A scientist’s attempt to produce the world’s ...

A scientist’s attempt to produce the world’s first gene-edited babies _____ are immune to HIV has sparked controversy in academia and the public.

A. as　　 B. who

C. whom　　 D. whose

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

D

Mars was the first planet that humans attempted to get to. Since the 1960’s, scientists have been working to learn more information about the Mars’ past, We now know that Mars was once a warm, wet place with great oceans and deep rivers. We also know that about 3.7 billion years ago, all that water disappeared when the planet lost its air. But why did the atmosphere on Mars change so greatly?

NASA had launched the MAVEN spacecraft in the hope of answering that very question. MAVEN will study the remains of Mars’ air and help scientists figure out what became of the rest of it．

The spacecraft was launched on Monday, November 18, 2013, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The trip to Mars takes about 10 months. and MAVEN is scheduled to go into orbit in September 2014. It is the first spacecraft created with the purpose of studying Mars’ atmosphere. Its wings measures 37.5 feet not quite the length of a school bus, and it weighs 1991 pounds about the same amount as a small car. MAVEN is equipped with eight different tools to measure and study the planet’s atmosphere. To collect information, it will fly in orbit as fast as 3278 miles per hour, and as slow as 93 miles per hour.

Once it arrived at Mars, MAVEN will have plenty of company. The spacecraft Curiosity is still walking around the planet’s rocky surface, studying the geology, chemistry and possible biology there. NASA currently has a number of spacecrafts getting unique views of Mars with powerful cameras and telescopes. These missions are all slow, steady steps forward to discover Mars secret past. While the results may not be revealed for some time, an exciting exploration is on the way.

1.We can learn from the first paragraph that________

A．all the scientists wanted to live on Mars

B．people have had a better knowledge of Mars nowadays

C．spaceships have been sent up to Mars since 1960s

D．all the water on Mars has been gone for ten billion years

2.The MAVEN spacecraft has been launched with the purpose of________

A．analyzing the change of the atmosphere on Mars

B．assisting Curiosity in studying the surface of Mars.

C. analyzing what is contained in Mars’ air

D．checking whether water still exists on Mars

3.It can be inferred from, the text that__________．

A．many different tasks will be given to MAVEN when it lands on Mars

B．many spacecrafts are working around Mars to study its water

C．more wonderful things about Mars will be found in the future

D．more spacecraft will be sent up to help Curiosity

4.What is the best title of this text?

A．A new finding on Mars

B．A new spacecraft sent to Mars

C．The rapid development of Mars

D．The great change of the Mars’ atmosphere

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Scientists say they have used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to repair a person’s eyesight for the first time. The CRISPR tool makes it possible to change DNA to add needed genes or take some away if they lead to problems.

A patient recently had the procedure done for an inherited form of blindness. The operation took place at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. “We literally have the potential to treat people who are essentially blind and make them see,” said Charles Albright. He is chief scientific officer at Editas Medicine in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Editas is one of the companies developing the treatment. Albright added, “We think it could open up a whole new set of medicines to go in and change your DNA.”

The people taking part in the study have a genetic condition that keeps the body from making a protein needed to turn light into signals to the brain, which leads to sight.

Scientists have found it difficult to treat the condition with usual gene therapy. So, they are aiming to edit or remove the mutation（突变）by making two cuts on either side of it. The hope is that the ends of DNA will reconnect and make the gene work as it should. Through a tube the width of a human hair, doctors put three drops of fluid containing the gene editing machinery just under the retina（视网膜）, which is the lining at the back of the eye that contains the light-sensing cells. Doctors believe they need to fix one-tenth to one-third of the cells to repair vision. In animal tests, scientists were able to correct half of the cells with the treatment, Albright said.

Some independent experts were hopeful about the new study. Dr. Kiran Musunuru is a gene-editing expert at the University of Pennsylvania. He said the treatment seems likely to work, based on tests in mice and monkeys. The gene editing tool stays in the eye and does not travel to other parts of the body. So, “If something goes wrong, the chance of harm is very small.” Musunuru said. “It makes for a good first step for doing gene editing in the body.”

1.Who can most possibly benefit from this new treatment?

A.Patients who are essentially color-blinded.

B.Patients who turn blind due to accidents or diseases.

C.Patients who are born with no ability to see.

D.Patients who lose their vision at a young age.

2.Which is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A.The result of the treatment.

B.The theory of the treatment.

C.The difficulty of the treatment.

D.The disadvantage of traditional treatment.

3.What is likely to be discussed after the last paragraph?

A.The function of the gene-editing tool.

B.The limitation of the gene-editing tool.

C.The effect of the treatment on animals.

D.The research of the treatment on humans.

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Scientists are preparing to launch the world's first machine to clean up the planet's largest mass of ocean plastic.

The experts believe the machine should be able to collect half of the detritus in the patch – about 40,000 metric tons – within five years. In the past few weeks they have been busy welding together giant tubes that will sit on the surface of the sea and form the skeleton of the machine, creating the largest floating barrier ever made。

The system, originally dreamed up by Mr. Slat, will be shipped out this summer to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, between Hawaii and California, and which contains an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic. It will be the first ever attempt to tackle the patch since it was discovered in 1997.

Mr. Slat was 16 and still at school when he was diving in Greece and first saw for himself the amount of plastic polluting the sea. “There were more bags than fish down there,” he recalls. Two years later he came up with a solution, quit university after six months and set up The Ocean Cleanup as a company. Mr. Slat, 23, says the first plastic to arrive on shore will be a major milestone. “We as a humanity created this problem, so I think it's our responsibility also to help solve it,” he said.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) spans 617,763 sq miles - more than twice the size of France, and contains at least 79,000 tons of plastic, research found last month. Most of it is made up of “ghost gear” – parts of abandoned and lost fishing gear, such as nets and ropes – often from illegal fishing vessels.

