2016年职称英语等级考试教材短文及译文（理工类ABC级）
目录
第二部分阅读判断
+ 第十一篇Bill Gates: Unleashing Your Creativity
+ 第十二篇Study Helps Predict Big Mediterranean Quake
+ 第十三篇The Northern Lights
+ 第十四篇Stage Fright
+ 第十五篇Image Martian Dust Particles
第三部分概括大意和完成句子
+ 第十一篇The Tiniest Electric Motor in the World
+ 第十二篇 A Strong Greenhouse Gas
+ 第十三篇Face Masks May Not Protect from Super-Flu
+ 第十四篇The Magic Io Personal Digital Pen
+ 第十五篇Maglev Trains
第四部阅读理解
+第三十四篇Batteries Built by Viruses
+第三十五篇Putting Plants to work
+第三十六篇Listening Device Provides Landslide Early Warning
+第三十七篇"Don't Drink Alone" Gets New Meaning
+第三十八篇"Life Form Found" on Saturn's Titan
+第三十九篇Clone Farm
+第四十篇Teaching Math, Teaching Anxiety
+第四十一篇Too Little for Global Warming
+第四十二篇Renewable Energy Sources
+第四十三篇Forecasting Methods
+第四十四篇Defending the Theory of Evolution Still Seems Needed
+第四十五篇Small But Wise
+第四十六篇Ants Have Big Impact on Environment as "Ecosystem Engineers"
+第四十七篇Listening to Birdsong
+第四十八篇Researchers Discover Why Humans Began Walking Upright
+第四十九篇U.S. Scientists Confirm Water on Mars
+第五十篇Cell Phones Increase Traffic, Pedestrian Fatalities
第五部分补全短文
+ 第十一篇Virtual Driver
+ 第十二篇Musical Training Can Improve Communication Skills
+ 第十三篇Affectionate Androids
+ 第十四篇Primer on Smell (2016新增)
+ 第十五篇 A Memory Drug?
第六部分完型填空
+ 第十一篇Climate Change Poses Major Risks for Unprepared Cities
+ 第十二篇Free Statins With Fast Food Could Neutralize Heart Risk
+ 第十三篇Better Solar Energy Systems: More Heat, More Light
+ 第十四篇Sharks Perform a Service for Earth's Waters
+ 第十五篇“Liquefaction”Key to Much of Japanese Earthquake Damage
第二部分阅读判断
+第十一篇Bill Gates: Unleashing Your Creativity
I?ve always been an optimist and I suppose it is rooted in1 my belief that the power of creativity and intelligence can make the world a better place.
For as long as I can remember, I?ve loved learning new things and solving problems. So when I sat down at a computer for the first time in seventh grade, I was hooked. It was a clunky old teletype machine and it could barely do anything compared to the computers we have today.2 But it changed my life.
When my friend Paul Allen and I started Microsoft 30 years ago，we had a vision of ?a computer on every desk and in every home?, which probably sounded a little too optimistic at a time when most computers were the size of refrigerators. But we believed that personal computers would change the world. And they have.
And after 30 years, I?m still as inspired by computers as I was back in seventh grade.
I believe that computers are the most incredible tool we can use to feed our curiosity and inventiveness — to help us solve problems that even the smartest people couldn?t solve on their own.
Computers have transformed how we learn，giving kids everywhere a window into all of the world’s knowledge. They’re helping us build communities around the things we care about and to stay close to the people who are important to us, no matter where they are.3 Like my friend Warren Buffett, I feel particularly lucky to do something every day that I love to do. He calls it “tap-dancing to work”4. My job at Microsoft is as challenging as ever, but what makes me “tap-dancing to work” is when we show people something new, like a computer that can recognize your handwriting or your speech, or one that can store a lifetime?s worth of photos, and they say, “I didn?t know you could do that with a PC5! ”
But for all the cool things that a person can do with a PC，there are lots of other ways we can put our creativity and intelligence to work to improve our world6. There are still far too many people in the world whose most basic needs go unmet7. Every year, for example, millions of people die from diseases that are easy to prevent or treat in the developed world.
I believe that my own good fortune brings with it a responsibility to give back to the world. My wife, Melinda, and I have committed to8 improving health and education in a way that can help as many people as possible.
As a father, I believe that the death of a child in Africa is no less poignant or tragic than9 the death of a child anywhere else, and that it doesn?t take much to make an immense diff erence in these children?s lives10.
I’m still very much an optimist, and I believe that progress on even the world’s toughest problems is possible —and it’s happening every day. We’re seeing new drugs for deadly diseases, new diagnostic tools，and new attention paid to the health problems in the developing world.
I?m excited by the possibilities I see for medicine, for education and, of course, for technology. And I believe that through our natural inventiveness, creativity and willingness to solve tough problems, we're going to make some amazing achievements in all these areas in my lifetime.
第十一篇比尔·盖茨：发挥你的创造力
我一直是个乐观主义者，我想这是因为我深信创造力和智慧能使世界变得更美好。在我的记忆中，我喜欢学习新东西、解决难题。所以当我七年级时第一次坐在电脑前时，我立刻被吸引住类。那是一台笨重的旧式电传打字机，跟我们今天的电脑相比几乎什么事都不能做。但是它却改变我的一生。
30年前我和朋友保罗·艾伦创办微软的时候，我们预见到一个“每个办公桌和每个家庭都会有一台电脑”的时代。在那个计算机像冰箱一样大的时代，这听起来也许太乐观了一点。但是我们相信个人计算机会改变世界。而它们真的做到了。
30年后的今天，计算机仍然会激发我的热情，好像我又回到了七年级的年代。我认为计算机是能满足我们的好奇心，激发我们创造精神的最神奇的工具，它能帮助我们解决最聪明的人都不能独自解决的问题。
计算机改变了我们的学习方式，为世界各地的孩子们提供了一个学习各种知识的窗口。它帮助我们就我们所关心的事情建立一个交流的场所，并且与那些我们认为对我们有重要意义的人密切相处，不管他们身在何处。
和我的朋友沃伦·巴菲特一样，我每天都在做着自己喜欢做的事，对此我感到非常幸运。他说这就像
是“跳着踢踏舞工作”。我在微软的工作一直非常具有挑战性，而当我们向人们展示我们的新成果( 比如计算机能识别手写体或语言，或者能储存一生的珍贵照片) 人们说没想到你们能用个人计算机做出这样的成就时，那感觉的确像是“跳着踢踏舞工作”。
除了我们能用计算机做的所有神奇的事情，还有很多其他方式发挥我们的创造力和智慧，从而使世界更加美好。这个世界上还有很多的人基本需求都得不到满足。例如，每年都有成千上万的人死于疾病，而这些疾病在发达国家是能轻而易举得到控制或治疗的。
我认为拥有财富的同时我有责任回报世界。所以，我和妻子梅林达承诺推进健康与教育事业，以帮助尽可能多的人。
作为一位父亲，我相信一个非洲儿童的夭折和其他地方孩子的夭折一样令人心酸和悲痛。而要改善这些孩子们的命运，其实不难。
如今，我仍然是一个乐观主义者，我仍然相信即使是世界上最棘手的问题，也一样能得到改善——的确，世界每天都在进步。我们看到治疗致命疾病的新药物和新诊断工具出现，看到人们更多关注发展中国家的健康问题。
医疗、教育和科技发展的美好前景使我激动万分。我坚信，以我们与生俱来的发明精神、创造力和乐于解决棘手问题的精神动力，我们一定能在这些领域做出惊人的成绩。我希望我能亲眼见到这些成绩。
第十二篇Study Helps Predict Big Mediterranean Quake
Scientists have found evidence that an overlooked fault in the eastern Mediterranean1
is likely to produce an earthquake and tsunami every 800 years as powerful as the one that destroyed Alexandria2 in AD3 365.
Using radiocarbon dating techniques, simulations and computer models, the researchers recreated the ancient disaster in order to identify the responsible fault. …We are saying there is probably a repeat time of 800 years for this kind of earthquake,' said Ms Beth Shaw, an earthquake scientist at the University of Cambridge, who led the study. Scientists study past earthquakes in order to determine the future possibility of similar large shocks.
Identifying the fault for the AD 365 earthquake and tsunami is important for the tens of millions of people in the region, Ms. Shaw said. The fault close to the southwest coast of Crete4 last produced a big enough quake to generate a tsunami about 1300, which means the next powerful one could come in the next 100 years, she added in a telephone interview.
