he saw her.A.jumpB.hopeC.silenceD.life8.I'm sure I'll able to amuse myself for a few hours.A.treatB.entertainC.holdD.keep9.Some comments are just inviting trouble.A.keeping out ofB.getting intoC.asking forD.suffering from10.My principal concern is to get the job done fast.A.seriousB.deepC.particularD.main11.Several windows had been smashed.A.cleanedB.brokenC.replacedD.fixed12.His knowledge of French is fair.A.quite goodB.very usefulC.very limitedD.rather special13.They are trying to identify what is wrong with the present system.A.discoverB.proveC.considerD.imagine14.The worst agonies of the war were now beginning.A.partsB.aspectsC.painsD.results15.Afterwards there was just a feeling of letdown.A.excitementB.disappointmentC.angerD.calm第二部分：阅读判断(第16～22题，每题l分，共7分)下面的短文后列出了7个句子，请根据短文的内容对每个句子做出判断：如果该句提供的是正确信息，请选择A；如果该句提供的是错误信息，请选择B；如果该句的信息文中没有提及，请选择C。

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 , seem to have escaped that terrible tsunami. This phenomenon adds weight to notions that 1they possess a “sixth sense” for 2 , 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 wild beasts, with no dead animals found.“N o elephants arc dead, not 4 a dead rabbit. I think animals can 5 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 washed 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 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 at Johannesburg Zoo. “There have been no ＿10＿ studies because you can‟t really test it in a lab or field setting 2,” he told Reuters. Other authorities concurred with this 11 . “Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain 12 , especially birds … there are many reports of birdsdetecting impending disasters,” said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife. Animals 13 rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger slid as predators. The notion of an animal “sixth sense” — or 14 other mythical power is an enduring one 3which theevidence on Sri Lanka‟s ravaged coast is likely to add to. The Romans saw owls 15 omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special power or attributes.词汇： tsunami /tsju:5nB:mi / n.海啸 concur /kEn5kE: / v.(with)同意，赞成 trigger /5tri^E / v.引发，触发 impending /im5pendiN / adj.迫近的 ravaged adj.被毁坏的 predator /5predEtE / n.食肉动物 leopard /5lepEd / n.豹 mythical /5miWikEl/ adj.神话般的 eruption /i5rQpFEn / n.喷发 owl /Eul / n.猫头鹰 migrate /mai5^reit / v.迁移 omen /5Eumen / n.预兆，征兆 volcanic /vCl5kAnik / adj.火山的 endow /in5dau / v.赋予注释: 1. adds weight to notions that ：更加相信……2. field setting ：field 意为“实地，野外”， setting 意为“环境”。

Migrant WorkersIn the past twenty years, there has been an increasing tendency for workers to move from one country to another. While some newly independent countries have understandably restricted most jobs to local people, others have attracted and welcomed migrant workers. This is particularly the case in the Middle East,1 where increased oil incomes have enabled many countries to call in outsiders to improve local facilities.Thus the Middle East has attracted oil-workers from the USA and Europe. It has brought in construction workers and technicians from many countries, including South Korea and Japan.In view of the difficult living and working conditions in the Middle East, 2 it is not surprising that the pay is high to attract suitable workers. Many engineers and technicians can earn at least twice as much money in the Middle East as they can in their own country, and this is a major attraction. An allied benefit is the low taxation or complete lack of it. 3 This increases the net amount of pay received by visiting workers and is very popular with them. Sometimes a disadvantage has a compensating advantage. For example, the difficult living conditions often lead to increased friendship when workers have to depend on each other for safety and comfort. In a similar way, many migrant workers can save large sums of money partlybecause of the lack of entertainment facilities. The work is often complex and full of problems but this merely presents greater challenge to engineers who prefer to find solutions to problems rather than do routine work in their home country.One major problem which affects migrant workers in the Middle East is that their jobs are temporary ones. They are nearly always on contract, so it is not easy for them to plan ahead with great confidence. This is to be expected since no country welcomes a large number of foreign workers as permanent residents. In any case , migrant workers accept this disadvantage, along with others, because of the considerable financial benefits which they receive.DreamsEveryone can dream．Indeed, everyone does dream．Those who claim that they never dream at all actually dream just as frequently as the rest of us, though they may not remember anything about it．Even those of us who are perfectly aware of dreaming night after night very seldom remember those dreams in great detail but merely retain an untidy mixture of seemingly unrelated impressions. Dreams are not simply visual-we dream with all our sense , so that we appear to experience sound, touch, smell, and taste．