An epidemic is the occurrence of a disease wh...

An epidemic is the occurrence of a disease which affects a very large number of people living in an area and which spreads quickly to other people. Like infectious diseases, ideas in the academic world are spreadable. But why some travel far and wide while equally good ones remain in relative insignificance has been a mystery. Now a team of computer scientists has used an epidemiological model to imitate how ideas move from one academic institution to another. The model showed that ideas originating at famous institutions caused bigger “epidemics” than equally good ideas from less well-known places, explains Allison Morgan, a computer scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder and lead author of the new study. “This implies that where an idea is born shapes how far it spreads, holding the quality of the idea constant.” says senior author Aaron Clauset, also at Boulder.

Not only is this unfair --- “it reveals a big weakness in how we’re doing science,” says Simon DeDeo, a professor of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, who was not involved in the study. There are many highly trained people with good ideas who do not end up at top institutions. “They are producing good ideas, and we know those ideas are getting lost,” DeDeo says. “Our science, our scholarship, is not as good because of this.”

The Colorado researchers analyzed an existing data set of computer science department hires in North America, as well as a database of publications by these hires. First they looked at how five big ideas in computer science spread to new institutions. They found that hiring a new member accounted for a little more than a third of the time --- and in 81 percent of those cases, transfers took place from higher- to lower-status universities. Then the team imitated the broadcasting of ideas using an infectious disease model and found that the size of an idea “epidemic” (as measured by the number of institutions that published studies on an idea after it originated) depended on the status of the originating institution. The findings were published online last October in EPJ Data Science.

The researchers’ model suggests that there “may be a number of quite good ideas that originate in the middle of the pack, in terms of universities,” Clauset says. DeDeo agrees. There is a lot of good work coming out of less famous places, he says: “You can learn a huge amount from it, and you can learn things that other people don’t know because they’re not even paying attention.”

1.The underlined word “this” in paragraph 2 refers to the fact that _________.

A.good ideas from less important institutions lack influence.

B.the quality of the original ideas tends to be not easy to maintain.

C.scholars in insignificant institutions consider their ideas valueless.

D.the time when good ideas were born decides how far they may spread.

2.The case of some hires in paragraph 3 is used to indicate _________.

A.why the originating institutions transfer their new findings.

B.the way the movements of some new ideas happen and their effects.

C.how they carry the ideas from lower - to higher - status institutions.

D.the statistics the epidemological model provides for the researchers.

3.Researchers such as Clauset are very much concerned about _________.

A.losing quite a number of great and creative thoughts.

B.missing the opportunities of getting more well-known.

C.misusing the epidemiological model in scientific research areas.

D.having difficulty in finding more proper science department hires.

4.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A.Infectious Diseases. B.Original Ideas.

C.Epidemiological Model. D.Idea Epidemic.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Probability is the mathematical study of the_____ of an event's occurrence.

A.desire B.likelihood C.result D.effect

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

No one is sure of the extent ________ this will affect business．

A．which                B．when                  C．by which            D．to which

高三英语单项填空困难题查看答案及解析

Asthma(哮喘) is a long-lasting breathing disease that affects millions of Americans, many of whom are children. People who get asthma will suffer from lack of breath, difficulty in breathing or coughing--which are caused by the tightening of the muscles in airways. Untreated asthma can lead to poor lung function and death, but asthma can also be effectively controlled with proper treatments.

Research is discovering　 genes that contribute to the development of asthma. This development has pointed researchers to the role of indoor and outdoor pollution as environmental factors that contribute to the increased occurrence of asthma.

The Indoor Pollution

Indoor pollution has increased with the developments　 in building materials and in heating and air conditioning systems. In addition to poisonous gases that come from paint, other materials like dust and perfumes used in household products such as washing powder are recycled continuously through the house, winter and summer.

Unlike the days before central heating or before whole-house air conditioning, these materials and chemicals cannot get out of modern homes. Most　 often, they cause breathing　 problems in the members of the family with the least-developed autoimmune(自身免疫的) systems. Proper venting (通风) and use of environmentally-friendly building materials and carpeting can help reduce the presence of these chemicals.

The Outdoor pollution

Researchers have also established outdoor pollution's role as a probable cause of asthma. Asthma has been proven

to result from some fuel products. Smog and the small matters carried by it have been recognized as a factor which leads to asthma since the 19th century when London saw more and more diseases in the industrial population. Industrial pollutants and other chemicals which are produced in water treatment and open treated water like that found in the swimming pools also contribute to increased cases of asthma as well as other illnesses.

Those most affected by the increase of industrial and environmental pollution are children. Although much has been done to control the levels of pollution in the US, there still remains much to do as it is a worldwide phenomenon. Until an international effort can be made to limit carbon emissions, the occurrence of environmental asthma will probably continue to increase.

高三英语信息匹配困难题查看答案及解析

The drug used to treat this disease causes bad side effects, some of which ________ deadly.

A．is　     B．are

C．was     D．were

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

An exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History is around the theme of food plant disease, using early 20th-century glass models of rotting fruit.

Known as Harvard's "Glass Flowers", the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants consists of over 4，300 sculptures of plants and plant parts fashioned entirely in glass by the German father-and-son artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka between 1887 and 1936. Harvard originally used the models as teaching tools, showing plants' three-dimensional structure and color.

The "Fruits in Decay" shows a collection of models of diseased, rotting, and withering(枯萎的) fruiting plants. The rotting fruit series was intended specifically to educate the public about the danger of plant disease. These models were created by Rudolf, the younger Blaschka, in the early 20th century Harvard botanist Oakes Ames asked him to create these diseased fruit models. And he thought about these as a way to look at what we now call food security-or insecurity.