Ms. Shaw and her colleagues calculate the likely intervals by measuring the motion of either side of the fault to find how often such large earthquakes would have to occur to account for that level of motion, she said. Their computer model suggested an 8 magnitude quake on the fault would produce a tsunami that floods the coastal regions of Alexandria and North Africa, the southern coast of Greece5 and Sicily6 all the way up the Adriati7 to Dubrovnik8. This would be similar to the ancient quake in AD 365 that caused widespread destruction in much of Greece and unleashed a tsunami that flooded Alexandria and the Nile Delta9, likely killing tens of thousands of people, she said.
第十二篇科学家研究预测地中海地区大地震
公元365年，东部地中海地区发生特大地震和海啸，摧毁了亚历山大市，科学家们已经找到了证据证明：那里存在的一直被人忽视的断层，每隔800年就有可能就引发一次强地震和海啸。
通过运用放射性碳素技术和计算机仿真模型，研究者们重建了古代那场灾难，以便证实是断层引发了地震。“我们认为每800年就会出现一次这种类型的地震。”负责此项研究的剑桥大学地震学家贝丝·肖恩女士说道。科学家们研究以往的地震，为的是确定未来出现同种大地震的可能性。
肖恩女士说：对于地中海地区上千万的居民来说，确定是断层引发了公元365年地震和海啸非常重要。她在一次电话访问中进而补充说：克里特岛西南海岸附近的断层昀后一次引发足以引起海啸的大地震是在公元1300年左右，这就意味着下一次强地震将在未来的100年中出现。
肖恩女士说，她和她的同事测量了断层两侧的震动强度，并确定大规模地震多久发生一次才会引起这样的震动强度，从而推算出地震产生的大致间隔时间。根据其计算机仿真模型显示，如果断层产生8级的震动，那么它引发的海啸就会淹没亚历山大市和北非的沿海地区、希腊和西西里岛的南部海岸、以及从要费里亚海到杜布罗夫尼克的广大地区。这个近似于公元365年摧毁大部分希腊地区的地震，当时地震引发的海啸吞噬了亚历山大市和尼罗河三角洲，造成工上千万人死亡。
第十三篇The Northern Lights
The Sun is stormy and has its own kind of weather. It is so hot and active that even the Sun?s gravity cannot hold its atmosphere in check1! Energy flows aw ay from the Sun toward the Earth in a stream of electrified particles that move at speeds around a million miles per hour2. These particles are called plasma, and the stream of plasma3 coming from the Sun is called the solar wind. The more active the Sun, the stronger the solar wind.
The solar wind constantly streams toward the Earth, but don?t worry because a protective magnetic field surrounds our planet. The same magnetic field that makes your compass point north also steers the particles from the Sun to the north and south poles. The charged particles become trapped in magnetic belts around the Earth. When a large blast of solar wind crashes into the Earth?s magnetic field, the magnetic field first gets squeezed and then the magnetic field lines break and reconnect.4
The breaking and reconnecting of the magnetic field lines can cause atomic particles called electrons trapped in the belts to fall into the Earth? s atmosphere at the poles. As the electrons fall to the Earth, they collide with gas molecules in the atmosphere, creating flashes of light in the sky. Each atmospheric gas glows a different color. Oxygen and nitrogen glows red and green and nitrogen glows violet-purple. As these various colors glow and dance in the night sky, they create the Northern Lights and the Southern Lights.
Watching auroras is fun and exciting, but normally you can only see them in places far north like Alaska and Canada. The movement of the aurora across the sky is usually slow enough to easily follow with your eyes but they can also pulsate, flicker, or even move like waves. During solar maximum,5 auroras are seen as far south as Florida, even Mexico!6 Auroras often seem to be very close to the ground, but the lowest aurora is still about 100 kilometers above the ground, a distance much higher than clouds are formed or airplanes can fly. A typical aurora band can be thousands of kilometers long, a few hundred kilometers high, but only a few hundred meters thick.
We hope you are able to travel to far-north places like the Arctic Circle and see the Northern Lights at least once during your lifetime. We know you will never forget it!
第十三篇北极光
太阳是狂暴的，有它自己独特的气候。太阳太热，其活动又太剧烈，以至于无法控制它自己的大气层。热量以电粒子流的形式逃离太阳，流向地球，时速高达100万英里。这些粒子叫等离子体，来自太阳的等离子流叫太阳风。太阳活动越剧烈，太阳风越强烈。
太阳风不断地流向地球，但是不必担心，因为有一个保护性的磁场包围着我们的地球。使指南针指向北方的相同的磁场也把来自太阳的粒子导向地球的南北两极。这些受控的粒子被吸附在地球周围的磁场。当强大的太阳风侵入地球磁场时，首先磁场受到挤压，接着磁场磁力线断开又闭合。
磁场磁力线的断开和闭合产生叫做电子的原子粒子，被截留在磁场，落入地球两极的大气层。等离子流的电子进入地球，与大气层的气体分子发生碰撞，在天空中产生光芒。每一种大气层的气体产生不同颜色的光。氧和氮发红绿光，氮气发蓝紫光。当这些不同的颜色在夜空中闪烁跳跃时，形成了北极光和南极光。
看极光是很有意思也很令人振奋的。然而通常只有在极北面，像阿拉斯加州和加拿大等地方才能看到。横过天空的极光移动速度通常很慢，用肉眼就能很轻易地观测到。而他们还能跳动、闪烁甚至像波一样流动。在太阳风暴达到昀高峰的期间，明亮的北极光甚至在位于极南面的佛罗里达州乃至墨西哥都能看到。
极光似乎很接近地面，但是昀靠近地面的极光离地面也有100公里，比云层部高，飞机也无法到达。一条典型的极光带有数千公里长，几百公里高，但是只有几百米厚。
希望你在有生之年至少去极北面像北极圈等地区旅游一次，看看北极光。此次经历必将使你终生难忘。
+第十四篇Stage Fright1
Fall down as you come onstage. That?s an odd trick. Not recommended. But it saved the pianist Vladimir Feltsman when he was a teenager back in Moscow. The veteran cellist Mstislav Rostropovich tripped him purposely to cure him of pre-performance panic,2 Mr. Feltsman said, “ All my fright was gone. I already fell. What else could happen?”
Today, music schools are addressing the problem of anxiety in classes that deal with performance techniques and career preparation. There are a variety of strategies that musicians can learn to fight stage fright and its symptoms: icy fingers, shaky limbs, racing heart, blank mind.3
Teachers and psychologists offer wide-ranging advice, from basics like learning pieces inside out,4 to mental discipline, such as visualizing a performance and taking steps to relax. Don’t deny that you’re jittery，they urge; some excitement is natural, even necessary for dynamic playing. And play in public often, simply for the experience.
Psychotherapist Diane Nichols suggests some strategies for the moments before performance, “Take two deep abdominal breaths, open up your shoulders, then smile,?? she says. “And not one of these …please don?t kill me? smiles. Then choose three friendly faces
in the audience, people you would communicate with and make music to, and make eye contact with them.” She doesn?t want performers to think of the audience as a judge.
Extreme demands by mentors or parents are often at the root of stage fright，says Dorothy Delay, a well-known violin teacher. She tells other teachers to demand only what their students are able to achieve.
When Lynn Harrell was 20，he became the principal cellist of the Cleverland Orchestra, and he suffered extreme stage fright. ?There were times when I got so nervous I was sure the audience could see my chest responding to the throbbing. It was just total panic. I came to a point where I thought,‘If I have to go through this to play music, I think I’m going to look for another job.?5 Recovery, he said, involved developing humility-recognizing that whatever his talent, he was fallible，and that an imperfect concert was not a disaster.6 It is not only young artists who suffer, of course. The legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz?s nerves were famous. The great tenor Franco Corelli is another example. “They had to push him on stage,” Soprano Renata Scotto recalled.
Actually，success can make things worse. ?In the beginning of your career, when you’re scared to death, nobody knows who you are, and they don’t have any expectations,?Soprano June Anderson said. ?There’s less to lose. Later on, when you’re known, people a re coming to see you, and they have certain expectations. You have a lot to lose.”
Anderson added，?I never stop being nervous until I’ve sung my last note.?
