The number of buses, taxis and other vehicles on Kenya’s roads is growing every day. Now, the country’s first electric-powered motorbikes are coming onto the market. The bike is designed to cut down on pollution and aimed at low-income communities. Most motorbikes used in Kenya depend on gasoline, but not this new motorbike.
Three university students developed the new ecotran bike. It catches the sun’s energy, stores it in batteries and uses it to charge (充电) the electric motor. Robert Achoge is one of the student inventors. “Our hope is that by the fifth year, we will be able to cover the whole of Kenya with the electric motorcycle so as to protect the environment and provide affordable transport.”
The students have set up a charging station for the motorbikes in Nairobi. The small battery can run for 70 kilometers when fully charged. Once the power is used up, the motorbike has to return to the station while another charged battery is connected to the bike. The U.S. African Development Foundation (ADF) is helping set up two solar-powered charging stations in the port of Kisumu.
Each ecotran bike costs about $700. One taxi operator says the new motorbike costs less to operate than that running on traditional gasoline. “When it comes to buying gasoline, there’s no need. It’s basically good for various things. As long as you won’t take quite a heavy load (装载), you can go with it anywhere. Otherwise, it may break down halfway. But now people still have a preference to the gas-powered bikes.”
A Nairobi businessman Kennedy Kusimba is selling the ecotran bikes. He hopes they will become popular. “We also know they are more reliable compared to the gas-powered bikes. They are more efficient (效率高的) and they will last longer.”
1.What has happened to the vehicles in Kenya?
A. Motorbikes are not allowed on the road.
B. A new kind of motorbike is hitting the road.
C. There are fewer buses and taxis in the street.
D. Traditional motorbikes don’t need gasoline any more.
2.What do we know about the ecotran bike?
A. It was developed by the ADF.
B. It can charge itself while running.
C. Its energy comes from the sunlight.
D. It does more harm to the environment.
3.What do people think of the ecotran bike?
A. It’s better not to use it to carry too much.
B. It is a good choice for the long-distance journey.
C. It will take the place of gas-powered bikes soon.
D. It is much more expensive than a traditional motorbike.
4.Where does the text probably come from?
A. A research plan. B. An advertisement.
C. A business report. D. A science magazine.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题
The number of buses, taxis and other vehicles on Kenya’s roads is growing every day. Now, the country’s first electric-powered motorbikes are coming onto the market. The bike is designed to cut down on pollution and aimed at low-income communities. Most motorbikes used in Kenya depend on gasoline, but not this new motorbike.
Three university students developed the new ecotran bike. It catches the sun’s energy, stores it in batteries and uses it to charge (充电) the electric motor. Robert Achoge is one of the student inventors. “Our hope is that by the fifth year, we will be able to cover the whole of Kenya with the electric motorcycle so as to protect the environment and provide affordable transport.”
The students have set up a charging station for the motorbikes in Nairobi. The small battery can run for 70 kilometers when fully charged. Once the power is used up, the motorbike has to return to the station while another charged battery is connected to the bike. The U.S. African Development Foundation (ADF) is helping set up two solar-powered charging stations in the port of Kisumu.
Each ecotran bike costs about $700. One taxi operator says the new motorbike costs less to operate than that running on traditional gasoline. “When it comes to buying gasoline, there’s no need. It’s basically good for various things. As long as you won’t take quite a heavy load (装载), you can go with it anywhere. Otherwise, it may break down halfway. But now people still have a preference to the gas-powered bikes.”
A Nairobi businessman Kennedy Kusimba is selling the ecotran bikes. He hopes they will become popular. “We also know they are more reliable compared to the gas-powered bikes. They are more efficient (效率高的) and they will last longer.”
1.What has happened to the vehicles in Kenya?
A. Motorbikes are not allowed on the road.
B. A new kind of motorbike is hitting the road.
C. There are fewer buses and taxis in the street.
D. Traditional motorbikes don’t need gasoline any more.
2.What do we know about the ecotran bike?
A. It was developed by the ADF.
B. It can charge itself while running.
C. Its energy comes from the sunlight.
D. It does more harm to the environment.
3.What do people think of the ecotran bike?
A. It’s better not to use it to carry too much.
B. It is a good choice for the long-distance journey.
C. It will take the place of gas-powered bikes soon.
D. It is much more expensive than a traditional motorbike.
4.Where does the text probably come from?
A. A research plan. B. An advertisement.
C. A business report. D. A science magazine.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
______ has recently been done to provide more buses for the people, a shortage of public vehicles remains a serious problem.
A. What B. Though what
C. In spite of what D. However what
高二英语单项填空困难题查看答案及解析
VIII.阅读下列短文,以约30 个词概括短文内容:(不用写其他内容)(5 )
In the United States and a number of other countries, the second Sunday in May is celebrated as Mother’s Day.