Though the models were made nearly a hundred years ago, the theme is as remarkable as ever. Most of the illnesses shown on Rudolf Blaschka's plant models still affect today's crops.

"In certain ways, global agriculture is more likely to be harmed than it has ever been to disease threats(威胁), largely due to the widespread practice of planting one crop over large production areas. Less genetic diversity means that crops have less resistance to disease," says Sheng Yang He, a professor at Michigan State University.

Climate change will make plants more vulnerable to disease because warming temperatures disable an important plant defense system against plant disease. Major crop loss from plant disease is already at a shocking 20 t0 40 percent. Food security threats from disease will almost certainly become more common so there's a lot to be done about convincing people of it.

1.What are shown on the exhibition?

A.Models of diverse crops. B.Models of withering flowers.

C.Models of rotting plant parts. D.Models of diseased fruiting plants.

2.By whom were the exhibits created?

A.Oakes Ames. B.Sheng Yang He.

C.Rudolf Blaschka. D.Leopold Blaschka.

3.Why is the exhibition meaningful?

A.It convinces people of the food security threats.

B.It reminds people of effects of global warming.

C.It helps people understand the history of fruit planting.

D.It provides people with knowledge of global agriculture.

4.What does the underlined word "vulnerable" in the last paragraph mean?

A.Weak and easily hurt. B.Resistant and protected.

C.Defensive and hard to attack. D.Sensitive and completely destroyed.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

How is this virus transmitted?

This is an outbreak of disease that started in Wuhan, one of the central Chinese cities. It’s caused by a novel coronavirus that means it’s brand-new. 1.

What are the symptoms?

The virus is from a family called the coronaviruses. The symptoms of this illness are pretty mundane (平 凡的) on the face of it: it’s a dry cough fever and then breathing problems. 2. However, as for the more severe cases, people have gone on to develop viral pneumonia, and all the deaths have been among those people.

3.

This brand-new coronavirus came from animals, and it’s believed that the source was actually a seafood market in Wuhan, which also sells wild animals. So far all the cases have come out of Wuhan. But some people haven’t picked it up there.

Should I be panicking about this outbreak?

As we can see, older people are ending up in hospital with the virus. They’re usually over 40, and the very youngest person diagnosed is about 13 or 14 years old. So it doesn’t appear to be affecting small children.

4.. Basically, their immune systems are not very strong, and they’re going to find it very hard to fight off a virus.

It’s necessary for ordinary people to wear masks and doctors should wear protective clothing.

How is this virus transmitted?

We’ve only just discovered that the new coronavirus is actually transmitted from one person to another. It was hoped at first actually that it just came from animals as all coronaviruses do.　 5. .So　　 we’ve　　 got people to people transmission, because the market has been closed for sometime, and there are cases in people who’ve never been near it.

A.It seems quite mild in lots of people.

B.Where have cases been confirmed so far?

C.It is so new that actually it doesn’t have a name yet.

D.People diagnosed with viral pneumonia will die.

E.It is a brand-new virus so we don’t know how it’s going to behave.

F.Those confirmed cases who have died tend to have heart disease or cancer already.

G.Now it looks as though it is actually passed from one human being to another, however.

高三英语七选五简单题查看答案及解析

The process of curing a disease is like a war ___ different soldiers fight against an enemy.

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

The process of curing a disease is like a war ___different soldiers fight against an enemy.

A. as     B. when       C. where          D. while

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

Humanity uses a little less than half the water available worldwide. Yet occurrences of shortages and droughts (干旱) are causing famine and distress in some areas, and industrial and agricultural by-products are polluting water supplies. Since the world's population is expected to double in the next 50 years, many experts think we are on the edge of a widespread water crisis.

But that doesn't have to be the outcome. Water shortages do not have to trouble the world---if we start valuing water more than we did in the past. Just as we began to appreciate petroleum more after the 1970s oil crises, today we must start looking at water from a fresh economic perspective. We can no longer afford to consider water a virtually free resource of which we can use as much as we like in any way we want.

Instead, for all uses except the domestic demand of the poor, governments should price water to reflect its actual value. This means charging a fee for the water itself as well as for the supply costs.

Governments should also protect this resource by providing water in more economically and environmentally sound (健康的) ways. For example, often the cheapest way to provide irrigation water in the dry tropics is through small-scale projects, such as gathering rainfall in depressions (凹地) and pumping it to nearby cropland.

No matter what steps governments take to provide water more efficiently, they must change their institutional and legal approaches to water use. Rather than spread control among hundreds or even thousands of local, regional, and national agencies that watch various aspects of water use, countries should set up central authorities to coordinate (调整) water policy.

1.What is the real cause of the potentials water crisis.

　A. Only half of the world's water can be used.

　B. The world population is increasing faster and faster.

　C. Half of the world's water resources have been seriously polluted.

　D. Humanity has not placed enough value on water resources.

2.As is indicated in the passage, the water problem _________ .

A. is already serious in certain parts of the world.

B. has been exaggerated by some experts in the field

　C. poses a challenge to the technology of building reservoirs(水库)

　D. is underestimated by government organizations at different levels

3. According to the author, the water price should _______ .

　A. be reduced to the minimum        B. stimulate domestic demand

　C. go with its real value             D. take into account the occurrences of droughts

4.In order to raise the efficiency of the water supply, measures should be taken to ______ .

　A. guarantee full protection of the environment

　B. centralize the management of water resources

　C. increase the sense of responsibility of agencies at all levels

D. encourage local and regional water resources

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析