第十四篇如何避免怯场
上台就跌倒。这是个奇特的办法！但不推荐。可它确实拯救了钢琴家弗拉基米尔·菲兹曼，那个时候他才十几岁，正在莫斯科表演。资深大提琴手米提斯拉夫·罗斯特罗波维奇故意在他上台前将他绊倒，帮助他摆脱上台前的恐慌。菲兹曼先生说：“所有的害怕都烟消云散类。我已经摔倒了，还有比这更糟糕的吗？”
如今，音乐学校都在课堂中强调焦虑问题，因为这是讲授表演技巧和打好表演基础的课程。怯场有很多表现，比如手指冰冷、四肢发抖、心跳加速、大脑一片空白，音乐家们可以学着用许多多应变策略应对这些问题。
教师和心理学家给出了许多建议，从基础的做法，比如将演奏曲目烂熟于心，到精神训练，比如想象演出场景，有步骤地进行放松等。他们强调，不要掩饰你的紧张感，适度的兴奋对于精彩演出是正当甚至是必要的。为了积累经验，要常在公众场合演出。
黛安·尼克尔斯是一名心理治疗师，她给出了一些上台前的建议：“做两次深度的腹式呼吸，扩胸，然后微笑，注意不是那种仿佛央求对方不要杀你的微笑，而是友好的微笑。从观众中选出三名比较友善的人，这些是你愿意与之交流并为之演奏的人，并与他们做眼神接触。”她不想让演奏者将观众当成是法官。
多萝西·德雷是一名著名小提琴教师，她认为来自导师和父母的苛刻要求常常是怯场的根源。她告诉其他教师，对学生的要求要以学生本身所能达到的水平为基础。
林·哈雷尔20岁的时候成为克利夫兰管弦乐队的首席大提琴手，但是他怯场非常严重。他说：“有时候我非常紧张，我甚至能肯定，观众一定能看到我的胸口随着心跳而搏动，简直变成了慌乱。”后来我竟然到了这个地步，我想“如果演出要经历这种慌乱，我宁可另找一份工作。”他说要克服怯场要谦虚，要认识到，不论自己有多大的才能，都可能犯错误，一场音乐会即使有不完美的地方，也不是灾难。
当然，并不只有年轻人才会怯场。具有传奇色彩的钢琴家弗拉基米尔·霍洛维茨的敏感神经同样尽人皆知。另一个例子是著名男高音弗朗科·科莱里，女高音蕾娜塔·思科多这样形容他：“必须得有人推着他才肯上台。”
实际上，成名之后情况可能会变得更糟。“刚开始的时候，即使你怕得要死，也没有人知道你是谁，因为对你不抱有多大期望。”女高音琼·安德森说道，“你不会有任何损失。但你成名以后，人们专程来看你的表演，那时他们一定是满怀期待而来，这样，你损失的东西就多了。”
安德森还说：“直到唱完最后一个音符之前，我一直都会紧张。”
第十五篇Image Martian Dust Particles
NASA?s Phoenix Mars Lander1 has taken its first-ever picture of a single particle of rusty Martian dust with one of its microscopes. The dust particles of dust were shown at a higher magnification than anything outside of Earth that has been imaged before. The rounded particle measured only about one micrometer, or one millionth of a meter, across.
“Taking this image required the highest resolution microscope operated off Earth2 and a specially d esigned device to hold the Martian dust,” said Tom Pike, a Phoenix science team member from Imperial College London3. “We always knew it was going to be technically very challenging to image particles this small4.”
The device that imaged the dust speck is called an atomic force microscope, which maps the shape of particles in three dimensions by scanning them with a sharp tip at the end of a spring. The atomic force microscope can detail the shapes of particles as small as about 100 nanometers. And this wo n?t be the last dust particle that Phoenix will image5. “After this first success, we're now working on building up a portrait gallery6 of the dust on Mars,” Pike said.
Dust exists everywhere on Mars, coating the surface and giving it its rusty red color. Dust particles also color the Martian sky pink and feed storms that regularly envelope the planet. The ultra-fine7 dust is the medium that actively links gases in the Martian atmosphere to processes in Martian soil, so it is critically important to unders tanding Mars? environment8, the researchers said.
The $420-million Phoenix mission is analyzing the dust and subsurface ice layers of Mars? arctic regions to look for signs of potential past habitability. The particle seen in the atomic force microscope image was part of a sample scooped by the robotic arm from the "Snow White" trench and delivered to Phoenix?s microscope station in early July.
第十五篇观测火星上的尘粒
美国国家航空航天局的凤凰号火星登陆器通过其携带的望远镜观测到了迄今为止第一幅火星微粒的照片。这次微粒的图像比以往任何拍摄地球以外的物质使用的放大率都要高。据测成原形的微粒的直径只有一千分尺，也就是一百万分之一米。
“此次观测需要清晰度昀高的望远镜，同时要专门设计能够握持火星尘粒的设备。” Pike 说到，他是伦敦帝国学院凤凰号科学小组的成员之一。“我们过去一直认为观察体积如此小的微粒是具有很高的挑战性的”。
这次用于观测微粒的设备叫做原子力望远镜，它能够通过位于弹簧末端的尖端来扫描这些微粒并在三维空间中绘制下它们的形状。这种望远镜能够以小到100纳米来呈现出这些微粒。而且这不会是凤凰号扫描的昀后的尘粒，科学家将会收集更多的火星微粒进行扫描。“这次成功以后，我们正在努力创建一座火星尘粒图像陈列馆。” Pike说到。
火星上到处都存在着尘粒，这些尘粒覆盖着火星表面使其呈现出锈迹斑斑的红色。这些尘粒把火星的天空染成了粉色而且经常会引起覆盖行星的尘暴。而超小的尘粒又是连接大气层中的空气与火星中的土壤的媒介物，所以研究者称火星尘粒对于了解火星环境是极端重要的。
这次耗资420万美圆的凤凰号任务将会分析火星北极范围内的尘粒和地表下的冰层，目的是发现火星上过去是否有居住性的可能性。从原子力望远镜里观测到的尘粒由机械手从“白雪沟”挖到的样本的一部分而后在七月份的早期被传送到了凤凰号的望远镜上。
第三部分概括大意和完成句子
第十一篇The Tiniest Electric Motor in the World
1 Scientists recently made public the tiniest electric motor ever1 built. You could stuff hundreds of them into the period at the end of this sentence. One day a similar engine might power a tiny mechanical doctor that would travel through your body to remove your disease.
2 The motor works by shuffling atoms between two molten metal droplets in a carbon nanotube. One droplet is even smaller than the other. When a small electric current is applied to the droplets, atoms slowly get out of the larger droplet and join the smaller one. The small droplet grows — but never gets as big as the other droplet — and eventually bumps into the large droplet. As they touch, the large droplet rapidly sops up the atoms it had previously lost. This quick shift in energy produces a power stroke2.
3 The technique exploits the fact that surface tension — the tendency of atoms or molecules to resist separating — becomes more important at small scales3. Surface tension is the same thing that allows some insects to walk on water.
4 Although the amount of energy produced is small — 20 microwatt s — it is quite impressive in relation to the tiny scale of the motor4. The whole setup
5 is less than 200 nanometers on a side, or hundreds of times smaller than the width of a human hair. If it could be scaled up to the size of an automobile engine6, it would be too million times more powerful than a Toyota Camry?s 225 horsepower V
6 engine.
5 In 1988, Professor Richard Muller and colleagues made the first operating micromotor, which was 100 microns across7, or about the thickness of a human hair. In 2003, Zettl?s group created the first nanoscale motor. In 2006, they built a nanoconveyor, which moves tiny particles along like cars in a factory.
6 Nanotechnology engineers try to mimic nature, building things atom-by-atom. Among other things, nanomotors could be used in optical circuits to redirect light, a process called optical switching. Futurists envision a day when nanomachines, powered by nanomotors, travel inside your body to find disease and repair damaged cells.