One of the world's oldest known written documents is the Egyptian Book of Dreams．This volume is about five thousand years old, so you can see that dreams were believed to have a special significance even then．Many ancient civilizations believed that you should never ask a sleeping person as, during sleep, the soul had left the body and might not be able to return in time if the sleeper were suddenly awoken .From ancient times to the present day ,people have been making attempts to interpret dreams and to explain their significance．There are many books available on the subject of dream interpretation．although unfortunately there are almost as many meanings for a particular dreamas there are books．Young Adults Who Exercise Get Higher IQ ScoresYoung adults who are fit have a higher IQ and are more likely to go on to university，reveals a major new study carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital.The results were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study involved 1.2 million Swedish men doing military service who were born between 1950 and 1976. The research group analyzed the results of both physical and IQ tests the youngsters took right after they started serving the army.The study shows a clear link between good physical fitness and better results for the IQ test. The strongest links are for logical thinking and verbal comprehension. But it is only fitness that plays a role in the results for the IQ test，and not strength. “Being fit means that you also have good heart and lung capacity and that your brain gets plenty of oxygen ，” says Michael Nilsson, professor at the Sahlgrenska Academy and chief physician at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. “This ma y be one of the reasons why we can see a clear link with fitness, but not with muscular strength. We are also seeing that there are growth factors that are important. ”By analyzing data for twins, the researchers have been able to determine that it is primarily environmental factors and not genes that explain the link between fitness and a higher IQ.“We have also shown that those youngsters who inprove their physical fitness between the ages of 15 and 18 increase their cognitive performance,” says Maria A berg, researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy and physician at Aby health centre. “This being the case6, physical education is a subject that has an important place in schools, and is an absolute must if we want to do well in maths and other theoretical subj ects.”The researchers have also compared the results from fitness tests during national service with the socio-economic status of the men later in life. Those who were fit at 18 were more likely to go into higher education, and many secured more qualified jobs. Life Expectancy in the Last Hundred YearsA hundred years ago, life expectancy in developed countries was about 47; in early 21st century, men in the United States and the United Kingdom can expect to live to about 74, women to about 80 and these ages are rising all the time. What has brought about these changes? When we look at the life span of people 100 years ago, we need to look at the greatest killers of the time. In the early 20th century, there were the acute and often highly infectious diseases such as smallpox. Many children died very young from these diseases and others, and the weak and elderly were always at risk.In the developed world these diseases are far less deadly today, and in some cases have almost disappeared. A number of factors have led to this: improvements in sanitation and hygiene, the discovery and use of antibiotics, which make bacterial diseases much less dangerous, and vaccinations against common diseases. In addition, people’s general health has improved with improvements in our general environment: cleaner air, better means of preserving food, better and warmer housing, and better understanding of nutrition.Genetically, we should all be able to live to about 85 but while people do live longer today, there are still some big killers around that are preventing us from consistently reaching that age. The problems that affect people today are the more chronic illnesses, such as heart disease and strokes, and those spread by viruses, such as influenza and AIDS. Of course, cancer is a huge killer as well. In most cases these diseases affect older people, but there are worrying trends in the developed world with problems such as obesity leading to more heart disease and illnesses suchas diabetes at younger ages.The killers today can be classed as “lifestyle diseases”, which means that it may be possible to halt their progress.Scientists Develop Ways of Detecting Heart AttackGerman researchers have come up with a new generation of defibrillators and early-warning software aimed at offering heart patients greater protection from sudden death from cardiac arrest. In Germany alone around 100,000 people die annually as a result of cardiac arrest and many of these casesare caused by disruption to the heart’s rhythm. Those