The history of Mother’s Day is centuries old and goes back to the times of the ancient Greeks, who held festivities to honor Rhea, the mother of the gods. In 1872 Julia Ward Howe organized a day for mothers delicated to peace. It is a landmark in the history of Mother’s Day.
In 1907, a woman named Anna Jarvis thought mothers should be honored with expressions of love and respect and began a campaign to honor mothers in America. She talked to friends and friends of friends. She wrote to congressmen(国会议员),local leaders, teachers and newspaper publishers. Finally , President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution in May of nineteen fourteen that officially established Mother’s Day. Slowly and gradually Mother’s Day became very popular and its gift giving activity increased.
高二英语书面表达简单题查看答案及解析
Self-driving vehicles have been proposed as a solution for the rapidly increasing number of fatal traffic accidents, which now cause 1.3 million deaths each year.
While we have made great progress in advancing self-driving technology, we have yet to explore how autonomous vehicles will be programmed to deal with situations that endanger human life, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.
To understand how self-driving cars might make these judgments, the researchers looked at how humans deal with similar driving dilemmas.
When faced with driving dilemmas, people show a high willingness to sacrifice themselves for others, make decisions based on the victim’s age and turn onto sidewalks to minimize the number of lives lost. Ethical(伦理的)guidelines tend to disagree with human instincts(本能) in this case, saying that no life should be valued above another.
“The technological advancement and adoption of autonomous vehicles are moving quickly but the social and ethical discussions about their behavior are lagging behind,” says lead author Lasse T. Bergmann from University of Osnabrück, Germany.
Automated vehicles will eventually outperform their human counterparts, but there will still be circumstances where the cars must make an ethical decision to save or possibly risk losing a human life.
The study is especially relevant considering earlier this year a self-driving Uber car struck and killed a passenger in Arizona, in an incident widely regarded as the first death resulting from an autonomous vehicle.
An ethics commission launched by the German Ministry for Transportation has created a set of guidelines, representing its members’ best judgement on a variety of issues concerning self-driving cars. These expert judgments may, however, not reflect human instinct.
Bergmann and colleagues developed a virtual reality experiment to examine human instinct in a variety of possible driving situations. It was based on the well-known ethical thought experiment—the trolley problem.
In this experiment, there is a trolley running down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up, unable to move, and the trolley is headed straight for them. A person is standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever(操作杆).If he pulls this lever, the trolley will turn to a different set of tracks. However, there is one person tied up on the side track. Does the person choose to pull the lever and kill one person, or do nothing and let five people die?
Bergmann recognized that the majority of people would not approve of the proposal made by the ethics commission that a passenger in the vehicle should not be sacrificed to save more people. “We find people chose to save more lives, even if this involves turning onto the sidewalk, endangering people uninvolved in the traffic incident,” said Bergmann, “Furthermore, subjects considered the factor of age, for example, choosing to save children over the elderly.” He also realized further discussion and research were needed. “Driving requires a complex weighing of risks versus rewards, for example, speed versus the danger of a critical situation,” Bergmann explained.
1.According to the passage, “human counterparts" in Paragraph 6 refers to ________.
A. human drivers B. all human beings C. vehicle makers D. guideline makers
2.The virtual reality experiment carried out by Bergmann shows that ________.
A. no life should be valued above another
B. a passenger shouldn’t be sacrificed for more lives
C. people prefer to sacrifice a child to an old man in an emergency
D. all the subjects didn’t approve of the ethics commission decisions
3.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A. people’s instinct is the most important factor in making decisions
B. there is a long way to go to find solutions to ethic problems in self-driving cars
C. the experiment of “the trolley problem” proved effective in solving driving dilemmas
D. the first death of a self-driving Uber car set people thinking about ethic problems involved
4.The passage is mainly about ________.
A. people’s attitudes towards self-driving vehicles
B. people’s instinct when faced with driving dilemmas
C. the ethical problems involved in self-driving vehicles
D. the technological-problems concerning autonomous vehicles
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
With the Tesla Roadster and other plugin (插入式) electric vehicles hitting the road,demand is growing for accessible refueling points to recharge(充电) them. Carbon Day Automotive, a Chicagobased company,has now demonstrated(演示)a solarpowered recharging point, known as the Solar PlugIn Station,which lets motorists easily charge their cars using electricity that has been produced without any environmental damage.
The Solar PlugIn Station has gone on show in Chicago as part of the city’s bid(竞标)to host the 2016 Olympic Games. According to Carbon Day Automotive,the Solar PlugIn Station on show in Chicago is part of the vital infrastructure(基础设施) required for electric vehicles in Chicago and was the focus of a recent visit by the International Olympic Committee.