第十一篇世界上昀小的电动机
昀近科学家公布了现有的昀小的电动机。就是在一个句号里，上百个这样的电动机也能来回地运动。将来有一天，类似的发动机也许能够为一个机械医生提供动力，在人的身体里自由移动，治疗疾病。
发动机通过碳纳米管中的原子在两小滴金属溶液间的来回运动进行工作。其中一个小滴甚至比另一个还要小。当微弱的电流通过时，大一点的小滴金属溶液中的原子就会缓慢逸出，进入小一点的小滴。这样，后者体积不断增大——但决不会大到和前者一样——昀后，与大一点的小滴金属溶液相撞。当他们接触时，大的小滴便夺回它失去的原子。能量这样迅速地来回运动就产生一次动力冲程。
这项技术利用了表面张力的原理——原子或分子有不愿被分开的倾向——这在纳米等级上更加重要。表面张力同样也使某些昆虫能在水上行走。
虽然这样产生的能量很少——只有20微瓦，但与电动机的小等级相比，功率也是相当可观了。整个装置的体积不到200纳米，比起人类一根头发的宽度，它要小几百倍。如果纳米电动机能按比例放大到汽车发动机的尺寸，它将会比丰田凯美瑞的225马力的V6引擎还要大1亿倍。
1988年，理查德·乌勒教授和他的同事发明了第一台微型发动机，100微米长，或者说有一根头发那么粗。2003年，泽特尔的小组制造出第一台纳米级的发动机。2006年，他们又造出了纳米传送带，能够像工厂里传送汽车那样移动极小的粒子。
纳米技术的工程师尽力去模拟自然，用一个个原子来制造物体。在这些事物当中，纳米发动机能够被用于光电路来改变光的方向，该过程被称为光学转换。未来主义者预想有一天，被纳米发动机驱动的纳米机器能在人体内移动，发现疾病并修复被破坏的细胞。
第十二篇 A Strong Greenhouse Gas
1 Methane is a colorless, odorless gas; it is also a potent greenhouse gas, and once released into the atmosphere1, it absorbs heat radiating from Earth?s surface. That?s why methane is a major contributor to the planet?s increasing temperature rise — or global warming. Molecule for molecule, methane?s heat-trapping power in the atmosphere is 21 times stronger than carbon dioxide2, the most abundant greenhouse gas.
2 With 1
3 billion cows belching almost constantly around the world (100 million in the U. S. alone), it?s no surprise t hat methane released by livestock is one of the chief global sources of the gas. Other prime methane sources: petroleum, drilling, coal mining,
solid-waste landfills and wet lands.
3 Greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide make up only a small part of Earth?s atmosphere, which is 78 percent nitrogen and nearly 21 percent oxygen. And without greenhouse gases to trap the sun?s heat and warm the planet, life as we know it couldn?t exist3. But in the last 200 years, human activity that requires burnin g oil, natural gas, and coal for energy has magnified the greenhouse effect.
4 Atmospheric concentrations of methane have more than doubled in the last two centuries. Blame for this often focuses on big industries and gas-guzzling vehicles. But agriculture plays a major role, too. In the past 40 years alone, the global cattle population has doubled.
5 Cows munch mostly grasses and hay — yet they grow big and hefty. Why? Because of the rumen. The rumen holds 160 liters of food and billions of microbes. These microscopic bacteria and break down cellulose and fiber into digestible nutrients. A cow couldn?t live without its microbes. As the microbes digest cellulose, they release methane. The process occurs in all animals with a rumen (cows, sheep, and goats, for example), and it make them very gassy. It?s part of their normal digestion process. When they chew their cud, they regurgitate some food to rechew it, and all this gas comes out. The average cow expels 600 liters of methane a day.
6 That?s why we say livestock gas is also a major factor of causing the global warming. 第十二篇一种强烈的温室气体
甲烷是一种无色无味的气体，同时也是一种很强烈的温室气体，一旦释放到空气中，就会吸收地球表面散发的热量。所以说甲烷是使这个星球日趋变暖(或叫全球变暖)的一个主要原因。按分子与分子对比，甲烷在大气中吸收热量的能力是二氧化碳——昀丰富的温室气体的21倍。
由于全世界有130亿头牛几乎在连续不断地打嗝（仅美国就有一亿头），难怪由牲畜释放的甲烷就成为了一种主要的全球性甲烷来源。其他主要的甲烷来源有：石油、钻井、采煤、固体垃圾以及沼泽地。
甲烷和二氧化碳等温室气体只占地球大气的一小部分，大气中78%为氮气，将近21%为氧气。如果没有温室气体来吸收太阳的热量，使地球变暖，我们所知道的生命就不会存在。但在过去的200年里，通过燃烧油、天然气和煤来获取能量的人类活动加剧了温室效应。
在过去的两个世纪里，甲烷在大气中的浓度地加了一倍多，人们常常将此归罪于大工业和汽车。但是农业在其中也扮演了一个重要角色。仅在过去40年里，全球牲畜数量就翻了一番。
牛吃的大部分是草，但却长得身高体壮。原因何在？在于它们都长有瘤胃。它们的瘤胃容纳160升的食物，养育数十亿的微生物。这些微小的细菌和原生动物可分解纤维素，形成可吸收的营养。没有这些微生物牛就无法生存。由于微生物可吸收纤维素，所以就会释放出甲烷。所有长有瘤胃的动物（比如牛、绵羊和山羊）都会这样，因此它们经常释放出气体。这是它们的正常吸收过程的一部分。它们反刍时，就会将食物重新咀嚼，于是就释放出气体。一般每头牛每天会排出600升甲烷。
因此，我们认为，牲畜释放的气体也是全球变暖的一个主要因素。
第十三篇Face Masks May Not Protect from Super-Flu
1 IF a super-flu strikes, face masks may not protect you. Whether widespread use of masks will help, or harm, during the next worldwide flu outbreak is a question that researchers are studying furiously. No results have come from their mask research yet. However, the government says people should consider wearing them in certain situations anyway, just in case1.
2 But it?s a question the public keeps asking while the government are making preparations for the next flu pandemic. So the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) came up with2 preliminary guidelines. “We don?t want people wearing them everywhere,” said the CDC. “The overall recommendation really is to avoid exposure.”
3 When that?s not possible3, the guidelines say to consider wearing a simple surgical mask if you are in one of the three following situations. First, you?re healthy and can?t avoid going to a crowded place. Second t you?re sick and think you may have close contact with the healthy, such as a family member checking on you4. Third, you live with someone
who?s sick and thus might be in the early stages of infection, but still need to go out.
4 Influenza pandemics can strike when the easy-to-mutate flu virus shifts to a strain that people never have experienced. Scientists cannot predict when the next pandemic will arrive, although concern is rising that the Asian bird flu might trigger one if it starts spreading easily from person to person.
5 During the flu pandemic, you should protect yourself. Avoid crowds, and avoid close contact with the sick unless you must care for someone. Why aren?t masks added to this self-protection list? Because they can help trap virus-laden droplets flying through the air with a cough or sneeze. Simple surgical masks only filter the larger droplets. Besides, the CDC is afraid masks may create a false sense of security. Perhaps someone who should have stayed home would don an ill-fitting mask and hop on the subway5 instead.
6 Nor does flu only spread through the air6. Say
7 someone covers a sneeze with his or her hand, then touches a doorknob or subway pole8. If you touch that spot next and then put germy hands on your nose or mouth, you?ve been exposed. It?s harder to rub your nose while wearing a mask and so your face may get pretty sweaty under masks. You reach under to wipe that sweat, and may transfer germs caught on the outside of the mask straight to the nose, These are the problems face masks may create for their users.
7 Whether people should or should not use face masks still remains a question. The general public has to wait patiently for the results of the mask research scientists are still doing.