most at risk are patients who have already suffered a heart attack, and for years the use of defibrillators has proved useful in diagnosing life-threatening disruption to heart rnythms and correcting them automatically by intervening within seconds. These devicestake on a range of functions, such as that of pacemaker. Heart specialists at Freiburg’s University Clinic have now achieved a breakthrough with an implanted defibrillatorcapable of generating a six-channel electrocardiogram (ECG) within the body. This integrated system allows early diagnosis of acute blood-flow problems and a pending heart attack. It will be implanted in patients for the first time this year. Meanwhile, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Mathematics in Kaiserslautern have developed new computer software that renders of ECG data more precise.The overwhelming majority of patients at risk will not have an implanted defibrillator and must for this reason undergo regular ECGs. “Many of the current programs only get into account a linear correlation of the data. We are, however, making use in a non-linear process that reveals the chaotic patterns of heart beats as an open and complex sys tem,” Hagen Knaf says, “In this way changes in the heart beats over time can be monitored and individual variations in patients taken into account.” An old study of ECG data, based upon600 patients who had suffered a subsequent heart attack, enabled the researchers to compare risks and to show that the new software evaluates the data considerably better.。

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.”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 between35 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.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 TowerThe 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 BridgeThe 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 DamThe 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 andbetween 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”(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,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.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 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 beenThe 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(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.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 thecustomer expects.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. Theprocessing 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.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 launchedidentify 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.Wonder Webs(奇妙的网)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 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 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 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 new. No human-made fiber even comes close.It is no wonder manufacturers are clamoring for spider silk. In the consumerThink parachute cords and suspension bridge cables. A steady supply of spider silk would be worth billions of dollars –but how to produce it? Harvesting silk on spider farms does not 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 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 milk. “The young goats pass on the silk-making gene without 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 as fast as the real thing snags bugs.Chicken Soup for the Soul:Comfort Food Fights Lneliness（心灵鸡汤：爽心食品排解孤独感）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 and emotions．The study focuses on “comfort food” and how it makes people feel．"For me 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 looked at non-human things that may affect human emotions．Some people reduce loneliness by bonding with their favorite 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 by making people think of their nearest and dearest.In one experiment, in order to make participants feel lonely, thethem．Others were given an emotionally neutral writing assignment. Then, some people in each group wrote about the experience of eating a comfort food and others wrote about eating a new food．Finally ,the researchers had participants complete questions about their levels of loneliness．Writing about a fight with a close person made people feel lonely．But people who were generally secure 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 their essays on comfort food, many people wrote about the experience of eating food with family and friends.In another experiment, eating 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 connections with others," Troisi says．"Comfort food Can be an easy remedy for loneliness．Climate Change Poses Major Risks for Unprepared Cities （气候变化给不备城市带来重大风险）A new examination of urban policies has been carried out recently by Patricia Romero Lankao．She is a sociologist specializing in climate change and urban development．She wa rns 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 reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases．