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One day, I received a call from a colleague. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physical problem ，while the student claimed a perfect score. I was elected as their arbiter( 仲裁人).I read the examination problem： “Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer(气压计).” The student had answered： “Take the barometer to the top of the building，attach a long rope to it，lower it to the street，and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of it is the height of the building. ”
The student had really answered the question completely ，but the answer didn’t confirm his competence in physics. I suggested the student try again. I gave him six minutes to answer the question, warning that the answer should show some knowledge of physics. Five minutes later, he said he had many answers and clashed off one, which read： “Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the edge of the roof. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, use the physical formula (公式）to calculate the height of the building. ”
At this point, my colleague had to accept it, and then the student made almost full marks. I couldn’t help asking the student what the other answers were. He listed many others ，and then added5 “Probably the best is to take the barometer to the. administrator and said to him，' Sir, here is a fine barometer. If you tell me the height of the building, I will give it to you.，”
Then, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did ，but said that he was fed up with high school and college instructors trying to teach him how to think.
The name of the student was Bohr who later was famous all over ,the world. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922.
1.The student got a zero at the beginning because_______.
A．the teacher wasn’t satisfied with him
B．his answer wasn't complete or correct
C．the teacher clicln5t fully understand his answer
D．his answer didn’t show his knowledge of physics
2.We know from the passage that______
A．the student knew the expected answer
B．the administrator told Bohr the height
C．the author preferred Bohr s last answer
D．the teacher was a very stubborn person
3.We can learn from the passage that______.
A．instructors can teach students how to think
B．arbiters can help students to get high scores
C．students should be given more freedom in thinking
D．teachers should make students use physical formulas
4.What was Bohr’s attitude toward his schooling?
A．Optimistic. B．Critical. C．Approving. D．Ambiguous.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Your Car Is Ready for Take-off
The flying car has been talked about for many years，but now it appears that the idea is about to become a reality.
An international company has built a two-seater plane that, at the touch of a button ，transforms into a car perfectly suitable for driving on public roads. It has been designed so that the wings fold up automatically； and it takes just 15 seconds to switch between flying and driving. With its wings fully open and the propeller(螺旋桨）spinning, it can take off from any airfield.
Flying cars are quicker than traditional ones for travelling from city to city，and they can run on ordinary fuel. Another big advantage is that they are cool ，like something you would see in an action film. At the moment 9 however, the flying car’s wheels are illegal to leave the ground. That is not because of technical reasons or problems with the design. It is because the various road and aircraft authorities simply cannot agree on whether it is a car or a plane.
“The government and the authorities have never thought seriously about a flying car, says Alan Price ，the president of the company that has developed it. “I wanted a car that could fly and drive ，but it is difficult to find an organization prepared to insure the vehicle against accidents.
Nevertheless ? the company hopes to produce and deliver its first flying car soon. The company already has orders for 40 of them. The majority the potential customers are older and some are retired。There have even been orders from some people who have no pilot's license.
The flying car will cost around $ 200.000. “For an airplane ， that’s a very reasonable price， but for a car, It's quite expensive，” explains Alan. “But it just is not possible to make a $ 10，000 flying car yet. ”
This latest means of transport will not become a mass-market item in the near future，but in the long term it has the potential to change the way you travel. It will become no more expensive than driving your car on the motorway. Travel time could be reduced by more than half.
So the next time you are told to fasten your seat belt, it may be to prepare for take-off.
1.We know from the passage that the flying car______
A．has to run on special fuel B．will replace traditional planes
C．is popular with the rich D．can shift between two forms
2.The flying car is presently forbidden to take off because______.
A．many people think driving it not very safe
B．it’s hard to decide whether it's a car or a plane
C．the government and the authorities don’t accept it
D．there are still some technical problems to be solved
3.We can learn from the passage that______.
A．few people will be able to afford a flying car
B．flying cars may share the market in the future
C．traffic jams will disappear because of flying cars
D．driving a flying car doesn’t require a pilot’s license
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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The early lack of exposure to science ，technology，engineering and mathematics (STEM) can be harmful to achieving gender (性别）balance in these fields. It begins when we are young and continues throughout our time in high school.