第十三篇口罩也许无法预防感冒
如果一场超级流感爆发，口罩也许不能保护你。在下一次世界性的流感爆发期间，广泛使用口罩是否有用还是个问题，科学家正认真研究该题，但至今还设有任何结果。然而，为了以防万一，政府建议人们在某些情况下还是应当考虑配戴口罩。
但问题是，当政府为下一次流感流行做准备时，公众仍心存疑问。所以美国疾病控制和预防中心提出指导原则，“我们不希望人们到处戴着口罩，”他们说，“总体上是建议要避免到有流感病毒的场合去。”
在无法避免的情况下，指导原则提出，在以下三种情况下应考虑佩戴一个简易的外科手术口罩：第一，你很健康但要一个人群拥挤的地方；第二，已经生病了但仍要与健康的人接触，如家庭成员要来看你的病情；第三，与你居住在一起的人已经感冒了，也许你已经处在传染的早期阶段，但你仍需外出。
当易变异的感冒病毒出现人们从未遇到过的新种类时，全国性的流行性感冒就会爆发。如果亚洲的禽流感开始在人与人之间传播，就可能会引起一场这样的大流行性疾病，虽然人们的忧虑不断升级，但科学家仍无法预测这样的大爆发什么时候会出现。
在流感期间，你应当学会自我保护，避免到人多的地方去，远离流感病人，除非你必须照顾病人。为什么不把口罩放入自我保护的意见中呢？口罩能把咳嗽或打喷嚏飞出的含有病毒的飞沫拦截住。简易的外科手术口罩只能过滤大的飞沫。此外，美国疾病控制和预防中心担心口罩可能会制造出一种虚假安全感。也许原本会呆在家里的人会戴上一个不合适的口罩跑去坐地铁。
流感不仅仅是通过空气传染。有些人打喷嚏时会用手遮挡，带有病毒的手会接触到门把手或是地铁里的扶手。如果你碰到这些东西，然后把带有流感病毒的手接触到嘴或者鼻子，你就有可能传染。戴口罩时，脸在口罩下容易出汗，当你去擦汗时，病毒就直接被带到了鼻子里。这些问题也就是口罩带给他们的使用者的。
人们是否应该使用口罩仍然是个问题。公众还要耐心地等待科学家的研究结果。
第十四篇The Magic Io Personal Digital Pen
1 Check out the io Per sonal Digital Pen launched by Logitech: It?s a magic pen that can store everything you write and transfer it to your computer. And you don?t have to lug a hand-held device along with you for it to work.1
2 Logitech?s technology works like this: The pen wr ites normally, using normal ballpoint pen ink2. But while you are writing, a tiny camera inside the pen is also taking 100 snapshots per second of what you are doing3, mapping your writing via a patchwork of minute dots printed on the paper. All this information — the movement of your pen on the paper，basically — is then stored digitally inside the pen, whether you are writing notes or drawing complex diagrams. You can store up to 40 pages worth of doodles in the pen?s memory. As far as you are concerned4, you are just using a normal pen.
3 It is only when you drop the pen into its PC-connected cradle that the fun begins. Special software on your PC will figure out what you have done, and begin to download any documents you have written since the last time it was there. Depending on whether you have ticked certain boxes on the special notepad, it can also tell whether the document is destined to be an e-mail, a “to do” task, or a diagram to be inserted into a word-processing document. Once the documents are downlonded you can view them, print them out or convert them to other formats.
4 The io Personal Digital Pen is a neat and simple solution to the problem of storing, sharing and retrieving handwritten notes, as well as for handling diagrams, pictures and other non-text doodling. You don?t have to carry a laptop along with you. All you have to do is just whip out the pen and the special paper and you are off5.
5 It is a great product because it does not force you to work differently — walking around with a screen strapped to your arm, or carrying with you extra bits and pieces. The pen is light and works like a normal pen if you need it to, while the special notepads look and feel like notepads. The only strange looks will be from people who are curious why you are writing with a cigar.
6 The io Personal Digital Pen also has potential elsewhere. FedEx6, for example, is introducing a version of the pen so that cutomers can fill out forms by hand — instead of punching letters into cumbersome devices. Once that data is digital more or less anything can be done with it — transferring it wirelessly to a central computer, for example, or via a hand-phone. Doctors could transmit their prescriptions direct to pharmacies, reducing fraud; policemen could send their reports back to the station, reducing paperwork.
第十四篇神奇的io私人数字笔
仔细看看由Logitech公司发明的io数字笔吧：这是种神奇的笔，可以将你写的所有东西储存下来并转换到计算机上，而你在使用这种数字笔时却不必携带手持设备。
Logitech技术的工作原理如下：这种笔使用一种普通的圆珠笔墨水，和平常一样写字。但是当你写字时，笔内的一个极小的摄像头也在以每秒钟100张的速度对你所写的内容进行快速拍摄，通过印在纸上的小点块拼出你所写的内容。然后，无论你是记笔记还是画复杂图表，所有的信息——基本上都是笔在纸上的移动——都将以数字形式存储于笔中。你可在笔的存储器中存储多达40页的资料。而对你来说，你只不过是在使用一只普通的笔而已。
只有当你将笔插入与PC机连接的笔座中时，有趣的事才真正开始。你的PC机的专用软件会估算出你所做之事，并下载你昀新写下的所有文件。根据你是否在专用记事本的一些特定框缸里打对号，这种笔还可辨别出文档是电子邮件、“待执行”任务还是要插入文字处理文档的图表。文档下载后，你就可以查看、打印或转换为其他形式。io私人数字笔可妥善又简单地解决手写笔记的存储、共享和检索问题，也可处理图表、图片及其他非文本资料。你不必携带电脑，你只需要拿出笔和专门用纸就能开始工作了。
这是一种很了不起的产品，因为你的工作不会因之产生任何麻烦——你不必携带显示屏，也不必携带任何附件。它非常轻便，如果你需要的话，也可以当普通笔来用，而这种专用记事本看起来摸起来都很像普通记事本。有些人会很好奇，不明白为什么你在用雪茄写字，这是唯一看起来令人费解的地方。
io私人数字笔在其他方面也很有潜力。例如，联邦快递公司正引进一种数字笔，从而用户可用手填写表格，而无须再费力劳神地打进机器中。如果数据为数字型，几乎所有事情都可由这种笔来完成——例如将数据通过无线方式或手机传输到中心计算机上。医生可将处方直接转到药房，减少了欺诈行为的发生。警察可将报告发回警察局，减少了文书工作。
第十五篇Maglev Trains
1 A few countries are using powerful electromagnets to develop high-speed trains, called maglev trains. Maglev is short for magnetic levitation1, which means that these trains float over a guide way using the basic principles of magnets to replace the old steel wheel and track trains.
2 If you?ve ever played with magnets, you know that opposite poles attract and like poles repel each other2. This is the basic principle behind electromagnetic propulsion. Electromagnets are similar to other magnets in that they attract metal objects, but the magnetic pull is temporary. You can easily create a small electromagnet yourself by connecting the ends of a copper wire to the positive and negative ends of an AA-cell battery3. This creates a small magnetic field. If you disconnect either end of the wire from the battery, the magnetic field is taken away.
3 The magnetic field created in this wire-and-battery experiment is the simple idea behind a maglev train rail system. There are three components to this system: A large electrical power source, metal coils lining a guide way or track, and large guidance magnets attached to the underside of the train.
4 The big difference between a maglev train and a conventional train is that maglev trains do not have an engine — at least not the kind of engine used to pull typical train cars along steel tracks4. The engine for maglev trains is rather innoticeable. Instead of using fossil fuels, the magnetic field created by the electrified coils in the guideway walls and the track combines to propel the trains5.
5 The magnetized coil running along the track, called a guideway, repels the large magnets on the train?s undercarriage, allowing the tra in to levitate between 1 to 10 cm above the guideway. Once the train is levitated, power is supplied to the coils within the guideway walls to create a unique system of magnetic fields that pull and push the train along the guideway. The electric current supplied to the coils in the guideway walls is constantly alternating to change the polarity of the magnetized coils. This change in polarity causes the magnetic field in front of the train to pull the vehicle forward, while the magnetic field behind the train adds more forward thrust.
6 Maglev trains float on a cushion of air, eliminating friction. This lack of friction allows these trains to reach unprecedented ground transportation speeds of more than 500 kph, or twice as fast as the fastest conventional train. At 500 kph, you could travel from Paris to Rome in just over two hours.