These gases are known to affect the atmosphere．”Climate change is a deeply local issue and posesprofound threats to the growing cities of the world,” says Romero Lankao. ”But too few cities are developing effective strategies to protect their residents." Cities are 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 benefits．The locations and dense construction patterns of cities often place their populations at greater risk for natural disasters. Potential threats 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 lack 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 without access to reliable drinking water，roads and basic services.Local governments, therefore ,should take measures to protect their residents.”Unfortunately，they tend to move towards rhetoric rather 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 automobile use. In fact, many local governments are taking a hands—off approach.” Thus, she urges them to change their idle policies and to take strong steps to prevent the harmful effects of climate change on cities..Free Statins With Fast Food Could Neutralize Heart Risk (快餐加免费降胆固醇药物可以降低罹患心脏病的风险)Fast food outlets could provide statin drugs free of charge 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 amount of unhealth y ”LDL” cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a person’s heart attack risk .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 enough to offset the increase in heart attack risk from eating 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．Bu t we’ve worked out that in terms of your possibility of having a heart attack. Taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or less the same degree 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 like, 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 customer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 measures that lower their risk, 1ike wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal．Better Solar Energy Systems: More Heat, More Light （更有效的太阳能系统：更多热量，更强灯光）Solar photovoltaic thermal energy systems, or PVTs, generate both heat and electricity, but until now they haven’t been very good at the heat-generating part compared to a stand-alone solar thermal collector. That’s because they operate at low temperatures to cool crystalline silicon solar cells, which lets the silicon generate more electricity but isn’t a very efficient way to gather heat.That’s a problem of economics. Good solar hot-water systems can harvest much more energy than a solar-electric system at a substantially lower cost. And it’s also a space problem: photovoltaic cells can take up all the space on the roof, leaving little room for thermal applications.In a pair of studies, Joshua Pearce, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, has devised a solution in the form of a better PVT made with a different kind of silicon. His research collaborators are Kunal Girotra from Thin Silicon in California and Michael Pathak and Stephen Harrison from Queen’s University, Canada.Most solar panels are made with crystalline silicon, but you can also make solar cells out of amorphous silicon, commonly known as thin-film silicon. They don’t create as much electricity, but they are lighter, flexible, and cheaper. And, because they require much less silicon, they have a greener footprint. Unfortunately, thin-film silicon solar cells are vulnerable to some bad-news physics in the form of the Staebler-Wronski effect.“That means that their efficiency drops when you expose them to light—pretty much the worst possible effect for a solar cell,” Pearce explains, which is o ne of the reasons thin-film solar panels make up only a small fraction of the market.However, Pearce and his team found a way to engineer around the Staebler-Wronski effect by incorporating thin-film silicon in a new type of PVT. You don’t have to cool do wn thin-film silicon to make it work. In fact, Pearce’sgroup discovered that by heating it to solar-thermal operating temperatures, near the boiling point of water, they could make thicker cells that largely overcame the Staebler-Wronski effect. When they applied the thin-film silicon directly to a solar thermal energy collector, they also found that by baking the cell once a day, they boosted the solar cell’s electrical efficiency by over 10 percent.Sharks Perform a Service for Earth's Waters（鲨鱼有益于地球水系）It is hard to get people to think of sharks as anything but a deadly enemy1. They are thought to attack people frequently. But these fish2 perform a valuable service for earth's waters and for human beings. Yet business and sport fishing3 are threatening their existence Some sharks are at risk of disappearing from EarthWarm weather may influence both fish and shark activity. Many fish swim near coastal areas because of their warm waters. Experts say sharks may follow 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 fora 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 times when sharks are looking for food. Experts also say that bright