These solarpowered electricity points will be used daily to fuel the city’s electric vehicles with power from the sun. By producing the electricity from pollutionfree solar cell, the CO2 emissions are reduced to zero.
“Solar energy and electric vehicles are a partnership that is one more step to reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” says Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies.Coulomb Technologies recently developed the components (部件) required for individual recharging stations,marketed as ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations.Carbon Day Automotive is the Midwest distributor for the ChargePoint stations. The Solar PlugIn Station consists of giant solar panels (电池板) that shade the tiny ChargePoint Networked Charging Station.The solar panel is connected to an underground battery pack,ready for everyday refueling.
“Without these stations it would be like driving around in a traditional car without the availability of gas stations,” says Scott Emalfarb,CEO at Carbon Day.“The day of true plugin electric vehicles will be here sooner than most people realize and the world needs to be ready to accommodate(为……提供场地)them.”
1.The Solar PlugIn Station is used as part of the bid to host the Olympics mainly because ________.
A. it’s environmentally friendly
B. it makes up for the lack of electricity
C. it’s a new idea and attracts people’s attention
D. it brings convenience to electric vehicle users
2.We can learn from the passage that ________.
A. to recharge the electric vehicles takes a long time
B. the Solar PlugIn Station will come into use in 2016
C. the Solar PlugIn Station has gone on show internationally
D. Chicago is promoting the use of electric vehicles
3.According to the passage,how many of the following statements are TRUE?
a. Tesla Roadster is a kind of plugin electric vehicle.
b. The Solar PlugIn Station uses solar power to charge all of the cars.
c. Chicago is a city,which is rich in oil.
d. The Solar PlugIn Station consists of underground battery packs.
e. Scott Emalfarb is optimistic about the future of plugin electric vehicles.
A.2. B.3. C.4. D.5.
4.The passage implies that when the Solar PlugIn Station becomes popular,________.
A. more visitors will come to Chicago
B. the citizens of Chicago will be able to go to work faster
C. more space for electric vehicles will be needed
D. the cost of electric vehicles will be lower than traditional cars
5.What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Chicago Will Soon Be Full of Electric Vehicles
B. Chicago Calls on People to Buy Electric Vehicles
C. Chicago Fights for Its Bid to Host the 2016 Olympics
D. Chicago Shows Its Solarpowered Recharging Stations
高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
With the Tesla Roadster and other plugin (插入式) electric vehicles hitting the road,demand is growing for accessible refueling points to recharge them. Carbon Day Automotive, a Chicagobased company,has now demonstrated a solarpowered recharging point, known as the Solar PlugIn Station,which lets motorists easily charge their cars using electricity that has been produced without any environmental damage.
The Solar PlugIn Station has gone on show in Chicago as part of the city’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. According to Carbon Day Automotive,the Solar PlugIn Station on show in Chicago is part of the vital infrastructure(基础设施) required for electric vehicles in Chicago and was the focus of a recent visit by the International Olympic Committee.
These solarpowered electricity points will be used daily to fuel the city’s electric vehicles with power from the sun. By producing the electricity from pollutionfree solar cell, the CO2 emissions are reduced to zero.
“Solar energy and electric vehicles are a partnership that is one more step to reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” says Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies.Coulomb Technologies recently developed the components (部件) required for individual recharging stations,marketed as ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations.Carbon Day Automotive is the Midwest distributor for the ChargePoint stations. The Solar PlugIn Station consists of giant solar panels (电池板) that shade the tiny ChargePoint Networked Charging Station.The solar panel is connected to an underground battery pack,ready for everyday refueling.
“Without these stations it would be like driving around in a traditional car without the availability of gas stations,” says Scott Emalfarb,CEO at Carbon Day.“The day of true plugin electric vehicles will be here sooner than most people realize and the world needs to be ready to accommodate them.”
1.The Solar PlugIn Station is used as part of the bid to host the Olympics mainly because ________.
A. it’s environmentally friendly
B. it makes up for the lack of electricity
C. it’s a new idea and attracts people’s attention
D. it brings convenience to electric vehicle users
2.We can learn from the passage that ________.
A. to recharge the electric vehicles takes a long time
B. the Solar PlugIn Station will come into use in 2016
C. the Solar PlugIn Station has gone on show internationally
D. Chicago is promoting the use of electric vehicles
3.According to the passage,how many of the following statements are TRUE?
a. Tesla Roadster is a kind of plugin electric vehicle.
b. The Solar PlugIn Station uses solar power to charge all of the cars.
c. Chicago is a city,which is rich in oil.
d. The Solar PlugIn Station consists of underground battery packs.
e. Scott Emalfarb is optimistic about the future of plugin electric vehicles.