第十五篇磁悬浮列车
一些国家正在使用强有力的电磁体发展高速列车，这种列车叫做磁悬浮列车。Maglev是磁悬浮的缩略词，它意味着这些列车漂浮在导向槽上，导向槽是使用磁铁的基本原理来替换原来的钢轮子和钢轨道的列车。
如果您曾经玩过磁铁，您知道异极相吸，同极相斥的道理。这是电磁式推进背后的基本原理。电磁体与其他磁铁在吸引金属物品方面是一样的，但是电磁力是暂时的。您能通过铜丝连接一节5号电池的正负极很容易地自己创造出一个小的电磁体。这就创造了一个小磁场。如果您从电池分开导线的任意一个末端，磁场就消失。
这个导线和电池实验创造的磁场是磁悬浮列车系统背后的简单想法。这个系统有三个成分：一个大电能来源、金属卷排行列成导向槽或轨道，和附着列车下面的大的导电磁体。
磁悬浮列车和传统列车之间的一个很大的大区别是磁悬浮列车没有发动机—至少不是沿着轨道拉动典型的火车车厢的那种发动机。磁悬浮列车的发动机相当不显眼。代替矿物燃料的使用，由嵌入导向壁内的电磁线圈产生的磁场加上轨道，一起推动火车前进。
导向槽是沿着轨道延伸的带磁性的线圈。它排斥在列车的车盘上的大磁铁，允许列车在导向槽之上1～10cm之间悬浮。一旦列车被悬浮，就把力量供给在导向槽墙体之内的线圈来创造出一个单独的磁场系统，沿着导向槽推拉列车。在导向槽墙体内供给线圈的电流不断交替改变被磁化的线圈的极性。在极性上的变化造成了列车前面的磁场向前拉动列车，而在列车后面的磁场增加更多向前推力。
磁悬浮列车漂浮在气垫上来减少摩擦。这种缺乏摩擦（的状态)让这些列车超过500 kph的速度，(这个速度)是地面交通工具史无前例的速度，或者是昀快速的传统列车两倍的速度。500 kph，你可能用刚好超过两个小时的时间从巴黎到罗马。
第四部分阅读理解
第三十四篇Batteries Built by Viruses
What do chicken pox，the common cold, the flu，and AIDS have in common? They?re all disease caused by viruses，tiny microorganisms that can pass from person to person．It's no wonder1 that when most people think about viruses, finding ways t0 steer clear of2 viruses is what's on people's minds．
Not everyone runs from the tiny disease carders, though3．In Cambridge, Massachusetts4, scientists have discovered that some viruses can be helpful in an unusual way．They are putting viruses to work, teaching them to build some of the world's smallest rechargeable batteries．
Viruses and batteries may seem like an unusual pair，but they're not so strange for engineer Angela Belcher，who first came up with5 the idea．At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, she and her collaborators bring together different areas of science in new ways．In the case of the virus-built batteries, the scientists combine what they know about biology, technology and production techniques．
Belcher's 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．?We?re working on things we traditionally don?t associate with nature．?says Hammond．Many batteries are already pretty small．You can hold A．C and D batteries6 in your hand．The coin—like batteries that power watches are often smaller than a penny．However。every year，new electronic devices like personal music players or cell phones get smaller than the year before．As these devices shrink, ordinary batteries won't be small enough to fit inside．
The ideal battery will store a lot of energy in a small package．Right now，Belcher's model battery，a metallic disk completely built by viruses，looks like a regular watch battery．But inside，its components are very small—so tiny you can only see them with a powerful microscope．
How small are these battery parts? To get some idea of the size，pluck one hair from your head．Place your hair on a piece of white paper and try to see how wide your hair is—pretty thin，right? Although the width of each person's hair is a bit different，you could probably fit about l o of these virus—built battery parts，side to side，across one hair．These microbatteries may change the way we look at viruses7．
第三十四篇病毒电池
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。
第三十五篇Putting Plants to Work
Using the power of the sun is nothing new. People have had solar-powered calculators and buildings with solar panels for decades. But plants are the real experts: They?ve been using sunlight as an energy source for billions of years.
Ceils in the green leaves of plants work like tiny factories to convert sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into1 sugars and starches, stored energy that the plants can use. This conversion process is called photosynthesis. Unfortunately, unless you?re a plant, it?s difficult and expensive to convert sunlight into storable energy. That?s why scientists are taking a closer look at exactly how plants do it.
Some scientists are trying to get plants, or biological cells that act like plants, to work as miniature photosynthetic power stations. For example, Mafia Ghirardi of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.2, is working with green algae3. She?s trying to trick them into producing hydrogen4 instead of sugars when they perform photosynthesis. Once the researchers can get the algae working efficiently, the hydrogen that they produce could be used to power fuel cells in cars or to generate electricity.
The algae are grown in narrow-necked glass bottles to produce hydrogen in the lab. During photosynthesis, plants normally make sugars or starches. “But under certain conditions, a lot of algae are able to use the sunlight energy not to store starch, but to make hydrogen,” Ghirardi says. For example, algae will produce hydrogen in an air free environment. It?s the oxygen in the air that prevents algae from making hydrogen most of the time.
Working in an air free envir onment, however, is difficult. It?s not a practical way to produce cheap energy. But Ghirardi and her colleagues have discovered that by removing a chemical called sulfate from the environment that the algae grow in, they will make hydrogen instead of sugars, even when air is present.
Unfortunately, removing the sulfate also makes the algae?s cells work very slowly, and not much hydrogen is produced. Still, the researchers see this as a first step in their goal to produce hydrogen efficiently from algae. With more work, they may be able to speed the cells' activity and produce larger quantities of hydrogen.
The researchers hope that algae will one day be an easy-to-use fuel source. The organisms are cheap to get and to feed, Ghirardi says, and they can grow almost anywhere: “You can grow them in a reactor, in a pond. You can grow them in the ocean. There?s a lot of flexibility in how you can use these organisms.”
第三十五篇植物效能
太阳能的使用已经不足为奇。几十年前，人们就开始使用太阳能计算器，制造太阳能电热板镶嵌的建筑。但是植物当属应用太阳能的专家。十亿年来，植物一直把阳光作为能源资源。
绿叶植物细胞的工作就像微型加工厂一样，将阳光、二氧化碳和水转化为糖和淀粉，并且同时贮存植物本身所需的能量。这种转换过程叫做光合作用。可惜你不是一株植物，必须困难的并且花上大价钱将阳光转换为稳定的能源。因此，科学家们正在对植株进行准确细致的研究。
一些科学家正试图像植物的作用过程一样，将植物或生物的细胞活动看做微型光合发电站。例如，玛丽亚·奇若蒂在美国科罗拉多州的国家可再生能源实验室里对绿藻进行研究。她正想方设法的通过植物的产生氢来取代光合作用产生的糖。一旦研究人员了解藻类如何有效率的进行工作，由此产生的氢气可用于燃料电池动力汽车和发电。
在实验室里，藻类生长通过狭窄的颈玻璃瓶生产氢气的环境下。在光合作用下，植物通常产生糖类或淀粉。奇若蒂说：“但在一定条件下子有很多藻类能够利用日光能源产生氢气而不是储存在淀粉。”例如，藻类会在无空气存在环境下产生氢气。这是因为空气中的氧气，氧阻止绿藻制造氢。
藻类在无空气中虽然可以工作，但是充满困难。这种方式不能切实可行的生产廉价的能源。但是奇若蒂和她的同事们已经发现，即使在目前的空气条件下，他们从藻类生长的环境中除去所谓的硫酸化学品，能够产生氢来代替糖。
只可惜消除硫酸盐不仅使藻类细胞的工作速度减慢，而且大大减少了氢的数量。尽管如此，研究人员认为，对于实现有效率的利用藻类产生氢这一目标，他们已经迈出了第一步。随着工作量的加大，他们可以加速细胞的活动，从而产生大量的氢气。
研究人员们希望，总有一天藻类会成为很容易使用的燃料来源。藻类这种生物极易存活，他可以在几乎任何地方成长。奇若蒂说：“你可以将它放在一反应堆或是池塘里，也可以在海洋中找到它们，人们可以灵活的使用藻类的用途广泛。”
2016年职称英语考试理工类A级真题 第1部分:词汇选项(第1——15题,每题1分,共15分下面每个句子中均有1个词或者短语划有底横线,请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项。 1.The revelation of his past led to his resignation. A.imagination B.confirmation C.recall D.disclosure 2.Jensen is a dangerous man,and can be very brutal. A.careless B.Cruel C.strong D.hard 3.You’ll have to sprint if you want to catch the train. A.jump B.escape C.run D.prepare 4.We are worried about this fluid situation full with uncertainty.
A.Changeable B.Stable C.suitable D.adaptable 5.The new garment fits her perfectly. A.haircut B.purse C.Clothes D.necklace 6.The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma. A.fear B.joy C.hurt D.memory 7.They have to build canals to irrigate the desert. A.decorate B.water C.change D.visit
2015年职称英语理工类C级考试真题及答案第一部分：词汇选项 1. The weather last summer was awful. A. bad B. fair C. dry D. hot 参考答案：A 2. The law carries a penalty of up to three years in prison. A. message B. guilt C. obligation D. punishment 参考答案：D 3. My piano playing has improved significantly since I had a new teacher. A. definitely B. generally C. certainly D. greatly 参考答案：D 4. There is a need for radical changes in education.