colors and shiny jewelry may cause sharks to attack.A shark has an extremely good sense of smell4' It can find small amounts of substances in water, such as blood, body liquids and chemicals produced by animals. These powerful senses help sharks fred their food. Sharks eat fish, any other sharks, and plants that live in the ocean.Medical researchers want to learn more about the shark's body defense, and immune systems against disease. Researchers know that sharks recover quickly from injuries. They study the shark in hopes of finding a way to fight human disease. Sharks are important for the world's oceans They eat injured and diseased fish. Their hunting activities mean that the numbers of other fish in ocean waters donot become too great This protects the plants and other forms of life that exist in the oceans.“Liquefaction” Key to Much of Japanese Earthquake Damage （“液化”是日本地震破坏的关键）The massive subduction zone1 earthquake in Japan caused a significant level of soil "liquefaction" 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 extent 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 function. We saw some places that sank as much as four feet."Some degree of soil liquefaction7 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 minutes, 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,。

The Difference between Man and ComputerWhat makes people different from computer programs? What is the missing element that our theories don’t yet account for? The answer is simple: People read newspaper stories for a reason: to learn more about what they are interested in. Computers, on the other hand，don't. In fact，computers don't even have interests; there is nothing in particular that they are trying to find out when they read. If a computer program is to be a model of story understanding ，it should also read for a "purpose".Of course ，people have several goals that do not make sense to attribute to computers. One might read a restaurant guide in order to satisfy hunger or entertainment goals, or to find a good place to go for a business lunch. Computers do not get hungry, and computers do not have business lunches.However ，these physiological and social goals give rise to several intellectual or cognitive goals. A goal to satisfy hunger gives rise to goals to find information about the name of a restaurant which serves_ the desired type of food ，how expensive the restaurant is，the location of the restaurant, etc. These are goals to acquire information or knowledge, what we are calling learning goals. These goals can be held by computers too; a computer _might"want" to find out the location of a restaurant ，and read a guide in order to do so in the same way as a person might. While such a goal would not arise out of hunger in the case of the computer，it might well arise out of the "goal" to learn more about restaurants.Working MothersCarefully conducted researches that have followed the children of working mothers have not been able to show any long-term problems，compared with children whose mothers stayed at home. My personal view is that mothers should be allowed to work if they wish. Whether we like it or not ，there are a number of mothers who just have to work.. There are those who have invested such a big part of their lives in establishing a career that they cannot afford see it lost. Then there are many who must work out of pure economic necessity. Many mothers are not cut out to be full-time parents. After a few months at home witha much loved infant ，they feel trapped and isolated.There are a number of options when it comes to choosing childcare.These range from child minders and nannies through to Granny or the kind lady across the street. In reality, however ，many parents don't have any choice; they have to accept anything they can get. Be prepared! No matter how good the childcare may be ，some children are going to protest wildly if they are left. This is a perfectly normal stage of child development. Babies separate well in the first six months，but soon after that they start to get a crush on Mum and close family members . Make sure that in the first week you allow plenty of time to help your child settle in.All children are different. Some are independent ，while others are more attached to their mothers. Remember that if you want to do the best for your children ，it's not the quantity of time you spend with them，it's the quality that matters.The First BicycleThe history of the bicycle goes back more than 200 years. In 1791，Count de Sivrac delighted onlookers in a park in Paris as he showed off his two-wheeled invention ，a machine called the celeriferé. It was basically an enlarged version of a children’s toy which had been in _ use_ for many years.Sivrac's "celeriferéhad a wooden frame，made in the _shape of a horse ，which was mounted on a wheel at either end. To ride it ，you sat on a small seat ，just like a modem bicycle ，and pushed hard against the ground_with your legs —there were no pedals. It was impossible to steer a celeriferéand it had no brakes，but despite these problems the invention very much appealed to the fashionable young men of Paris. Soon they were holding races up and down the streets.Minor injuries were common as riders attempted a final burst of speed_ . Controlling the machine was difficult ，as the only way to change direction was to pull up the front of the "celeriferé" and _turn it round while the front wheel was spinning in the air. "Celeriferés" were not popular for long ，however ，as the combination of no springs ，no steering and rough roads made riding them very uncomfortable. Even so，the wooden celeriferé was the origin of the modem bicycle.1。