A.2. B.3. C.4. D.5.
4.The passage implies that when the Solar PlugIn Station becomes popular,________.
A. more visitors will come to Chicago
B. the citizens of Chicago will be able to go to work faster
C. more space for electric vehicles will be needed
D. the cost of electric vehicles will be lower than traditional cars
5.What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Chicago Will Soon Be Full of Electric Vehicles
B. Chicago Calls on People to Buy Electric Vehicles
C. Chicago Fights for Its Bid to Host the 2016 Olympics
D. Chicago Shows Its Solarpowered Recharging Stations
高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
The new law has come into effect, and number of wild animals here is on____increase now.
A.the; the B.a; the C.the; / D.a; /
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
On the one side of the road grass should be planted, and ______________.
A. on the other are flowers
B. on the other flowers planted
C. on the other flowers
D. on the other are planted flowers
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Lions are the top tourist attraction to Kenya and also considered critically endangered. One of the main causes of their death is that people kill them in return for lions attacking their cows. “We put our cows in a small cow shelter at night,” locals said, “and that’s when the trouble would start. Lions would jump in the shelter and kill the cows”.
There have been a lot of efforts to try to protect the lions, but it’s a crisis and everyone is looking for a solution. One idea was land leases(租用), another was lion-proof fences. However, no one even knew that Richard Turere, a 13-year-old Maasai from Kenya, had already come up with something that worked.
One night Richard was walking around with a flashlight and discovered the lions were scared of a moving light. An idea was born. Three weeks and much repairing later, Richard invented a system of lights that flash around the cow shelter, mimicking a human walking around with a flashlight. His system is made from broken flashlight parts and an indicator box from a motorcycle. “The only thing I bought was a solar panel(电池板), which charges a battery that supplies power to the lights at night.” Richard says. He calls the system Lion Lights.
His simple solution was so successful: his neighbors heard about it and wanted Lion Lights, too. He put in the lights for them. From there, the lights spread and are now being used all around Kenya. Someone in India is trying them out for tigers. In Zambia and Tanzania they’re being used as well.
1.Why do local people kill lions?
A. To attract tourists. B. To protect their cows.
C. To sell them for money. D. To scare away large animals.
2.What makes Richard’s idea successful?
A. That the lights will cost nothing.
B. That the system can protect lions.
C. That the lions are afraid of light.
D. That the cows are lawfully killed.
3.What may be the best title of the text?
A. Lion Lights B. Protecting Lions
C. Endangered Cows D. Lion-proof Fences
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
More and more cities across the world are experimenting with driverless vehicles on public streets. Two of the latest to conduct testing are Paris, France and Las Vegas, Nevada. The cities have used self-driving electric buses to carry passengers on short rides to try out the technology and see how humans react to it.
In Paris, two buses have been transporting passengers across a bridge between two of the city’s busiest rail stations. The vehicles, built by French company EasyMile, travel in a special safety lane created for the project. The fully electric buses can carry up to 10 people. The testing in Paris is expected to last three months. If things go well, officials plan to launch more driverless bus lines later this year.
Jean-louis Missika, deputy mayor of Paris, told reporters at a recent launch event that driveless vehicles represent a “revolution” happening in many cities around the world. He said self-driving technology is set to “change our city environment and public space in an astonishing fashion over the next 20 years”.
Transportation officials say they are planning to use the bus to connect neighborhoods to rail stations around Paris. They will also help ease traffic crowding and reduce severe pollution in the city.
In Las Vegas, the city recently launched the first driverless shuttle bus in the United States. The 12-passenger bus from French company Navya has no steering wheel or brake pedals. It uses cameras and sensors to avoid other vehicles and people while making its way down city streets. The electric vehicles can reach a top speed of 40 kilometers per hour.
The bus operated for a two-week period along one of the busiest entertainment areas in Las Vegas. Rides during the shuttle experiment were free. “The ride was smooth. It's clean and quiet and the seats are comfortable,” said Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman after taking a ride.
1.What is the text mainly about?
A.More cities are using driveless vehicles.
B.Driveless electric buses are tested in some cities.
C.Some cities are trying out a new technology.
D.The driveless buses will reduce severe pollution.
2.What can we learn from the second paragraph?
A.The bridge connects the Paris’ busiest bus stations.
B.A special safety lane was built to test the self-driving buses.
C.The fully electric buses can hold over 10 people.
D.More driverless bus lines have been set up.
3.What does the driverless shuttle bus use to avoid other vehicles and people?
A.Steering wheel. B.Brake pedals.
C.Alarm. D.Cameras and sensors.
4.In which column of a newspaper can we read this passage?
A.Technology. B.Entertainment.
C.Culture. D.Education.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析