A. revolutionary B. long-term C. short-term D. systematic 参考答案：A 5. It frustrates me that I‘m not able to put any of my ideas into practice. A. discourages B. shows C. surprises D. frightens 参考答案：A 6. I realized to my horror that I had forgotten the present. A. limit B. fear C. power D. fool 参考答案：B 7. He tried to assemble his thoughts. A. gather B. clear C. share D. spare
2015职称英语理工类A真题及答案(完整版) 第1部分：词汇选项(第1～15题，每题1分，共15分) 下面每个句子中均有1个词或短语划有底横线，请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项。 1. I will not tolerate that sort of behavior in my class. A. control B. observe C. regulate D. accept 2. She showed a natural aptitude for the work. A. sense B. talent C. flavor D. taste 3. Most people find rejection hard to accept. A. excuse B. client C. refusal D. destiny 4. The organization was bold enough to face the press. A. pleased B. powerful C. brave D. sensible 5. They were locked in mortal combat. A. deadly B. open C. actual D. active 6. We were attracted by the lure of quick money. A. amount B. supply C. tempt D. sum 7. The procedures were perceived as complex and less transparent. A. clear B. necessary C. special D. correct 8. The Stock Exchange is in turmoil following a huge wave of selling. A. Service B. danger C. disorder D. threat 9. He believes that Europe must change or it will perish. A. survive B. last C. die D. move
理工B阅读理解新增文章 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 pumping based on listener feedback. The smartphone-enabled, one-foot-tall robot is billed as an interactive “musical friend”. “Shimi is designed to change the way that people enjoy and think about their 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 with a “brain” powered by an Android phone. Once docked, the robot gains the sensing and musical generation capabilities of 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 Bretan. “Shimi shows us that robots ca n 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. 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一 small, entertaining and fun，，，Weinberg said. “They will enhance your life and pave the way for more intelligent service robots in our lives.” 词汇： pump v.用抽水机抽;不断播放(音乐) scan v.扫描;浏览 skip v.轻跳，跳跃 sync n.同步，同时;v.使同步 tempo n.速度;节奏 注释：
2016年全国职称英语等级考试理工类A级真题及详解 第1部分：词汇选项（第l～15题，每题l分，共15分） 下面每个句子中均有1个词或者短语划有底横线,请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项. 1.The revelation of his past led to his resignation. A.imagination B.confirmation C.recall D.disclosure 【答案】D 【解析】句意：对他过去的揭露导致了他的辞职。revelation揭发，暴露。disclosure 泄露，揭露。二者意思相近，此处可互相替换，因此选D项。imagination想像，想像力。confirmation证实；证明；确认。recall召回，唤回；回想。 2.Jensen is a dangerous man,and can be very brutal. A.careless B.cruel C.strong D.hard 【答案】B 【解析】句意：Jensen是个危险人物，他可能会很残忍。brutal残忍的；野蛮的；无情的。
cruel残酷的，残忍的；无情的。二者意思相近，此处可互相替换，因此选B项。careless 粗心的；无忧无虑的；漫不经心的。strong强壮的；强烈的。hard困难的；硬的。 3.You’ll have to sprint if you want to catch the train. A.jump B.escape C.run D.prepare 【答案】C 【解析】句意：如果想赶上火车，你必须快点跑。sprint冲刺，全速短跑。run奔跑。二者意思相近，此处可相互替换，因此选C项。jump跳；跳过。escape逃跑。prepare 准备。 4.We are worried about this fluid situation filled with uncertainty. A.changeable B.stable C.suitable D.adaptable 【答案】A 【解析】句意：对于这个充满不确定的不稳定的情况，我们感到担忧。fluid易变的，不固定的；流动的。changeable易变的；可变的。二者意思相近，此处可相互替换，因此选A项。stable稳定的。suitable合适的，适当的。adaptable可适应的；有适应能力的。
职称英语理工类C级真题及答案
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2008年职称英语理工类C级真题及答案第1部分：词汇选项(第1～15题，每题1分，共15分) 下面每个句子中均有1个词或短语划有底横线，请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项。 1 .We'll give every teacher roomfor development A. place B. employment C. space D. house 2. The policeman asked him to identifythe thief A. name B. describe C. capture D. call 3. We were all there when the accident occurred. A. happened B. broke C. spread D. appeared 4. It took me exactly a week to completethe work． A. start B. achieve C. improve D. finish 5. The herb medicine eventually cured her disease A. nicely B. apparently C. finally D. naturally 6. This new policy has led to a dramatic increasein production A. minor B. striking C. fixed D. modest 对不起，中间几题暂缺 14. Jack consumesa pound of cheese a day. A. eats B. drinks C. buys D. produces 15. Mary just told us a very fascinating story. A. strange B. frightening C. difficult D. interesting 第2部分：阅读判断(第16～22题，每题1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；如果该旬的信息文中没有提及，请选择C。 The Need to Remember Some people say they have no memory at all："I just can't remember a thing!"But of course we all have a memory．Our memory tells US who we are．Our memory helps US to make use in the present of what we have learnt in the past． In fact we have different types of memory．For example，our visual memory helps US recall facts and places．Some people have such a strong visual memory that they can remember exactly what they have seen，for example，pages of a book，as a complete picture． Our verbal(言语的)memory helps US remember words and figures we may have heard but not seen or written：items of a shopping list，a chemical formula，dates，or a recipe．With our emotional(情感的)memory, we recall situations or places where we had；strong feelings，perhaps of happiness or unhappiness．We also have special memories for smell，taste，
2016年职称英语考试理工类模拟试题第七套 1.It is apparent that he hasn’t done his work properly A.clear B.appeal C.actual D.appositive 正确答案:A 2.Fling the ball as far as possible A.Fly B.Carry C.Throw D.Blow 正确答案:C 3.The treatment cost the patient500dollars approximately A.appropriately B.apparently C.exactly D.or so 正确答案:D 4.The tramp carried all his belongings in a pack on his back A.truck driver
B.vagabond C.murderer D.old man 正确答案:B 5.Tony is so diligent that he ranked No.1in the final exam A.difficult in study https://www.doczj.com/doc/5015670721.html,zy C.hardworking D.clever 正确答案:C More Than8Hours Sleep Too Much of a Good Thing Although the dangers of too little sleep are widely known，new research suggests that people who sleep too much may also suffer the consequences. Investigators at the University of California in San Diego found that people who clock up9or10hours each weeknight appear to have more trouble falling and staying asleep，as well as a number of other sleep problems，than people who sleep 8hours a night.People who slept only7hours each night also said they had more trouble falling asleep and feeling refreshed after a night’s sleep than8-hour sleepers. These findings,which DL Daniel Kripke reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine,demonstrate that people who want to get a good night’s rest may not need to set aside。more than8hours a night.He added that“it might be a good idea'’for people who sleep more than8hours each night to consider reducing the amount of time they spend in bed,but cautioned that more research is needed to confirm this.