2014年职称英语_国家指定教材_完形填空_所有文章中英文对照版 (3)完形填空文章_综合类_C级 (3)第一篇 A Life with Birds【有鸟陪伴的生活】 (3)第二篇 A Lucky Break【幸福的骨折】 (5)第三篇Global Warming 【全球变暖】 (6)第四篇 A Success Story【一个成功的故事】 (8)第五篇Traffic in Our Cities 【城市的交通】 (10)完形填空文章_综合类_B级 (12)第六篇Teaching and Learning【教与学】 (12)第七篇The Difference between Man and Computer 【人与电脑的区别】 (14)第八篇Look on The Bright Side 【看光明的一面】 (16)第九篇The First Bicycle【第一辆自行车】 (18)第十篇Working Mothers 【职业母亲】 (19)完形填空文章_综合类_A级 (21)第十一篇School Lunch【学校午餐】 (21)第十二篇 A Powerful Influence【强大的影响】 (23)第十三篇The Old Gate【古老之门】 (25)第十四篇Family History【家族史】 (27)第十五篇Helen and Martin【海伦和马丁】 (29)完形填空文章课后练习参考答案__综合类 (32)2014年职称英语_国家指定教材_完形填空_所有文章中英文对照版阅读下面的短文。

短文中有十五个空白，在文章的后面，每一个空白都列了四个备选答案。

请根据文章的内容选择合适的词或短语填在空白处。

完形填空文章_综合类_C级第一篇 A Life with Birds【有鸟陪伴的生活】For nearly 17 years David Cope has worked as one of the Tower of London's Yeoman Warders, ____1____ known to tourists as Beefeaters. David, 64, lives in a three-bedroomed flat right at the ___2_____ of the Byward Tower, one of the gatehouses. “____3____ our bedroom we have a marvellous view of Tower Bridge and the Thames. ”says David.The Tower of London is famous ___4____its ravens, the large black birds which have lived there for over three centuries. David was immediately fascinated by the birds and when he was ____5___ the post of Raven Master eight years ago he had no ____6____ i n accepting it. “The birds have now become my life and I'm always ____7___ of the fact that I am ___8____ a tradition. The legend says that if the ravens leave the Tower, England will fall to enemies, and it's my job to ____9____ sure this doesn't happen!”David ____10____about four hours a day to the care of the ravens. He has grown to love them and the ____11____ that he lives right next to them is ideal. “I can ____12____ a close eye on them all the time, and not just when I'm working.” ____13____, David's wife Mo was not ____14____ on the idea of life in the Tower, but she too will be sad to leave when he retires next year. “When we look out of our windows we see history ___15_____ around us, and we are taking it in and storing it up for our future memor ies. ”文章翻译：有鸟陪伴的生活作为伦敦塔的守卫者之一David Cope在那里工作了近17年，被游客们称为Beefeaters。

1 Better Control of TB Seen If a Faster Cure Is FoundThe World Health Organization1 estimates that about one-third of all people are infected with bacteria that cause tuberculosis . Most times, the infection remains inactive. But each year about eight million people develop active cases of TB, usually in their lungs. Two million people die of of it. The disease has increased with the spread of AIDS and drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis.Current treatments take at least six months. People have to take a combination of several antibiotic drugs daily. But many people stop as soon as they feel better. Doing that can lead to an infection that resists treatment. Public health experts agree that a faster-acting cure for tuberculosis would be more effective. Now a study estimates just how effective it might be. A professor of international health at Harvard University2 led the study. Joshua Salomon says a shorter treatment program would likely mean not just more patients cured. It would also mean fewer infectious patients who can pass on their infection to others.The researchers developed a mathematical model to examine the effects of a two-month treatment plan. They tested the model with current TB conditions in Southeast Asia. The scientists found that a two-month treatment could prevent about twenty percent of new cases. And it might prevent about twenty-five percent of TB deaths. The model shows that these reductions would take place between two thousand twelve and two thousand thirty. That is, if a faster cure is developed and in wide use by two thousand twelve.The World Health Organization reductions the DOTS3program in nineteen ninety. DOTS is Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course. Health workers watch tuberculosis patients take their daily pills to make sure they continue treatment.Earlier this year, an international partnership of organizations announced a plan to expand the DOTS program. The ten-year plan also aims to finance research into new TB drugs. The four most common drugs used now are more than forty years old. The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development4 says its long-term goal is a treatment that could work in as few as ten doses.1.找到速效治疗剂可以更好控制结核病世界卫生组织估计全球有大约三分之一的人感染了导致结核病的病菌。