While at home，girls generally don’t get to experience the level of exposure or encouragement in STEM fields that their male counterparts do. It is often subtle ，but it’s the first hurdle that faces and confuses so many women. Boys ，on the other hand, get on their path ，and are encouraged to do so， generally earlier than girls. For example ，boys are more often given science sets as toys ，which spark an interest in these subjects.
In school 3 boys are often pushed to take the more challenging math and science classes. So if we want to attract the best and brightest minds into the fields that will advance us as a people ? a country，and a planet，we can no longer look to only half of the population. Young girls cannot possibly consider opportunities they do not know exist. If girls are not exposed to certain subject and career paths，they are highly unlikely to choose to follow them in college.
Our bias(偏见)toward girls9 either from families or from schools ，is so rooted in our culture that we often don’t even recognize it. Although the situation Has changed greatly in the past 20 or 30 years，there is still a sense that girls aren't as good at math 9 for instance 9 even though there is almost no evidence to support such a belief.
It is important that as a society we deal with gender stereotypes long before young people are faced with a decision to declare or choose a major in college. Without making efforts to break them， we are limiting the potentials of our youth，both male and female. Providing the necessary resources， exposure , and encouragement would help young women understand that their gender shouldn’t determine the career path they choose, and that pursuing a STEM career does not make them less feminine.
1.According to the passage ? not many girls grow to enter STEM fields because______.
A．girls are not as good at STEM as boys
B．girls do not like to take science classes
C．girls get fewer chances to know about STEM
D．girls seldom survive the high pressure positions
2.The underlined word “it” in Para. 4 refers to______
A．our bias B．our culture C．the situation D．a sense
3.The main purpose of the passage is to______.
A．show women’s potentials in STEM fields
B．praise women’s contributions to STEM fields
C．describe the present gender bias in STEM fields
D．call for more involvement of women in STEM fields
4.Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Online shoppers would rather receive an offer for a product or service than make their own offer 3 according to a study led by a Michigan State University scholar that has implications for the fast-growing e-commerce industry. The findings may come as a surprise given that shopping online is an anonymous(匿名的）process that seemingly can give consumers more confidence to drive a hard bargain,said Don Conlon ，Professor of Management in MSU’s Broad College of Business.
But the study found that participants who made their own offers were less successful in sealing the deal and ，when they were successful? worried they overpaid Many shoppers found the process of researching an offer to be a hassle. “ Americans are very busy，and it’s less time-consuming to be the one receiving the offer rather than the one proposing the offer ” Conlon said. u People tend to be happier when they’re in the receiver role. ”
Online spending in the United States is expected to jump 45 percent in the next four years， from $ 226 billion this year to $ 327 billion in 2017，according to Forrester Research Inc. Nevertheless, researches into this prosperous market remain largely focused on the strategies of companies, rather than those o£ shoppers. Conlon’s study is ，obviously, a rare exception.
Conlon got the idea for the study after considering the difference between two popular sites for hotels and airline flights, priceline.com, which takes bids, and hotwire.com ，which provides offers. Using these two models ，Conlon and his fellow researchers conducted a series of experiments with more than 850 people who were charged with booking a fictional hotel room and acquiring a fictional antique car. Not only did participants prefer to receive bids, Conlon said ，but they also secured more deals in that receiver role. Further ，when they had to make the bids ，they were left more mentally taxed and regretful.
From an industry perspective，putting customers in the receiver role may help fill more hotel rooms and airplane seats. “If you’re a business with a lot of products3 ” Conlon said，“you may want to be the one making the offers. ” However, when selling single items, such as an antique car， accepting bids may be a better option since that typically drives up the price, he said.
1.What can we learn from Para. 1?
A．The result of the study gives customers more confidence.
B．Scholars aren’t surprised at the findings of the study.
C．Online shoppers don’t bargain as much as expected.
D．E-commerce industry drives more hard bargains.
2.It can be concluded from Conlon’s experiments that______.
A．online shopping is time-consuming
B．given prices help promote online sales
C．online businesses provide a lot of products
D．receiving offers makes online shoppers regretful
3.The underlined word “taxed” in Para. 4 probably means______.
A．burdened B．numbed C．relieved D．challenged
4.The passage is mainly about______.
A．the big advantages of online shopping
B．the rapid development of online shopping
C．online shoppers’ preference for taking offers
D．online companies strategies to improve service
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