2018年职称英语理工类B级试题及答案 第1部分：词汇选项(第1——15题，每题1分，共15分) 下面每个句子中均有1个词或者短语划有底横线，请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项。 1. The revelationof his past led to his resignation. A. imagination B. disclosure C. confirmation D.recall 答案为B. revelation(揭露) –disclosure(揭露) 2. Jensenis a dangerous man, and can be very brutal. A. careless B. cruel C. strong D.hard 答案为B. brutal(残忍的) –cruel 3. You’llhave to sprint if you want to catch the train. A. jump B.escape C. run D.prepare 答案为C. sprint (快速奔跑) –run(奔跑) 4. We areworried about this fluid situation full with uncertainty. A. changeable B. stable C. suitable D.adaptable 答案为A. fluid(不稳定的) –changeable (易变的) 5. Thenew garment fits her perfectly. A. haircut B.purse
C. clothes D.necklace 答案为C. garment(衣服) –clothes(衣服) 6. Thephobia may have its root in a childhood trauma. A. fear B.joy C. hurt D.memory 答案为C. trauma(精神上的创伤) –hurt (感情上的伤心或痛苦) 7. Theyhave to build canals to irrigate the desert. A. decorate B. water C. change D.visit 答案为B. irrigate(灌溉) –water(给…浇水) 8. Heroverall language proficiency remains that of a toddler. A. disabled B.pupil C. teenager D. baby 答案为D. toddler(学步的儿童) –baby (婴儿) 9. Thecoastal area has very mild winter, but the central plains remainextremely cold. A. warm B.severe C. hard D.dry 答案为A. mild(温暖的) –warm(温暖的) 10. Thedetails of the costume were totally authentic. A. real B. outstanding C. creative D. false
2016职称英语真题及答案_理工C 第1部分：词汇选项（第1～15题，每题1分，共15分） 下面每个句子中均有1个词或者短语划有底横线，请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项。 第2部分：阅读判断（第16～22题，每题1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。 The Theory of Everything If Stephen Hawking lives until the year 2017, he will have lived more than 50 years longer than his doctors expected. When he was a college student, doctors discovered that he had a rare disease. This disease causes a gradual disintegration(分解)of the nerve cells in the brain cells that regulate voluntary muscle activity. Death almost always occurs within two or threeyears. Today Stephen Hawking cannot walk or speak. He cannot move his arms or his head. He cannot taste or smell anything. And yet this man is Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, a position held by the famous scientist Isaac Newton in 1669. Hawking is often described as the greatest scientist since Albert Einstein, but to the world outside science, he is also known as the man who made scientific theory understandable. His book, A Brief History of Time, has soldover eight million copies. He says that since he does not have to think about his body or do any ofthe things other men have to worry about, such as washing the car or working in the yard, he can dedicate all of his time to thinking. This puts him in the perfect position to find the answer to the question that he has dedicated his life to. His question is: Is there a complete theory of the universe andeverything in it? Despite his tremendous physical disabilities, he has already made some very important discoveries about the origin of the universe, how the universe holds together, and how it will probably end. He has also been able to explain thesecrets of “black holes” in space. Now he is looking for a set ofrules that everything in our universe must obey. He calls it the Theory ofEverything. He thinks that someone will have found the answer within the next20 years. If Stephen Hawking is able to find his Theory of Everything, he will have given the world the opportunity to understand things that will change the whole nature of science and probably also the way we live. 16.Stephen Hawking will be 50 years old by 2017. A.Right B.Wrong C.Not mentioned 17.Stephen Hawking suffers from a rare brain disease. A.Right B.Wrong C.Not mentioned 18.Stephen Hawking is Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. A.Right
2015理工B真题及答案 考试时间:上午9:00-11:00，120分钟。 职称外语考试各级别、专业的试题全部为客观题，在答题卡上作答。考生应考时， 可携带一本正式出版的通用外语词典（不得携带电子词典以及专门为职称外语考试编写 的词典）、2B铅笔、橡皮、黑色墨水笔。 第一部分词汇选项（第1-15题，每题1分，共15分） 下面每个句子中均有1个词或者短语划有底横线，请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接 近的选项。 1. The organization was bold enough to face the press. A. pleased B. powerful C. brave D. sensible 2. I will not tolerate that sort of behavior in my class. A. accept B. control C. observe D. regulate 3. I realized to my horror that I had forgotten the present. A. limit B. fear C. power D. fool 4. Most people find rejection hard to accept. A. excuse B. client C. destiny D. refusal 5. She's extremely competent and industrious. A. hardworking B. honest C. objective D. independent 6. The doctors did not reveal the truth to him. A. hide B. handle C. disclose D. establish 7. He tried to assemble his thoughts. A. clear B. share C. gather D. spare 8. The law carries a penalty of up to three years in prison. A. message B. punishment C. guilt D. obligation 9. Prisoners were kept in the most appalling conditions. A. flexible B. terrible C. reasonable D. serious 10. These products are inferior to those we brought last year. A. poorer than B. narrower than C. larger than D. richer than 11. The political situation in the region has deteriorated rapidly. A. improved B. changed C. worsened D. developed 12. There was a simultaneous trial taking place in the next building. A. coexisting B. fair C. full D. pubic 13. They're petitioning for better facilities for the disabled on public transport. A. requesting B. planning C. preparing D. looking 14. He said some harsh words about his brother. A. unkind B. proper C. normal D. unclear 15. We were attracted by the lure of quick money. A. amount B. supply C.sum D. temp 第二部分阅读判断（第16-22题，每题1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。
2010年职称英语真题之理工类B级试卷 第1部分：词汇选择(第1～15题，每题1分，共15分) 下面每个句子中均有一个词或短语有下划线，请为每处划线部分确定一个意义最为接近的选项。 1. The old concerns lose importance and some of them vanish altogether. A.develop B.disappear C.linger D.renew 2.In the United States educational system, intermediate school is the transitional phase between the primary grades and high school. A.stage B.notion C.pattern D.alternative 3.Fluoride deters tooth decay by reducing the growth of bacteria that destroy tooth enamel. A.facilitates B.overwhelms C.inhibits D.loosens 4.The firm of Bonnin and Morris in Philadelphia was probably the first American Company to manufacture porcelain. A.silverware B.crystal C.china D.linen
5.Gunpowder was used extensively in firearms prior to 1990. A.in B.around C.from D.before 6.We packed up the things I had accumulated over the last three years and left for good. A.close B.near C.past D.final 7.The chemical is lethal to rats but safe to cattle. A.toxic B.harmful C.deadly D.contagious 8.She is very conscientious about her work. A.worried B.careful C.anxious D.nervous 9.She has consolidated her power. A.strengthened B.won C.hardened D.united
职称英语理工类A级考试真题及答案(部分) Small But Wise On December 14, NASA1 blasted a small but mighty telescope into space. The telescope is called WISE and is about as wide around as a trashcan. Don’t let its small size fool you: WISE has a powerful digital camera, and it will be taking pictures of some the wildest objects2 in the known universe, including asteroids, faint stars, blazing galaxies3 and giant clouds of dust where planets and stars are born. “I’m very excited because we’re going to be s eeing parts of the universe that we haven’t seen before, “said Ned Wright, a scientist who directs the WISE project. Since arriving in space, the WISE telescope has been circling the Earth, held by gravity in a polar orbit4 (this means it crosses close to the north and south poles with each lap5). Its camera is pointed outward, away from the Earth, and WISE will snap a picture of a different part of the sky every 11 minutes. After six months it will have taken pictures across the entire sky. The pic tures taken by WISE won’t be like everyday digital photographs, however. WISE stands for “Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.” As its name suggests, the WISE camera takes pictures of features that give off infrared radiation6. Radiation is energy that travels as a wave. Visible light, including the familiar spectrum of light7 that becomes visible in a rainbow, is an example of radiation. When an ordinary digital camera takes a picture of a tree, for example, it receives the waves
更多推荐：2016年职称英语理工类完形填空复习题库 完形填空：请根据短文内容为每处空白确定一个最佳选项。 I'll Be Bach Composer David Cope is the inventor of a computer program that writes original works of classical music. It took Cope 30 years to develop the software. Now most people can't _____(1)the difference between music by the famous German composer J. S. Bach (1685-1750) and the Bach-like compositions from Cope's computer. It all started in 1980 in the United States, when Cope was trying to write an opera. He was having _____(2)thinking of new melodies, so he wrote a computer program to create the melodies. At first this music was not_____(3)to listen to. What did Cope do? He began to rethink how human beings compose music. He realized that composers, brains_____(4)like big databases.First, they take in all the music that they have ever heard. Then they take_____(5)the music that they dislike. Finally, they make new music from what is_____(6). According to Cope, only the great composers are able to create the database accurately, remember it, and form new musical patterns from it. Cope built a_____(7)database of existing music. He began with hundreds of works by Bach. The software analyzed the dataa_____(8)it down into smaller pieces and looked for patterns. It then combined the_____(9)into new patterns.Before long, the program could compose short Bach-like works. They weren'tgood, but it was a start. Cope knew he had more work to do-he had a whole opera to write. He continued to improve the software. Soon it could_____(10)more complex music. He also added many other composers, including his own workto the database. A few years later, Cope's computer program, called "Emmy", was ready to help him with his opera. The_____(11)required a lot of collaboration between the composer and Emmy. Cope listened to the computer's musical ideas and used the_____(12)that he liked. With Emmy, the opera took only two weeks to finish. It was called Cradle Falling, and it was a great_____(13)! Cope received some of the best reviews of his career, but no one knew exactly_____(14)he had composed the work. Since that first opera, Emmy has written thousands of compositions. Cope still gives Emmy feedback on what he likes and doesn't like of her music, _____(15)she is doing most of the hard work of composing these days! 1._____ A.Make B.tell C.Take D.understand 2._____ A.trouble B.time C.fear D.pleasure 3._____