Ghost gear kills more than 100,000 whales, dolphins and seals each year, according to scientific surveys. Seabirds and other marine life are increasingly being found dead with stomachs full of small pieces of plastic. Creatures eat plastic discarded in the sea thinking it’s food but then starve to death because they are not feeding properly. Others are trapped and die of starvation or are strangled or suffocated by ghost gear.

1.What does the underlined word in the first paragraph probably mean?

A. waste.　　 B. ocean.

C. system.　　 D. machine.

2.According to the passage, most of the Garbage in Pacific is made up of _____ .

A. fishing vessels

B. dolphins and seals

C. giant tubes

D. abandoned fishing gear

3.why do some creatures in The Great Pacific Garbage Patch die of starvation?

A. because they were killed by Ghost gear.

B. because they were suffocated by ghost gear.

C. because they didn't like eating plastic.

D. because they are not feeding properly.

4.What is the main idea of the Passage?

A. news about the first machine to clean up ocean plastic.

B. report about the death of marine life

C. information about ocean plastic.

D. the reason for inventing a machine.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

British scientists have produced _____ they believe is the world's smallest Christmas card．

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists warn that our earth is drowning in plastic. The world’s cities produce 2 billion tons of rubbish every year. That number is expected to rise to 3 billion tons by 2050.

We often buy packaged goods but that packaging is often made of plastic. Now, it may be changing. A new environmentally friendly shopping model, called Loop, was recently launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It aims to replace throwaway containers with reusable ones. This is what some people call the zero-waste movement. The main belief driving this movement is that much of the trash we create is unnecessary.

Loop is the idea of TerraCycle, a recycling company. It first came from the “milkman model” of the 1950s in the US. Back then, someone brought milk to your doorstep in glass bottles and then left with empty bottles. These could be cleaned and used again. The result is zero-waste. Loop will work the same way. Instead of throwing away, the product comes in a reusable one. When the product is all gone, someone will collect and clean the old container, fill it up and then return it to you.

At the start, Loop will offer about 300 products. Proctor & Gamble will start by selling 10 products on Loop as a test. If the results are good, more products will be added later.

Representatives from Greenpeace also joined in the discussion about Loop at Davos. Jennifer Morgan said that “Greenpeace welcomes the aim of the Loop Alliance to move away from throwaway culture and disposability. But I doubt whether companies worldwide are ready to change their business models”.

Loop is set to launch later in three eastern U. S. states, and also in Paris, France and some of the surrounding area. Then Loop plans to expand to the U. S. West Coast, Toronto, Canada and Britain by the end of this year.

1.The purpose of Loop is to___________.

A.make packaging easier

B.reduce the plastic waste

C.lower the production cost

D.change shopping model

2.What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A.The origin of the idea of Loop.

B.The way to recycle milk bottles.

C.The future of shopping pattern.

D.The benefit of recycling containers.

3.What is Morgan’s attitude towards the current situation of loop?

A.Optimistic. B.Desperate.

C.Worried. D.Ambiguous.

4.What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A.To show scientists’ concern about plastic.

B.To present us benefits of recycling plastic.

C.To introduce the zero-waste shopping model.

D.To inform us of an environmental issue.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The world today 　　　　 different without the amazing discoveries produced by great scientists.

A. were　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. had been

C. would have been　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 D. would be

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

The world today _____ different without the amazing discoveries produced by great scientists.

A.were B.had been　 C.would be D.would have been

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

The world today _____ different without the amazing discoveries produced by great scientists.

A. were　　　　　　　　 B. had been

C. would be　　　　　　 D. would have been

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists are building the world’s first thinking robot．It’s true．Some say machines that walk, speak and feel will have been made by 2020．Kismet is the name of a robot which scientists have built this year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology （MIT）

Kismet is different from traditional robots because it can show human emotions．Its eyes, ears and lips move to show when it feels happy, sad or bored．Kismet is one of the first robots of a new generation that look like human beings and can imitate human feelings．

Some people say that by 2020 we will have created robots with brains similar to those of adult human beings．These robots will be designed to look like people to make them more attractive and easier to sell．What kind of jobs will they do? In the future, robots like Robonaut, a robot invented by NASA, will be doing dangerous jobs, like repairing space stations．They will also be doing more and more of the household work for us．In Japan, scientists are designing robots that will entertain people by dancing and playing the piano．

Meanwhile, people who worry about the future are wondering whether robots will become monsters? Will people themselves become increasingly like robots? Experts predict that more and more people will be wearing micro-computers connected to the Internet in the future．People will have microchips in various parts of their body, which will connect them to a wide variety of small machines．Perhaps we should not exaggerate（夸大） the importance of technology, but one may wonder whether, in years to come, we will still be falling in love, and whether we will feel pain．

Who knows?

1.Kismet is different from traditional robots because______．

A．it is made in the MIT, USA                 B．it is able to express its own feelings

C．it is the first modern robot                D．it is able to show human feelings

2.Possibly, robots will be able to ______in about ten years from now．

A．think like human beings                    B．do all kinds of jobs for us

C．imitate human feelings                     D．become dangerous monsters

3.The underlined word “one” can be best replaced by_____．

A．some experts                                  B．the writer himself

C．some scientists                             D．people in general

4.It can be inferred from this passage that_______．

A．robots will take the place of human beings in the future

B．the importance of technology has been exaggerated

C．scientist have designed different kinds of robots

D．robots might be a helper or a danger．

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析